What I'm Reading: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

There has been so much press surrounding Stieg Larsson and his Millenium Trilogy that it feels anti-climatic to write up this review of my reading experience. But I did finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest last month and it was a bittersweet experience.

If you recall, I read the first two books in the series last year. Reading them back-to-back was an interesting experience, and now, having finished the third, I wish I had read all three together. They really are 1 giant book in three volumes. The entire story plays out in a more cohesive manner when they are read together.

The stories of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander pick-up exactly where they left off in The Girl Who Played With Fire. Most of this novel deals with Lisbeth's trial and Mikael's attempt to bring down a secretive organization within the Swedish government. Stylistically, this third entry in the series has much more political intrigue and exposition into the various investigations and conspiracies that are all going on at once. As a result, there are many plot threads, lots of new characters, and a slowing of the frenetic pace in points, but during the last 200 pages, everything comes together, and it is hard to put down.


Why are these books so popular? I think it has a lot to do with Lisbeth. She is an original, intriguing, complex, and simply fascinating character. In fact, these books have lots of interesting, intelligent, complex and powerful women. Some have questioned whether the portrayal of women is refreshingly feminist or misogynistic. (click here for more on that discussion) I will stay out of the fray here since I see valid points on each side of the argument; however, I do know for sure that these books are highly entertaining.

Other reasons for the Larsson mania. These books are different from everything else being offered in the crime fiction genre, and I am not just talking about their setting. I think the popularity of these novels lies in their appeal.

Here is what I said about their appeal last time I read Larsson:

Appeal: These books are intricately and cunningly plotted, with extremely sympathetic series characters. The two main characters are very flawed individuals, but we, the reader, love them despite their quirks and issues. Readers will love following a subplot into the next book. This series must be read in order. Intriguing and detailed secondary characters are introduced and given a chance to tell the story from their point of view. Like all good suspense novels, we get the villain's point of view, so we know more than the protagonists. This adds to the suspense. We know how bad the danger is before they do. Both books resolve the main mystery but leave other secondary story lines and issues totally open. This is not a problem because there is another book; however, Larsson conceived this as a 10 book series and he died only completing 3. After The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest comes out next year, we may all be left up in the air. The thought already worries me.

Red Flags: Lots of violence against women, hero and heroine in grave peril, and graphic depictions of sex and rape. Violence and gore throughout.

I think this all applies to TGWKTHN also. And I am happy to report, things do all resolve at the end of the book.

Three Words That Describe This Book: detailed, complicated, great characters


Readalikes: I have had a lot to say about Larsson and possible readalikes on this blog in the past. Click here for dozens of options.

But since this series has been credited with bringing a lot of men and women back to reading (especially those under 50 who previously did not read more than a book a year), I want to make sure that I really think these readalike options through and provide balanced and well thought out options.

I stand by my previous suggestions of Tana French, Asa Larsson, Henning Mankell, Kate Atkinson, and Arnaldur Indridason. But after finishing the trilogy, I see a few more, less obvious readalike options.

With help from the new NoveList I found these suggestions very intriguing. Rock Paper Tiger by Lisa Brackmann, the international crime thrillers of John Burdett, Box 21 by Anders Roslund, and  Learning to Lose by David Trueba.

That should keep you Larsson fans reading for awhile, but don't forget, if you run out of ideas, your local public librarian can help.

Eight Books That Deserve a Graphic Novel Treatment

Recently I have been noticing that many of the new graphic novel releases are simply re-tellings of more traditional print titles. I am apparently not the only one as Paste Magazine recently noted:

Earlier this month, we found out two iconic (in very different ways) literary works were being given the graphic-novel treatment. Sea Lion Books announced their interpretation of Paulo Coelho’s spiritual journey The Alchemist, featuring art by Daniel Sampere. Then, last week, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam announced they will be creating an illustrated version Frank’s famous diary, with Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon (the duo behind the graphic novel of the 9/11 commission report) at the helm. And prior to his death this week, one of the great Harvey Pekar’s last projects was a graphic-novel adaptation of Studs Terkel’s working-class gem Working. 

So in the spirit of "if you can't beat them, join them.," Paste Magazine continued this article by noting "Eight Literary Works That Deserve a Graphic Novel Treatment."

I will repost the list, but you will have to click through for their reasonings. I hope somebody's agent is reading this. Could you imagine Steig Larsson's Millenium Trilogy as a graphic novel? Awesome!

8. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez
7. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
6. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
5. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
4. Hell’s Angels: A Strange And Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson
3. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (and the rest of the Millennium trilogy) by Stieg Larsson
1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon       

Audiobooks: Narrator-Author Teams

Readers of this blog know that I enjoy audiobooks.  If that is news to you, you can use this link to catch up.

One of the things I most enjoy is following a series on audio. Well, let me clarify, I enjoy that if the narrator is good and does not change.  For example, for me Simon Vance is Mikhail Blomkvist in the Stieg Larsson Millenium Trilogy.  Vance reads the entire series, every characater, and he does it very well, but in my mind he is Blomkvist.  And he always will be.


Even though I greatly enjoy following a good narrator through a series, I never gave much thought to what the authors thought about it.  I guess I should have.  They have even more invested in these heroes than I do (although, when lost in a great read, I cannot imagine anyone caring more about that book than me at that very moment).

As part of Booklist's ongoing coverage of Mystery Month, the Audiobooker looked in to this very issue. In a 2 part series entitled, Partners in Crime, she looked at 2 very successful narrator/author teams and asked them about their partnerships and how the audio enhances the author's work.  The introductions to each post are included below with links.

Charlaine Harris & Johanna Parker: an audiobook author/narrator pair extraordinaire. It’s no mystery why audiobook series have such passionate followers – the Sookie Stackhouse audios are a prime example of the connection between the reader’s voice and the continuing characters. I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Parker about her voicing of the supernatural Southern Vampire mysteries, a perfect tie-in to Booklist’sMystery Month.      Click here to read the interview. Author Lee Child & narrator Dick Hill talk about the Jack Reacher series – such a perfect partnership that their audiobook producer calls them “Team Reacher.” I spoke with the two for my “Voices in My Head” Mystery Month column in Booklist, but couldn’t fit their entire conversation into the  page space. The conversation was so great, I wanted to share the complete interview for rabid fans of Childs’ high-octane thrillers.      Click here to read the interview.