The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

Steig Larsson

This is a book for people who are devoted to Lisbeth Salander, to be read only by those who have already devoured the other books in the Millenium Series: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. It is a tome with a cast of thousands and plots and subplots which would seem impossible to untangle and which I shall not attempt to summarize. There are not as many cliffhangers as in the other two books, but the clever weaving of all the plot threads kept my interest. The "hornets' nest" is the Swedish version of the CIA which hides secrets within secrets and has become a lair for people with their own agendas. The proud Swedish democracy has become undemocratic because of a power base hidden in their 'Sapo.'

This whole scenario probably resonates more with Swedes than with other nationalities, but it appeals to conspiracy theorists everywhere.

Lisbeth's complex character develops a little and she becomes less asocial as she realizes that she has friends who are willing to go to great lengths to help her. I would have liked to see more character development in this last novel of the series. The hornets' nest is kicked and scattered with 100 pages left to go. I had hoped that the rest of the book would focus on how Lisbeth realigned her life now that she had been exonerated. Immediately after the trial, having vanquished her enemies, she feels no direction in her life and flees to Gibraltar. When she returns to Sweden, it is not with a new grounding and promise to her life, but to tie up the loose plot ends and revisit Larsson's theme of violence against women. Much of the praise for the Millenium Series centres on the unusual character of Salander, and all three books have the words, 'The Girl' in the title. I had expected that this third book would have more resolution to how she adapts to being a citizen with, as the judge told her, not only rights but also obligations to society. Salander has made firm friends in Holgren, Blomkvist, Giannini, Armansky, Dr. Jonasson and Mimmi, and yet Larsson persists in depicting her antisocial personality.
The lasting theme in this book is how a government organization like Sapo (or the CIA or MI5 or CSIS) which is set up to foil secret plots against our democratic societies can become trapped by its own secrecy. Because it is set up to sift through secrets, a government intelligence agency can become too secretive in itself and become a haven for those who want to conduct secret missions that conflict with the democracy which the organizations are mandated to protect.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is a doorstop, but a must-read for people who want the full dose of this Swedish publishing sensation.
E*