Thrillers: "The Millennium Series" By Steig Larsson

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

*The 1st edition Swedish cover*


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original title in Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor – "Men Who Hate Women") is an award-winning crime novel and locked room mystery by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the first in his "Millennium series". At his death in November 2004, Larsson left three unpublished novels that made up the trilogy. It became a posthumous best-seller in several European countries as well as in the United States. Larsson witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. He never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth – like the young heroine of his books, herself a rape victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books.

Introduction

This novel supplies a genealogical table to understand the relationships of the five generation-old Vanger family who, in the novel, are under investigation. Robert Dessaix of the Sydney Morning Herald writes:

An epic tale of serial murder and corporate trickery spanning several continents, the novel takes place in complicated international financial fraud and the buried evil past of a wealthy Swedish industrial family. Through its main character, it also references classic forebears of the crime thriller genre while its style mixes aspects of the sub-genres. There are references to Astrid Lindgren, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, as well as Sue Grafton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Val McDermid, Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky, and several other key authors of detective novels. A journalist and magazine editor in Stockholm until his death, Larsson reveals a knowledge and enjoyment of both English and American crime fiction. He declared that he wrote his opus for his own pleasure in the evenings after work.

With the exception of the fictional Hedestad, the novel takes place in real Swedish towns. The Millennium magazine featured in the books has characteristics similar to that of Larsson's magazine, Expo, which also had financial difficulties.

Plot

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Reception and awards

A tale of contemporary culture and corruption, the novel was released to great acclaim in Sweden and later, on its publication in many other European countries. In the original language, it won Sweden's Glass Key Award in 2006 for best crime novel of the year. It also won the 2008 Boeke Prize, and in 2009 the Galaxy British Book Awards for Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year, and the prestigious Anthony Award for Best First Novel. Larsson was posthumously awarded the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for International Author of the Year in 2008. As of June 3rd, 2011, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has sold over 3.4 million copies in hardcover or ebook formats, and 15 million copies altogether.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Girl Who Played With Fire

*The 1st Edition Swedish Cover*


The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) is the second novel in the best-selling "Millennium series" by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2006 and in English in January 2009. The book features many of the characters that appeared in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, among them the title character, Lisbeth Salander, a social misfit, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of Millennium magazine. Widely seen as a critical success, The Girl Who Played with Fire was also (according to The Bookseller magazine) the first and only translated novel to be number one in the UK hardback chart

Plot

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

Reception

The English version was published in January 2009 and immediately became a number 1 bestseller. It received reviews from most of the major UK newspapers. Many reviewers agreed with Joan Smith at the Sunday Times that this novel was “even more gripping and astonishing than the first”. Carla McKay at the Daily Mail said that, like its predecessor, the book is "not just a thrilling read, but tackles head-on the kind of issues that Larsson himself railed against in society". Most of the reviewers concentrated mainly on the character of Lisbeth Salander, with Mark Lawson at the Guardian saying that "the huge pleasure of these books is Salander, a fascinating creation with a complete and complex psychology". Boyd Tonkin in The Independent saying that "the spiky and sassy Lisbeth Salander – punkish wild child, traumatised survivor of the "care" system, sexual adventurer and computer hacker of genius" was "the most original heroine to emerge in crime fiction for many years"








~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornest's Nest

*The 1st Edition Swedish Cover*


The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (original title in Swedish: Luftslottet som sprängdes, in English: The air castle that was blown up) is the third and final novel in the best-selling "Millennium series" by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. The novel is the sequel to The Girl Who Played with Fire. It was published posthumously in Swedish in 2007 and in English in the UK in October 2009.

Plot

Lisbeth Salander—the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels—lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.

Real Characters from Larsson's Life

• Svante Branden, Helps Lisbeth Salander "by denouncing the fraudulent analysis of Dr. Peter Teleborian and the arbitrary internment to which he had subjected her." Stieg Larsson and his life partner Eva Gabrielsson were loaned a student room by the real Svante Branden who, after neighboring Larsson in Umeå, was a psychiatrist and a friend. In her book "There Are Things I Want You to Know" About Stieg Larsson and Me Gabrielsson writes that the character and the person were a lot alike because Svante "was against every form of violation of human rights and freedom. When Stieg made him one of the heroes of The Millennium Trilogy, it was a way of paying homage to him."
• Anders Jakobsson, the doctor who admits Lisbeth Salander to the emergency room of Sahlgrenska University Hospital, performs her surgery, and helps her significantly throughout her hospital stay. The real Anders Jakobsson was a longtime friend of Stieg Larsson and Eva Gabrielsson. His name was changed in the novel to Anders Jonasson after Anders Jakobsson ran into Erland, Larson's father, in a supermarket and told him how he felt about Gabrielsson being denied all that Stieg left behind in his death. This story has been confirmed by the living Larssons and the publisher of the novels. (From WikiPedia)

Reception

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest listed at the top of Amazon.com's bestseller list before arriving in bookstores, extremely unusual for an English language book in translation. The Millennium series is described in a New York Times review as "utterly addicting", and this, the third in the series received a good review. Salander is described as "one of the most original characters in a thriller to come along in a while". The combination of her resourcefulness, intelligence and apparent fragility underlies her ability to win the battle to have her re-institutionalized. The compelling character of Salander and her past, completely explained in the volume of the trilogy, is a counterpoint to Blomkvist's more mundane character, writes the reviewer. The novel itself is compared to John LeCarre's cold-war thrillers. The Los Angeles Times reports that The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest confirms the popularity of the series with the claim, "It's an authentic phenomenon". Writing for The Guardian, Kate Mosse declares The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is a "grown-up work for grown-up readers", which she, unlike the The Los Angeles Times, shows a well-presented plausible narrative. Writing for The Washington Post, Patrick Anderson claims the third in the series "brings the saga to a satisfactory conclusion"