The girl who kicked the hornet's nest

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Lisbeth Salander'the heart of Larsson's two previous novels'lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She's fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she'll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge'against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.

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ISBN
9780307454560
9780307735027
9780307593672
9780739384190
030726999
9780307269997

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Also in this Series

  • The girl with the dragon tattoo (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 1) Cover
  • The girl who played with fire (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 2) Cover
  • The girl who kicked the hornet's nest (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 3) Cover
  • The girl in the spider's web (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 4) Cover
  • The girl who takes an eye for an eye (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 5) Cover
  • The girl who lived twice (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 6) Cover
  • The girl in the eagle's talons (Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson) Volume 7) Cover

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Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Both of these mystery series have strong but troubled lead female characters. They also have multi-layered plots that build slowly to a violent, high powered ending. The books use psychological insight to reveal the characters and expose the dark side of Swedish society. -- Merle Jacob
Although the Jackson Brodie novels are less graphic than the Millennium novels are, they share a darkness and thread of social commentary. Both series are cunningly plotted and feature well meaning, soft-hearted, yet at times comically bumbling male leads. -- Becky Spratford
In these fast-paced, compelling, and gritty mystery series, the female characters are independent, smart, computer-savvy, and have tormented pasts from which they attempt to recover (and in some cases, exact revenge for). -- Victoria Fredrick
The Millennium novels and the Kurt Wallander mysteries are both character-driven, intricately plotted series set in Sweden. -- NoveList Contributor
Both the Millennium novels and the Ann Lindell series are character-driven, suspenseful, compelling, and gritty Swedish mysteries. But while the protagonists of the Millennium novels are not law enforcement types, the Ann Lindell series emphasizes the work of Sweden's cops. -- Shauna Griffin
These suspenseful crime thrillers feature deeply troubled protagonists, depraved criminals, and political conspiracies. They both have a strong sense of place -- Benny Griessel is set in South Africa and the Millennium novels in Sweden -- and memorably gritty writing. -- Mike Nilsson
Both the Millennium novels and the Annika Bengtzon series feature strong, gutsy female protagonists who are not afraid to bend the rules. Both series reveal the dark side of Swedish society through multi-layered plots and interesting characters. -- Merle Jacob
Before there was Lisbeth Salander, there was Mallory -- an orphaned street thief who grew up to become a NYPD cop. Both anti-social, tech-savvy heroines will go to extreme lengths to pursue justice on behalf of society's most vulnerable members. -- NoveList Contributor
Similarities abound in these Scandinavian thrillers: cold cases, conspiracies, protagonists with difficult personalities, and twisting plots. Although slow-building suspense allows deep immersion into the characters' worlds, The Millennium novels are darker and more disturbing; Department Q displays moments of humor. -- Shauna Griffin

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
NoveList recommends "Cass Neary novels" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Aud Torvingen mysteries" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Vanessa Michael Munroe novels" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
In these gripping Scandinavian crime novels, vengeance drives much of the intricately plotted, fast-paced narrative. Political conspiracies also play a part in both books, though The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest weaves multiple storylines. -- Shauna Griffin
Secrets, the mysterious death of a young child, a determined woman who must out-think and out-maneuver a powerful corporation, and a setting in Scandinavia: these thriller elements, plus the intelligent, complex plotting and relentless pace, might satisfy readers who wish Larsson had written more. -- Katherine Johnson
NoveList recommends "Kurt Wallander mysteries" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Kathleen Mallory mysteries" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
Who will pay for the crimes against women in these fast-paced thrillers? Will it be the just released ex-con (Snow White) or will it be the victim's own family (Hornet's Nest)? Find out in these gritty, atmospheric tales of sordid mayhem. -- Mike Nilsson
Rather than a contemporary high-tech setting, Pears's literary thriller is set in 1909 and even earlier, but the complex yet fast-paced conundrum, with plenty of narrative twists, might engross Larsson's fans just as much as if Larsson had written another novel. -- Katherine Johnson
NoveList recommends "Jackson Brodie mysteries" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Ellie Stone mysteries" for fans of "Millennium novels (Stieg Larsson)". Check out the first book in the series.
Each an example of dark, gritty crime fiction set in Northern Europe, these novels also have in common a tough but sympathetic and admirable female protagonist, though Cass Neary (of Available Dark) is older and more self-destructive than Lisbeth Salander. -- Shauna Griffin

