The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

This is an outstanding mystery that will hold your attention to the very last word.  This is fictional investigative journalism at its very best.

This is the third review I have started with that sentence.

Reading the afterword in this book, Larsson appears to have infused a great deal of his own past in the character of the  journalist Mikael Blomkvist.  This book is the wrap up of the previous two books and ties up all the loose ends of Lisbeth Salander bad girl par excellent.

Lisbeth’s character is believable in spite of her astounding range of talents.   The government corruption and deceit is sadly also believable.   There are too many clear cut examples in current events where government agencies go to illegal extents to protect their own precious fanny’s.   As much as there is a public outcry for accepting responsibility for one’s actions there seems to be some misconception that it is only other people who need to accept responsibility.   It was reassuring to see that, at least in the book, sanity prevailed and good people rallied to correct injustices. 

The characterizations in this book made it extraordinarily difficult to put down.   I really enjoyed it and was totally captivated by it.   It is a darn shame that there will be no more books from the late Stieg Larsson.  I have seldom seen such a variety of people express strong positive feelings about a series of books.   It seemed to appeal to readers across age, gender and income gaps.   

I strongly recommend the book!

Body of work of Stieg Larsson

 

Web site: http://www.stieglarsson.com/

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

This is an outstanding mystery that will hold your attention to the very last word. Fictional investigative journalism at its very best.

I mentioned in my review on Three Seconds  that there seems to be a wealth of good stories coming out of Sweden. Well this is definitely one of them.

As a journalist Mikael Blomkvist demonstrates ethics and tenacity that is seldom seen in real life. If only the main stream media would take a page from Mikael’s fictional portfolio of ethics. His tenacity in the face of daunting adversity was a joy to read.

Lisbeth Salander might be a character that is hard to believe for some readers. I have been privileged to know a young woman who could have been the role model for this character sans the dragon tattoo. A word of caution, do not ever underestimate a woman due to her size, demeanor or gender.

Having been a computer professional for 25 years, I felt that Larsson did a good job on explaining hacking without getting technical.

It was a bit of a struggle to get into this book but much like my favorite California Screaming coaster, once you get going there is no going back and it is a heck of a ride.

I strongly recommend the book!

Body of work of Stieg Larsson

Web site: http://www.stieglarsson.com/

Ravens by George Dawes Green

The novel chronicles a family’s serendipitous win of the lottery. It looks at the changes they may face and then disrupts the process by suddenly becoming the prey of a pair of unscrupulous and unlikely hoodlums.

Green painted a vivid picture of a dysfunctional family wallowing in self despair. The precipitous change in fortune seems to reunite the family bonds. The self absorbed teen was almost stereotypical. The two losers who invade the family’s sanctity are not in any way stereotypical. They seem too inept to successfully pull off a monumental scam. The tension in the story was palatable. The characters were memorable, some frighteningly so. The gullible and needy nature of many of the self perceived down trodden was also well, but disturbingly portrayed. I have to doubt that a circus could have characters more colorful, Green did a terrific job in his character portrayals. I found the book disturbingly entertaining. The depiction of a variety of psychotic behaviors were all too believable.

I recommend the book but don’t plan on a laid back, relaxing read, it has a compelling nature.

Body of work of George Dawes Green

Review: http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/interview-with-george-dawes-green-plus-giveaway/

Web site: Doesn’t appear to have one.