Review: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (S. Larsson)
I have come to two conclusions after finishing this wonderful book:
1) I really, really like this series (I mean duh, I've given every book at least a four star rating)
2) I am very, very nervous to read the next two because they were written by a different person and WHAT IF THEY AREN'T AS GOOD?!?!? The panic is real over here...
This book really reads as a continuation of book #2, not so much as a separate book. Lisbeth is in the hospital, somehow alive after suffering a gunshot wound to the head (!), and stuck only a couple doors down from her father who I liked to describe using extremely technical terms such as crazy person. If she ever recovers enough, she will be forced to stand trial for three murders, and risks being sentenced to a secure psychiatric facility--forever. With the help of Blomkvist, she must work to fight back against the secret government organization intent on protecting its own secrets--even at the cost of innocent lives.
I love legal drama. For a large chunk of my early childhood, I was convinced that I was going to be a lawyer because I liked to argue. I am no longer planning to be a lawyer, but I still love reading about courtroom cases and the craziness that can occur when accusations start flying. This book was legal drama x1000. We have all of the craziness, assassination attempts, break-ins, wire tapping, all of the things. We have a corrupt, secretive government organization that no one knows about. We have all of the things and I LOVE IT.
This book also talked a lot more about secondary characters such as Berger, who is one of my favorite characters ever, despite the fact that she never really gets much page time, even with the significant increase in this book. We also get some Lisbeth backstory, some Blomkvist backstory, some corrupt government agency backstory... all the backstory. I LOVE backstories. A+++++ use of backstory.
And can we just give a moment of appreciation here for Lisbeth Salander, her A++ hacking skills, and once again, for that courtroom scene. If you don't read this book for any other reason, read it for that courtroom scene. It is AMAZING.
It's so hard for me to write reviews of books I love this much because all I want to do is wave my hands in the air and then melt into a happy puddle. To give you an idea of how much I loved this book... I was exhausted one day, but I was so determined to read it that I actually fell asleep while reading it... I closed it for .5 seconds to take a "nap" and woke up 5 hours later. The book was the only thing keeping me awake.
Read this book.
Do it.
5/5 Stars