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Scandinavian authors Stieg Larsson (from Sweden) and Peter Hoeg (from Denmark) write suspenseful, dramatic novels with elements of mystery and large doses of social critique. -- Katherine Johnson
Stieg Larsson and Tana French both write exceedingly dark crime stories which feature a compelling investigative team. Their work is set in bleak landscapes with intricately plotted suspenseful story lines that are marked by violence. -- Becky Spratford
Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell both write character-driven, intricately plotted, and compelling mysteries set in Sweden. -- NoveList Contributor
Scandinavian mystery authors Jussi Adler-Olsen and Stieg Larsson write fast paced stories with complex characters. The stories often revolve around conspiracies and detectives fighting injustice. The complex plotting, violence, and compelling characters make the stories page-turners. The books also have a strong sense of place. -- Merle Jacob
Sara Gran and Stieg Larsson share much in common: both present complex, relatable, yet flawed characters in hardboiled, suspenseful mystery stories. Compelling and gritty prose serves as a springboard, vaulting the reader into atmospheric settings and character-driven, intricately plotted tales. -- Michael Jenkins
Stieg Larsson fans may like Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbo, whose intricately plotted mysteries feature fascinatingly flawed characters who pursue justice at all costs. -- NoveList Contributor
Ian Hamilton and Stieg Larsson write dark, intriguing, complex mysteries featuring unusual female sleuths who are strong, violent, and often immoral. These women with their own code of ethics use their intelligence to bring criminals to justice, although often outside of the law. -- Merle Jacob
While the pacing in Maj Sjowall's mysteries is a bit more relaxed, Stieg Larsson fans will appreciate her character development, intricate plotting, and evocative depiction of Sweden. -- NoveList Contributor
Less gritty than Stieg Larsson, Camilla Lackberg writes atmospheric, intricately plotted mysteries set in Sweden whose protagonists uncover long-buried secrets while investigating murders. -- NoveList Contributor
Stieg Larsson and Ake Edwardson write dark, compelling mysteries set in Sweden that combine psychologically complex characters and astute observations of social issues. -- NoveList Contributor
Although Michael Connelly's intricately plotted, character-driven mysteries are set in the United States, fans of Swedish crime novelist Stieg Larsson will appreciate Connelly's flawed but heroic characters and suspenseful, twist-filled stories -- NoveList Contributor
These authors' works have the genre "scandinavian crime fiction"; the subjects "violence against women," "investigative journalists," and "hackers"; and characters that are "brooding characters."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* When we last saw Lisbeth Salander, she was teetering between life and death. And who wouldn't be after having been shot by her father and buried alive by her brother? Salander was rescued, at the end of The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), by journalist Mikael Blomkvist. She's now in a Swedish hospital, slowly mending and awaiting trial for three murders she didn't commit. Meanwhile, her father, a former Soviet spy, is down the hall, recovering from the injuries he sustained when Lisbeth stuck an ax in his head. Blomkvist, Salander's loyal friend, sets out to prove her innocence, but to do so he must expose a decades-old conspiracy within the Swedish secret service that has resulted in, among other travesties, a lifetime of abuse heaped upon Salander, whose very life threatens to expose the deadly charade. The late Larsson (this third novel in his Millennium Trilogy is his final book) can be accused of heaping too much plot between two covers in addition to the Salander story, there is an elaborate subplot involving Blomkvist's lover, Erica, and her travails as the first female editor of a major Stockholm newspaper but he is remarkably agile at keeping multiple balls in the air. But it wouldn't really matter if he weren't a skilled craftsman because Salander is such a bravura heroine steel will and piercing intelligence veiling a heartbreaking vulnerability that we'd willingly follow her through any bramble bush of a plot. She spends more than half of this novel in a hospital bed, but orchestrating the action from her Palm computer, she dominates the stage like Lear. There are few characters as formidable as Lisbeth Salander in contemporary fiction of any kind. She will be sorely missed.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

