The Girl… Trilogy
By Stieg Larsson
Translated from Swedish by Reg Keeland

The final installment of The Girl… trilogy from Sweden’s Steig Larsson has finally been released in the US. It does not disappoint fans that have followed Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist since The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and have enjoyed the addictive books that are fast-paced and full of action. The Girl… books are a real trilogy in the sense that they are hard to separate, and maintaining the chronology makes them more understandable and enjoyable for the reader. Larsson wrote and submitted the books in this series to a publisher and died of a heart attack shortly thereafter, never seeing how popular they became. An unfinished fourth manuscript supposedly exists on his computer which is now the subject of an ownership battle between his partner and his family, and will probably never be read by Larsson’s fans.

The first book in the trilogy introduced Mikael Blomkvist, a liberal, investigative journalist, who was losing a trial that will both bankrupt him and send him to jail after being sued for libel by a powerful financier. Needing money for both personal and professional reasons, he accepts an assignment to help solve a case of a girl’s disappearance that happened almost 40 years before. The man who hires Blomkvist is Henrik Vanger, a rival financier willing to expose secrets that will destroy the man who sent Blomkvist to jail, rescue the fallen journalist’s integrity, and pay him a lot of money. Henrik hires Blomkvist only after a thorough background check done by Milton Securities’ Lisbeth Salander, The Girl. Salander is a Goth-looking bisexual waif—complete with tattoos, piercings, and anti-social logoed T-shirts—who also happens to be a world-class computer hacker and investigator.

The missing girl is Harriet Vanger, the favorite niece of Henrik Vanger. Her disappearance occurs on an island, where the entire family lives, on a day when an accident occurs and blocks the only exit out. Under the cover of writing a family history, Blomkvist moves to the island and interviews Vanger family members present during the disappearance. For help, he employs Salander and her investigative skills to answer what happened to Harriet. There is quite a bit of action here, including violence (sadism, car chases, and murder) and a lot of casual sex. Suffice it to say, the odd pairing of an older, truth-seeking journalist and younger female hacker with a don’t-talk-to-me attitude solve this mystery, along with other related murders, and pulls in the reader to a book and trilogy that are fun and quick reads.

The second in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is what I consider a “bridge” book. Larsson’s improvements as a writer are evident and he introduces characters here that will be important in the final book. However, with all the characters and plot-forwarding additions, the story is burdened with over-the-top action. Salander is framed for three murders and there is even more violence than in the first book, including investigations into a sex trade ring, gunfights, a bad biker gang, and someone being buried alive. We learn about Salander’s history, including her father, Alexander Zalachenko, a former Russian spy who became Sweden’s biggest counter-intelligence property after the Cold War. A secret group within Sweden’s Security Police (SAPO) protects her father, and cleans any mess that Zalachenko gets into, in order to ensure that his identity is not revealed. “Zala”, however, has a mean streak and a terrible habit of beating up his lover: Salander’s mother. Lisbeth decides to take matters into her own hands when she tires of the police not listening to her complaints. She threatens to expose “Zala” and the group conspires to land her in a mental institution at the age of 12, being declared legally incompetent and needing to have an advocate who controls her life. Advokat Bjurman abuses Salander and in revenge she sets him up and turns the table on him. Bjurman, to get back with Salander, gets in touch with “Zala” leading to the last book.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is the last and best of the series. Larsson’s writing style and plot construction has matured throughout the three books and here he does an excellent job of tying up loose ends. The book starts where the second one left off; Salander being rushed to the hospital due to several bullet wounds including one in her brain after she tries to finish off Zalachenko (he got an axe in the face during this fight). While recovering in a limited-access hospital room, Salander’s (and Blomkvist’s) resourcefulness is once again on full display. Blomkvist sneaks in a handheld computer to Salander and installs a blue-tooth-enabled cell phone in the vent, enabling her online investigation and efforts to clear her name. The group within SAPO brings in retired members of the Zalachenko group and tries to clean up the mess for the last time. Again this group works to declare Salander mentally incompetent and institutionalized. Salander, however, will work to get her retribution.

Lisbeth Salander’s actions make you side with, even sympathize, and ultimately cheer for her. Here is an anti-social hacker who is also mathematically brilliant-who works to solve Fermat’s theorem in her spare time (Andrew Wiles anyone?)—and is a byproduct of a system that prevents her from trusting authority (police, government, psychiatrists). Her ability to solve problems and get herself and Blomkvist out of binds is remarkable, and yes, even at times eye-rolling, but enjoying these books means taking it all in and going with the flow. So if you want something to read on the beach this summer, look no further than this trilogy.