The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Picking up where The Girl Who Played with Fire left off, Larsson’s third novel blows it right out of the water.  A gravely injured Lisbeth Salander slowly recuperates in hospital while Mikael Blomkvist searches for the truth behind a government conspiracy buried within Sweden’s Security Police.  A small, elite group of SIS officers formed a secret agency in the 60s to deal with spies and stumbled across the Russian defector Alexander Zalachenko.  Zalachenko, who worked for Russia’s GRU (similar to KGB) sold information in return for absolute immunity, including freedom to commit crimes against the citizens of Sweden.  As a result Zalachenko’s daughter, Lisbeth Salander, was grossly denied her civil rights and locked up in a psychiatric hospital at the age of twelve for fear she would leak the truth of Zalachenko’s existence.  Now in her 20s and still a ward of the state, Lisbeth faces re-incarceration in a mental ward by those who still protect Zalachenko and must fight to regain her life and freedom.

 

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the very best of spy novels, with so many intricate twists and turns and revelations, it will keep you turning the pages until the very end.  Larsson is a master storyteller who has polished off his trilogy with his best writing yet. 

 

Till next time, happy reading,

L J

 

 

TBR = 4

WPL = 9

L Reads New CanLit for February

Jeff Lemeire’s graphic novel trilogy, Essex County, is true down home reading.  Lemeire’s hometown of Woodslee ON, located in the heart of Essex County, is the backdrop for this tale of rural family life.

 

In Tales from the Farm, young Lester lives with his uncle Ken on a farm in Essex County, ON.  His mother has recently died and he does not know who is father is.  Lester spends his days feeding the chickens, reading comic books and playing down at the creek.  He is befriended by Jimmy LeBeuf, a one-time NHL hockey player who took a hit in his first major league game and is now “a little slow” as a result.  Jimmy runs the local Esso and is kind to Lester when he badly needs a friend.

 

Ghost Stories is the tale of two brothers who share a dream to move to the big city (Toronto) and play major league hockey.  Vince has all the talent, but yearns for quite days on the farm with his best girl Beth.  Lou busts out his knee in the minor leagues, falls for his brothers girlfriend, and lives out a lonely existence as a TTC driver in Toronto. 

 

Rounding out the trilogy is The Country Nurse, a woman who makes house calls to the neighbouring farmers, repairs family rifts and has her own unique ancestry. 

 

Lemeire’s Essex County trilogy is a beautifully written and illustrated graphic novel filled with community, family, grief and reconciliation.  Jeff Lemeire writes for every kid who grew up in rural Ontario.  Essex County is truly a delight.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

Update on the WPL vs TBR challenge

 

Well gentle readers, it appears I have a conundrum to solve.  The Essex County trilogy was published in three separate volumes, and I had to sign each of them out from the library individually.  So, would you count this as one (1) WPL book or three (3)?  The librarian in me says three, since they were individually catalogued and barcoded.  But man, that really skews my stats!!  I’m now four TBRs behind.  Boo. L 

 

TBR = 4

WPL = 8

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Stieg Larsson knocked another one out of the ball park with his second novel and follow-up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  Kiss-ass girl power is back in the form of Lisbeth Salander, who finds herself framed for a triple murder.  Her lurid past dragged out in the press, her few friends targeted and beaten by very bad criminals, who can she turn to for help?  Friend and journalist Mikael Blomkvist staunchly defends Lisbeth’s innocence and will not rest until the truth and real killer are discovered. 

 

Once again Larsson draws you in to his wonderfully written web of plot twists and turns that will keep you captivated to the very end, and leave you wanting more.  I am now dying to read the third book, yet so very sad it’s his last one.  (For those unaware, Stieg Larsson died shortly after handing in three complete novels to his publisher).

 

I do have one criticism of Larsson’s work, and I’m left to wonder, had he lived through the editing process, would the flaws have been polished before the books were printed?  The first two books have started off incredibly slowly for me, but once I got past the first 50 – 100 pages, the story completely grabbed me and didn’t shake me loose until the final page was turned.  As I don’t normally read books of this genre, I found the reading went easier after first watching the movies, and even knowing how they ended, I was nonetheless completely enthralled with the books, so much so that I literally couldn’t put them down until finished. 

 

I highly recommend both The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its follow-up The Girl Who Played With Fire as they were excellent, but unless you normally read books of this ilk, watch the movies first, it will enhance your reading enjoyment to no end.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

 

 

TBR = 4

WPL = 5