The exhilarating conclusion to bestseller Larsson's Millennium trilogy (after The Girl Who Played with Fire) finds Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant computer hacker who was shot in the head in the final pages of Fire, alive, though still the prime suspect in three murders in Stockholm. While she convalesces under armed guard, journalist Mikael Blomkvist works to unravel the decades-old coverup surrounding the man who shot Salander: her father, Alexander Zalachenko, a Soviet intelligence defector and longtime secret asset to Sapo, Sweden's security police. Estranged throughout Fire, Blomkvist and Salander communicate primarily online, but their lack of physical interaction in no way diminishes the intensity of their unconventional relationship. Though Larsson (1954-2004) tends toward narrative excess, his was an undeniably powerful voice in crime fiction that will be sorely missed. 500,000 first printing. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

The final volume of Larsson's best-selling "Millennium" trilogy begins where The Girl Who Played with Fire left off: Lisabeth Salander lies comatose in a Swedish hospital, a bullet in the head, while a few rooms away her father, a Soviet defector, recovers from the severe axe wounds she inflicted. Meanwhile, journalist Mikael Blomqvist sets out to clear Lisbeth of murder charges by exposing a secret group of Swedish intelligence officers who had conspired to protect her father's identity by nearly destroying Lisbeth. Unfortunately, this crackerjack opening is followed by 100 pages of tedious plot rehashing and dry summaries of Swedish history and politics. Because Larsson's fascinating heroine is offstage for much of the early action, the novel lacks its predecessors' compelling narrative drive, although a few surprising scenes will keep readers hanging in there. Their patience will be well rewarded in the final 200 pages, where Larsson ties his multiple plot threads together into a satisfying conclusion. Larsson's other female characters, including Annika, Mikael's lawyer sister who kicks some serious legal butt at the climactic trial, and Berger, Mikael's old lover and business partner who battles sexism at a major newspaper, play bigger roles here and reflect the author's passionate opposition to misogyny and injustice. Verdict Despite its flaws, this is a must read for Larsson fans. New readers should start with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/10; 500,000-copy first printing.]-Wilda Williams, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Lisbeth Salander is in big trouble. Again.In the third installment of the late journalist Larsson's unpretty expos of all that is rotten in Sweden (The Girl Who Played with Fire, 2009, etc.), Lisbeth meets her father, who, we learned a couple of books back, is not just her sire but also her mortal enemy. Pater shares her sentiments, so much so that, at the beginning of this trilogy-closerthough there's talk that a fourth Salander novel has been found on Larsson's laptop and is being squabbled over in lawyers' officeshe's apparently tried to exterminate the fruit of his loins. Being the resourceful lass that she is, Lisbeth rises from the grave to take her vengeance. Or, as longtime Larsson hero/alter ego Mikael Blomkvist tells us, she somehow managed to "get back to the farm and swung an axe into Zalachenko's skull." Adds Blomkvist, helpfully, "She can be a moody bitch." So she can, but that's the manner of avenging angels, and Lisbeth has lots of avenging to do. She also has lots of help. Blomkvist, a little mystified as always, runs on the sidelines along with girlfriend and publisher Erika Berger, while some favorite figures from the first installment, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, return to do their bit, among them fellow berhacker Plague, who still hasn't taken a shower nearly 1,000 pages later. There are some new or hitherto minor players along for the ride, including another Zalachenko creation, a German very-bad-guy named Niedermann, who covers his tracks pretty well. Writes Larsson, "The problem with Niedermann was that he had no friends, no girlfriend and no listed cell phone, and he had never been in prison," which makes life difficult even for a master tracker-downer such as Lisbethwhom, unhappily, Niedermann is trying to do in as well. It's a delicious mayhem, where no man is quite good and no rich person has the slightest chance of entering the kingdom of heaven. Oh, there are lots of very bad bikers, too.Patented Larsson, meaning fast-paced enough to make those Jason Bourne films seem like Regency dramas.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* When we last saw Lisbeth Salander, she was teetering between life and death. And who wouldn't be after having been shot by her father and buried alive by her brother? Salander was rescued, at the end of The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), by journalist Mikael Blomkvist. She's now in a Swedish hospital, slowly mending and awaiting trial for three murders she didn't commit. Meanwhile, her father, a former Soviet spy, is down the hall, recovering from the injuries he sustained when Lisbeth stuck an ax in his head. Blomkvist, Salander's loyal friend, sets out to prove her innocence, but to do so he must expose a decades-old conspiracy within the Swedish secret service that has resulted in, among other travesties, a lifetime of abuse heaped upon Salander, whose very life threatens to expose the deadly charade. The late Larsson (this third novel in his Millennium Trilogy is his final book) can be accused of heaping too much plot between two covers—in addition to the Salander story, there is an elaborate subplot involving Blomkvist's lover, Erica, and her travails as the first female editor of a major Stockholm newspaper—but he is remarkably agile at keeping multiple balls in the air. But it wouldn't really matter if he weren't a skilled craftsman because Salander is such a bravura heroine—steel will and piercing intelligence veiling a heartbreaking vulnerability—that we'd willingly follow her through any bramble bush of a plot. She spends more than half of this novel in a hospital bed, but orchestrating the action from her Palm computer, she dominates the stage like Lear. There are few characters as formidable as Lisbeth Salander in contemporary fiction of any kind. She will be sorely missed.

