The Millenium Trilogy: A Review

    Its been a while since I read these books. I wanted to write about them but have been putting it off. When I read the first book, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the first few pages felt a little weird. However, I was immediately captivated by these books. I was not aware how immensely popular these books were when I read the first of them. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could not wait to get my hands on the next two. I was in India at that time and had a hard time finding the third one in my home town, but was glad I did not give up, when I found a lone copy sitting on the shelf in a book store.
    The stories revolve around a journalist Mikael Blomkvist, and an unusual leading lady Lisbeth Salander, who is a mathematical genius/computer hacker/abused eccentric, unafraid of the law.
     In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomkvist loses his reputation and his savings after a lawsuit against Wennerström. He faces the prospect of jail time, when he is contacted by a renowned industrialist Henrik Vagner, to investigate the disappearance on his grand-niece. He works with Lisbeth Salander to solve the mystery and in the process they get to know each other.
    In the second book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Mikael comes across material with strong evidence of  sex trafficking of young girls in Sweden. He starts investigating  and is completely unaware that Lisbeth is following his work closely. She herself was abused as a child and is looking for revenge. But then she becomes the chief suspect in three murders and ends up on the run.
    In the last book of the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest, the author provides all the answers to Lisbeth's life. This is a true sequel to the second book, starting where the second leaves us. Lisbeth was shot in the head by her father, Zalachenko who is in the same hospital, trying to kill her at every possible chance all the while claiming that she tried to kill him. A conspiracy involving government officials, who wanted her locked up since she was a child is eventually unlocked with Mikael's help.
    The stories are complex pieces of puzzles waiting to be unfolded, which makes it thrilling for the readers. The narrative was laced with quite a bit of violence and though it was part of the plot it felt excessive at times. And every book contained facts and statistics sometimes irrelevant to the story. The Swedish backdrop felt fresh and interesting. Since these books have been translated from Swedish the prose falls short at places. These are definitely not great works of literature but the complex story leaves you wanting for more. Having said that I have to say that these books are certainly a level above most thrillers and books of this genre. I would certainly recommend these books to all kinds of readers. Let me know if you have read them and what you think of them.

PS: The author Steig Larsson planned to write a total of ten novels, but sadly, his untimely death prevented him from doing that. It was said that he wrote for his own pleasure and never attempted to publish them until a short time before his death. The Millenium Trilogy was also published posthumously, and the author never saw the great success of his books.