The final volume in the Swedish crime trilogy by the late Stieg Larsson picks up the inter-woven stories of a muck-racking journalist and a slight, but almost superhuman, heroine. I came late to the party, jumping right into the last volume, before reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" or "The Girl Who Played with Fire." I wasn't disappointed, but at times I did seem to be sitting through the first few minutes of a TV series recap (previously on "24" ... ).
Synopsis: Journalist Mikael Blomqvist is on the trail of a conspiracy surrounding Lisbeth Salander, a pixieish hacker who leaves bodies strewn in her wake. The complex plot -- remember, he's capping two other books -- pits newspaper vs. magazine, media vs. government, and government vs. government. Not to mention cops and robbers -- there are plenty of both here.
Review: Larsson drives the novel with compelling characters and a generous helping of sub-plots. The book opens with Salander in the center of a gruesome scene that includes an ax, a homicidal motorcyclist and a Cold War-era spy. She's in mortal danger, and Blomqvist, her champion, is bent on saving her. Larsson weaves together the various sub-plots so the book has an almost constant momentum. There were some dead spots, and tighter editing could have removed the backstories of some tangential characters and the backgrounding on Swedish government. Readers who don't know Sweden intimately may also be put off by chase scenes that rattled off street names and neighborhoods -- the names didn't mean anything to me and I would have preferred colorful descriptions. Still, a bit of skimming will keep the story moving.
Read this if: You're looking for a fast-paced read that is a cut above the standard beach fare.
Avoid this if: You're not a conspiracy fan, and are unwilling to suspend disbelief that Salander could somehow be a combo of 24's Jack Bauer and Chloe O'Brian.
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