My good friend and avid fan of this blog, Jane Costa, requested that I post a review on the final instalment of Steig Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. Jane has been quite supportive The Poor Poet as it struggles to find itself in the ever expanding world of bloggers, and not wanting to disappoint her, I of course decided to oblige her and write the review.
Without giving anything away, it is fair to say that Larsson’s final episode of the Millennium crime thrillers fully lives up to the expectations of fans who’ve already been hooked by Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist’s earlier adventures. While I found that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo can very much stand alone (although it ultimately ties in very nicely with the next two books), I was a little disappointed that in The Girl Who Played With Fire Larasson is very much setting up the The Hornet’s Nest and as such, it shouldn’t really be read on it’s own. I suppose you can read it on its own if you want, but I think it’s safe to say that most readers will need to continue on to the final novel in order to fully appreciate the second novel.
That said, Larrsson really delivers in The Hornet’s Nest. Although it starts out a little slowly, the book quickly gets going at a rollicking pace (my friend Jane stayed up all night for a few nights in a row, and even brought the book to work to read on her break, just to get to that exhilarating ending!). His neatly tied up all of his loose ends from his previous novels and provides us with a wild and thoroughly satisfying ending. I suppose he doesn’t tie everything up neatly; after all, he intended to write 10 novels, I think, and if everything was tidied up, where would he be for his next book? Unfortunately, we will never know, unless Eva Gabrielsson comes to terms with her in-laws (ex-laws?) – which isn’t looking likely anytime soon!
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