Book 30 - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson

Book 30
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
576 pages in 15 days

Larsson's third book in "The Girl Who" trilogy came out in mid-May and I couldn't help myself - I pre-ordered the book. The third book picks right up where Book 2 (The Girl Who Played with Fire) ended and avoids the messy "reminder passage" that was needed to bring you up to speed (which is good) but instead, it delves right into the most complex, messiest conspiracy theory this side of the cold war. As Wesley Morris, the Globe film critic, writes "Hornet’s Nest is 90 percent government, police, and legal procedural" and I have to admit that my interest suffered because of it. I previously would not have identified Salander as the one carrying water in this story but it's pretty clear that once she's removed from the story, it's easy to be bogged down in the minutiae of the plotline and the one dimensional nature of most of the characters (even Salander can seem like a type of caricature at times).

It took me a surprisingly amount of time to get into this third installment. It took, in fact, about a week - though I have to admit that I was reading another book entirely (Book 29) on my commute because this tome was so giant. But again, once I got into the book, I consumed it. Larsson is clearly a journalist and it takes you a bit to get all the basis of the story down, before you can dive into the meat and the suspense. I understand that to Swedish readers - and to Larsson himself - some of the more political aspects of the plot were important but to me, they just weighed down the more contemporary story. The books are LOADED with characters and (my own fault) I had a lot of trouble distinguishing between them - the Russian novel effect.

That said, did I enjoy this book? Yes. No equivocation. Sure, the characters are outlined in thick black Sharpie and barely filled in. Sure, there are endless pages of political detritus that seems unnecessary. Sure, it's sensational and fantastical. Who cares?! The books are great together and offer great stories that you can really fall into. I continue to wonder how they would have changed had Larsson lived to help edit and polish them up - would things have been cut, did the books suffer from poor translation, etc. And I have to admit, I'm pretty glad there aren't going to be 10 of them but all in all, very enjoyable. It's easy to see why they are bestsellers.

If you're into podcasts, I highly recommend all of Slate's podcasts (Hang Up and Listen, Double X, Audio Book Club, Political Gabfest, Cultural Gabfest...) but what better place to start than their Culture Gabfest focused on the Steig Larsson books?

Other sources:
LA Times Review
Love, love, LOVE this review from Bookstore People (could it be because we see eye to eye on a lot of points?)
My past posts on the trilogy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who... Never Ends?