The Millennium Trilogy: Difference between revisions

''[['''The Millennium Trilogy]]''''' is a series of books by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. It won several awards but it was not meant to be a trilogy, as Larsson [[Author Existence Failure|died]] before the first one was even published <ref>Larsson's girlfriend found parts of two more books on his computer after his death, and it is rumored that he planned as many as ten books with these characters.</ref>. These books were a huge bestseller in their home country, especially because they got international attention. [[Genre Busting|They're crime fiction/psychological thrillers/dark conspiracy stories]].

The first book, ''[[The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo]]'' <ref>Swedish title- ''Men Who Hate Women''</ref> (2005) begins with middle-aged reporter Mikael Blomkvist being framed for libel and sentenced to prison. While waiting to serve his term, he is hired by famous industrialist Henrik Vanger to investigate a forty-year-old cold case: the disappearance and presumed murder of his then sixteen-year-old niece, Harriet. Blomkvist's investigation brings him into contact with [[Dark Action Girl|Lisbeth Salander]], an antisocial but brilliant researcher who was secretly hired to investigate Blomkvist. Salander is borderline-crazy, resistant to authority, and violently opposed to any form of abuse against women. She becomes an unlikely aide to Blomkvist as they zero in on the truth behind Harriet's disappearance.

The second book, ''[[The Girl Who Played With Fire]]'' (2006), begins with Blomkvist investigating an underground cabal of slave trading and prostitution linked to a mysterious criminal boogeyman known as "Zala". Evidence at a crime scene incriminates Lisbeth, which leads to Blomkvist attempting to track her down and discover the truth.

In the third book, ''[[The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest]]'' <ref> Swedish title: ''The Air Castle That Was Blown Up''; the Scandinavian idiom "air castle" is roughly akin to the English idiom "pipe dream".</ref> (2007), Blomkvist discovers that the traumatic events in Lisbeth's past have been manipulated by a shadowy faction within the Swedish Security Service who will stop at nothing to hide their deeds done decades earlier. With Lisbeth's latest actions, the conspiracy is threatening to burst wide open, and the faction moves to clean up all evidence of their misdeeds.