Finally, the last part of the Millenium trilogy! In Steig Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, Lisbeth Salander is arrested for the attempted murder of her father and her friends work hard to save her.

Lisbeth has a bullet lodged in her brain and is taken to hospital where her life is saved but she finds herself under arrest. Blomkvist, Armansky and Bublanski’s team are working to find Niedermann and prove Salander innocent. Meanwhile the secret section within the Swedish security police realise that Zalachenko has created a huge problem and act to fix it.

I’ve found the previous two books patchy – there’s a lot of good points and one or two bad points. Given that, this book is surprisingly good. There’s less of the repetitive summing up that slows the story down and a lot of action. The two sides are trying block each other and Larsson weaves these threads together in a way that keeps the tension going throughout.

I particularly enjoyed the courtroom scenes. Larsson’s dialogue often sounds like the characters are reading reports to each other. I don’t know if that’s due to the translation or if the dialogue is just clunky. However, the dialogue in the courtroom scenes (which are mostly dialogue) really works. They are tense, emotional and gripping.

The story is resolved in a satisfying way. The baddies get their come-uppance but the good guys have to work really hard for it. And there is one point towards the end where Larsson pulls off a convincing threat to a main character.

I think I’ve enjoyed this book most of the three Millenium books and it lifts the trilogy as a whole.