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Library Journal Reviews

Lisbeth Salander is in intensive care at a Swedish hospital and under guard-she's accused of three murders. The conclusion to the trilogy that includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire; obviously, buy big, and alert your reading groups (there's a guide). With a 500,000-copy first printing. Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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LJ Express Reviews

The final volume of Larsson's best-selling "Millennium" trilogy begins where The Girl Who Played with Fire left off: Lisabeth Salander lies comatose in a Swedish hospital, a bullet in the head, while a few rooms away her father, a Soviet defector, recovers from the severe axe wounds she inflicted. Meanwhile, journalist Mikael Blomqvist sets out to clear Lisbeth of murder charges by exposing a secret group of Swedish intelligence officers who had conspired to protect her father's identity by nearly destroying Lisbeth. Unfortunately, this crackerjack opening is followed by 100 pages of tedious plot rehashing and dry summaries of Swedish history and politics. Because Larsson's fascinating heroine is offstage for much of the early action, the novel lacks its predecessors' compelling narrative drive, although a few surprising scenes will keep readers hanging in there. Their patience will be well rewarded in the final 200 pages, where Larsson ties his multiple plot threads together into a satisfying conclusion. Larsson's other female characters, including Annika, Mikael's lawyer sister who kicks some serious legal butt at the climactic trial, and Berger, Mikael's old lover and business partner who battles sexism at a major newspaper, play bigger roles here and reflect the author's passionate opposition to misogyny and injustice. Verdict Despite its flaws, this is a must read for Larsson fans. New readers should start with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/10; 500,000-copy first printing.]-Wilda Williams, Library Journal Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

The exhilarating conclusion to bestseller Larsson's Millennium trilogy (after The Girl Who Played with Fire) finds Lisbeth Salander, the brilliant computer hacker who was shot in the head in the final pages of Fire, alive, though still the prime suspect in three murders in Stockholm. While she convalesces under armed guard, journalist Mikael Blomkvist works to unravel the decades-old coverup surrounding the man who shot Salander: her father, Alexander Zalachenko, a Soviet intelligence defector and longtime secret asset to Spo, Sweden's security police. Estranged throughout Fire, Blomkvist and Salander communicate primarily online, but their lack of physical interaction in no way diminishes the intensity of their unconventional relationship. Though Larsson (1954–2004) tends toward narrative excess, his was an undeniably powerful voice in crime fiction that will be sorely missed. 500,000 first printing. (May)

[Page 37]. Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
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