The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millenium Trilogy, Final Book 3) and Milennium Trilogy thoughts

1.  This book is the longest of the three but by far the most exciting. There is little down time in the introduction unlike in the other two. It just follows off from the events of the last book.
2. Book 3 deals with the immediate fallout of Book 2, and has strong spy, espionage and cover-up (in the interests of "national security") themes, as Salander and team prepare for her trial. 
3. It's fascinating to see the forces working against her to silence her; and the "forces of good" (even those not immediately known to her) on her side trying to expose the truth.
4. The ending is incredibly satisfying and feels like one is playing a scene from Ace Attorney - where the bad guys get completely owned. Admittedly the ending is predictable but I like seeing justice being handed out. 
5. I also enjoyed Salander's complex personality and her convoluted relationship with Blomkvist.
6. If there was less sexual content I might be tempted to call this my favourite book...
7. I was surprsingly gripped from beginning to end.
8. 4.75/5

Overall score and thoughts for the Millenium Trilogy: the trilogy makes for a diverse read as a whole. You, respectively, get in each of the three books: a murder / crime mystery; a (framed) fugitive on the run story; and a trial or judicial process that's rigged by secret agents with cloak and dagger subterfuge sub-plots and cover ups happening in the background. They are all a bit different. The use of a media entity, the Millenium magazine, and its journalists, coupled with the world of hacking, makes for an exciting plot device. The two areas synergise with each other and help to complement the story of our complicated heroine with a tragic past. 

I would say that this is an excellent gateway trilogy into the respective "disappearance / mystery cold case", "I've been framed" and "spy" subgenres of what can be essentially or a bit too simply classified as Crime fiction (although spy novels are probably a separate category of their own). I did not enjoy the sexual content or the violence in the series, but I understand the context and why it was done. The first two books are a few tiers below the last book (IMHO). The third book sits in a tier of its own and higher than the others. 

What does that mean? Well it means it's a solid and satisfying series overall. 4.3/5