The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

I finished Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest yesterday morning after beginning the series about two months ago.  This particular book was the third and final installment in the "Millennium" series that was published shortly after Larsson's death in 2004. It is not without significant effort that I have searched for enjoyable fiction for the last four or five years.  These three books mark a run of fiction I have enjoyed that I have not seen since I stopped reading R.L. Stein's "Fear Street" books back in grade school.

As I have told some, I am no judge of the quality of fiction.  I had a brief flirtation with John Grisham books during college but have since stopped reading those.  Maybe that is a function of my job more than the quality of the books, I don't know.  I do not see these books as being any kind of high minded literature, but an interesting story was told and there seemed to be at least some level of writing ability present.

I'm hesitant to tell too much of the story as it reveals parts of what happened in the previous book.  I can say though that the characters are insightful and the build up to the presentation of Salander's legal defense is fascinating.  It also provided a fascinating insight into Sweden's litigation procedure and how it differs from the system used here in the United States.

If you are familiar with the series, you know that this book is actually a continuation of a story started in The Girl Who Played with Fire, which I thought dragged a little bit.  That said, I can say that if you're looking for a good quick read the first one makes a nice stand alone story that you can read and move onto other stuff if the number of books on your bookshelf waiting to be read is long and growing, you can do a lot worse than The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.