A review by jdsousa
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

3.0

My god these people drink a lot of coffee! I think fully a quarter of the series is devoted to the activity: if they are tired, they drink it; if they are awake, they drink it; if they are in danger of being away from a coffee machine for more than 10 minutes, they prepare a thermos to carry with them. The entire economy of Sweden is based on coffee.

Other than that, I still don't know quite what to think of the series. It's unusual and clever, but poorly translated (this one is the best) with odd quirks every few pages. They are definitely enjoyable, but the more time I spent with the characters, the less I liked any of them. Salander is the most intriguing, but she loses something along the way, too. Blomqvist is nearly intollerable and I'm happy to stop reading about him. Overall, they were pleasant enough books and served nicely when I wanted something that didn't take too much concentration and moved along swiftly.