The third and final novel, “The Girl who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest,” opens with Salander recovering in hospital after receiving a bullet to the head. Blomkvist persuades his sister, Annika Giannini, to be Salander’s lawyer at her impending trial and continues his research into Säpo, discovering a secret group within its powerful inner circle. With the help of Constitutional Protection Director Torsten Edklinth and his assistant Monica Figuerola, he prepares a report explaining how Salander’s constitutional rights were infringed by the state as a child, which he will unveil at her trial. But the enemy plan to lock Salander up in a mental asylum for life and are determined not let anyone or anything get in their way.
The troubled, unconventional and socially awkward Lisbeth Salander emerges as an unlikely heroine throughout the series. A character that initially seems difficult to empathise with, the more we learn about her traumatic childhood, the more we understand what made her the way she is. She can be violent and vengeful but her rage is only directed towards those guilty of wrong-doing, whether that wrong-doing is aimed at herself or another innocent party. Salander is particularly hostile towards men that abuse women, a theme that dominates the trilogy. This apparently comes from the author’s regret of not helping a young woman whom he saw being raped.
Sadly, the author never got to see his novels achieve their phenomenal success; he died suddenly in November 2004 after handing the manuscripts to his publisher. All three books have been turned into major Swedish films, while an American version of the first book was released in 2011 and shooting has been scheduled for the next two.
If you’re looking for an above average crime thriller, then these are the books for you; I guarantee you will not be able to put them down.