I Read Books: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest

 

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

Having had a pop at industry and the Swedish Justice system Stieg Larsen turns his sights on the media and the security services. At the end of The Girl Who Played With Fire Lisbeth Salander was hospitalised after her confrontation with the villains. But of course they aren’t the only the villains.

Salander’s father was a Soviet GRU hitman who defected to Sweden in the 70s. By chance he was interviewed by a member of the “Section” a security police within the security police to keep an eye on the security police. By finessing an agreement of the Prime Minister of the day and having the Chief of Budget and Chief of Secretariat of the security police as associates of the Section they continue to the present. This is illegal in itself, before we get on to the actual crimes they commit to maintain secrecy.

They previously used their tame psychologist to institutionalise Salander after she attacked her abusive father as a child. Now they intend to use him to do that again, murder the loose ends and sweep it under the rug. In fact some retired members of the Section return to do this, because they are true believers.

With Salander injured and locked up this leaves Blomkvist to do the majority of the legwork on the case. Which leads us through some journalistic side-alleys as he tracks down the truth. And as well as this we jump through some legal hurdles. A definite sequel rather than a standalone, but a satisfying thriller nonetheless.

Read This: An interesting Swedish thriller unafraid to discuss real world problems
Don’t Read This: It’s the conclusion of a trilogy and the endings, for all their violence and confusion, are far too neat