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Stieg Larsson's THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST and the Northern Mood

June 12, 2010

The Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson has become a global sensation in a remarkably short time.

Nobody (almost) knew of him outside Sweden before the first volume of his Millennium trilogy came out in 2005, whereas the worldwide sales of his books last year were second only to Khaled Hosseini. The security for his latest book "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" (ISBN-13: 9781906694173) was something seen only with Harry Potter books. The level of anticipation for this book was at an unprecedented high and was eagerly awaited since the second volume left the story at a cliff hanger.

Left Between Life And Death

The heroine of the story Lisbeth Salander was left between life and death and the readers were interested in knowing what happened next in her life. The book "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" is more than just the last volume in the series, it completes many threads in the story in a way befitting to the last volume of a trilogy. The author of the book Stieg Larsson died a sudden death just after completing the trilogy. It is evident from the title of the book itself that the heroine Lisbeth Salander does survive. The story goes forward in the form of sinister plot that managed to proclaim her as mentally incompetent and was sent to a cruel institution.

They Want Her Locked Up Again

As mentioned in the book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (ISBN-13: 9781906694173), the plan is to get her charged for two murders and an attempted murder of her father. The ever faithful and editor at Millennium magazine Mikael Blomkvist is again at her side along with a doctor who doesn't quite believe the stories that he has been hearing about her. They were together in the first volume of the trilogy, went apart in the second when they communicated only through the Internet. In the first volume she helped him expose an industrialist who hates women. They face a different kind of challenge in the third volume, they need to communicate despite the presence of the policeman in the hospital room. Trust Mikael Blomkvist to come up with a solution, which he does with a stroke of genius.

A High Level Conspiracy

There is a high level conspiracy at the centre of the book The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (ISBN-13: 9781906694173) which has two issues that concern Stieg Larsson - hatred of women and threat to the democracy by right wing elements present in the security establishment. The mystery about the horribly abused Lisbeth Salander is solved in the third volume though the first 100 pages are devoted to the business left unfinished from the second volume. The conspiracy against Lisbeth Salander is explained with great speed and the novel takes off thereafter.

The Violence Is Equally Disturbing

The way the author relies on violence to tie up the loose ends is disturbing and it is almost unbelievable to see that every woman Blomkvist meets falls for him. It is definitely not the best standalone book though the supremacy of Stieg Larsson as a great fiction writer of the modern era is definitely established.

==> The author Prasoon Kumar works for www.uRead.com which is the leading online bookstore that offers all the current and all time great titles at never before prices. Complete the Millennium trilogy with the third volume of the series, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" and get to know the contemporary master of fiction better. Buy it at great prices at http://www.uread.com/book/girl-who-kicked-hornets-nest/9781849162753.

 

There is a kind of fiction peculiar the the Northern born - Canadian (being one myself, says Brian), Russian, Swedish, Finnish - and Norwegian.  When I first read THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, I fell right into it.  I have never been to Norway, but I knew the people Larsson wrote about.  I read it first because I thought the title to be perfect - a title that harkens back to Northern myth and folkways (what Tolkien called the "Northern Thing") and yet is completely modern.  Didn't find out later that that perfect title wasn't Larsson's -- but by then it didn't matter.  That dark Northern Mood that comes out of the dark evergreen forests and the arctic winds, that is born into our very bones, was at the heart of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.

I loved it and so did the critics...

Once you start THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connely. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch -- and there's always a catch -- is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

In THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, Stieg Larsson's seething heroine, Lisbeth Salander, once again finds herself paired with journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the trail of a sinister criminal enterprise. Only this time, Lisbeth must return to the darkness of her own past (more specifically, an event coldly known as "All the Evil") if she is to stay one step ahead--and alive. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE is a break-out-in-a-cold-sweat thriller that crackles with stunning twists and dismisses any talk of a sophomore slump. Fans of Larsson's prior work will find even more to love here, and readers who do not find their hearts racing within the first five pages may want to confirm they still have a pulse.  Mystery fiction at its most original.

Tags: book, fiction writer, forest, heroine, lisbeth salander, mikael blomkvist, millennium trilogy, murders, mystery fiction, northern, northern myth, northern thing, norway, stieg larsson, the girl who kicked the hornets nest, the girl who played with fire, the girl with dragon tattoo, tolkien


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