All three books contain moments of magnificent originality and creativity. The multiple storylines offer unpredictable yet completely believable turns of events, the scope of which reaches a near-epic level. Yet, taken as a whole, the books fall far short of what qualifies them as magnum opus of their genre.

The books’ biggest flaw, if I may be allowed to point out, is the sheer amount of material that has virtually no bearing on the storylines themselves. Each book goes to great and painstaking length on passages of events that are of no or little consequence or relevance. Granted, every work of fiction has extraneous parts that can be cut and won’t affect the plot, but they are only kept in to *enhance* the story. In the case of the Girl-Who trilogy, they simply *overwhelm* it. They inflate and, in the process, dilute the main premises of the books. It is as if these books never had the benefit of a book editor.

It is said here, and I swear by it, that the three books can easily be condensed into one book, albeit a long one. It is further stated that the trilogy never should have been published in its present form. Sounds outrageous, even blasphemous, I know, given the world-renowned status they have achieved. Nonetheless, the quality of a book cannot be judged by the number of copies it sells. The Girl-Who trilogy *is* a phenomenal achievement by a rookie novelist, albeit a dead one, but it contains way too many flaws and errors to merit a five-star rating. Or four, for that matter.
Rating: 3 / 5

Salander manifests her skills while undermining a broken-down and corrupt Swedish system which repeatedly sucker-punched both Salander and those she loved, leaving her defenseless. The take-no-prisoners avalanche of Salander’s payback catapults Stieg Larsson’s series into a majestic and non-linear reading experience.

Other reviewers have covered the storylines of the Salander book trio, but the characterization of Salander is what really breaks the mold of traditional IT intrigue. Think the intellectual edge of Umberto Eco Foucault’s Pendulum, the dynamic sensibilities of rocker Pink I’m Not Dead (Platinum Edition), and the tech savvy of Daniel Suarez Daemon, for some sense of where this gritty and unpredictable ride will take you. The first book is tough-going in the level of Swedish political detail, but by the third book you will mourn the untimely loss of Larsson, who died of a massive heart attack in November of 2004.

In the series the intimacy-shy Salander forms a hesitant partnership with Mikael Blomkvist, an idealistic investigative journalist for Millenium, a news magazine which he co-founded. Blomkvist is sued and eventually exonerated over allegations sited in an international conspiracy article which he authored.

Larsson, coincidentally, founded a news magazine entitled Expo and had been subjected to ongoing death threats for exposing European Neo-Nazi’s and white supremacists via his Scandinavian magazine. It was rumored that his death was in some way retaliation for his political reporting.

Some of these core themes are woven into the fabric of Larsson’s astonishing trilogy. The Swedish movie version of the first novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is fairly accurate, but the book still holds the key to the visceral Salander. Don’t miss it.
Rating: 5 / 5

In “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” take-no-prisoners journalist Mikael Blomkvist has just lost his reputation, his savings and his freedom (hello, jail sentence!) after a nasty libel suit from an executive named Wennerström.

Then he’s unexpectedly contacted by aged industrialist Henrik Vanger, to discover what happened to the guy’s grandniece. He’s offering evidence on Wennerström, so Mikael has no choice but to accept — and as he investigates the sinister Vanger family, he joins forces with Lisbeth Salander, an eccentric, abused computer hacker. And as Mikael unearths the clues to Harriet’s disappearance, he also finds some skeletons long kept buried.

“The Girl Who Played With Fire” finds Mikael investigating sex trafficking in his own country, and young girls who are sold into it. Unknown to him, Lisbeth is keeping very close tabs on his work — especially since she was abused as a child, and now plots revenge on the sex traffickers. But when she’s accused of murder and ends up on the run, Mikael must discover what lies at the core of these crimes…

And finally, “The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest” takes place directly after the second book. Lisbeth has been shot in the head, her malevolent father Zalachenko is in the same hospital claiming that she tried to kill him, and some nasty government forces want her locked away, as she was as a child. Her only hope lies in Mikael, who must unravel a government conspiracy formed around the young hacker…

Larsson’s books are a unique blend of old and new — he takes the usual mystery/thriller tropes (locked room mystery, government conspiracies) and enfolds it in a ruthless, blistering look at modern Swedish society and sexual aggression. It’s a dark, dangerous, unfair world where the truth is quashed, powerful forces conspire against individuals, and women are treated horribly — usually shown via the eccentric, punky “girl with the dragon tattoo.”

His prose is rather bleak and often quite gritty, and a certain brand of understated passion shines through — the kind that feels the need to express itself even though it takes place in fiction. And while most of the first book focuses in Mikael, in the second and third Larssen’s style splits in half — one half is the more staid, ordinary perspective of Mikael and others, and the other half is the wild nihilism of Lisbeth (“If death was the black emptiness from which she had just woken up, then death was nothing to worry about. She would hardly notice the difference”).

Mikael and Salander make an intriguing odd couple. He starts world-weary and demoralized that he seems to care about nothing, but regains his passion for the truth; the only downside is that he’s a bit Marty Stuish, since all women seem to adore him. And Salander is a mass of hurts and quirks — she’s a vibrant, wild genius who lashes out at those who hurt women, and has been constantly tortured by those around her since childhood (even as an adult, she’s forced to have a legal guardian).

Take your average thriller/mysteries, smother them in disillusioned, morally-bankrupt noir… and you’ll have something like the Millennium Trilogy. A hard read, but worth the journey.
Rating: 4 / 5

The story is certainly an intricate one, but Larsson manages to lead us through the maze without losing us along the way. In fact, one of the joys of the books is gradually realising that there are yet more levels of complexity to get your head around.

Thrilling as the storyline is, the thing I found most interesting about it was the moral dimension. Corruption in business and in government and the abuse of women are major themes, and Larsson’s position on them is crystal clear. However, both Salander herself and the crusading journalist Blomqvist also act outside the law. This gives a certain moral ambiguity to the story. In Salander’s case, her illegal acts take place within her own moral code – a code that is internally consistent but at odds with what we would ordinarily consider to be acceptable. In Blomqvist’s case, his acts (including turning a blind eye to Salander’s computer crimes) are informed by a desire to expose corruption and to achieve justice for Salander.

So, given Salander’s understandable antipathy towards the society that has treated her so appallingly, and Blomqvist’s laudable social justice objectives, is their own behaviour morally acceptable? Do the ends justify the means? Are the circumstances so extreme that ordinary moral arguments don’t apply? These are the questions that remained with me after I’d finished the final book, and still remain.

Ultimately, this is what makes the Millennium Trilogy something more than your average crime thriller and worth investing the time and mental energy to read.

Rating: 5 / 5