The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2004) The Girl Who Played with Fire (2005) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (2007) by Steig Larsson

Lisbeth Salander. How can you not love her? She’s brilliant, driven, shy, brash, fearless, and vulnerable, oh, so vulnerable. She’s part Everywoman and part every woman’s dream. What woman wouldn’t want to stomp on the face of a rapist, or a slimey sexist? Larsson –may he r.i.p.–keeps the pages churning and turning. I think the secret to the phenom success of the “Millennium Trilogy” is women who are not usually thriller fans are reading these books. The female characters are exemplars of their gender and not in the least sleazy. I had a feeling, reading the third book, that someone else finished it and padded it needlessly. Why Salender’s Gibralter trip and the brief intro of a new character who seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the story?[10/10-2/11]

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