I have just completed reading the so-called Millenium trilogy from Stieg Larsson. This trio of books includes:I immediately dove into this one the day after completing the second book in the series. I was so hooked on these characters that I felt almost compelled to hasten back to the unfolding story. In the final installment in the trilogy we follow the separate but entwined paths of the protagonists Mikael Blomkvist (journalist from Millenium magazine) and Lisbeth Salander (lesbian satanist chick) as he tries to save her and expose the dirty, out of control, and corrupt underbelly of the Swedish government's secret police in the process. Meanwhile, she tries to exorcise the demons that have corrupted and stained her life.The trilogy consisted of nearly 2000 pages and the drama and intrigue continued until the very last sentence. The aspect that I enjoyed most in this book was the rich and dynamic interplay and exchange between the two characters even though they had no personal contact throughout the story. Mikael was dealing with the police, government agents, assassins, terrorists, and other all-around bad guys in the outside world trying to uncover the truth and separate it from the lies and misinformation, while Lisbeth was locked away in the hospital under continuous guard after taking three bullets and being buried alive at the end of the second book. The two characters had really come to understand and respect each other in a unique way. They moved and interacted based on this knowledge even when they could not communicate directly. Of course I was teary as the story came to a close with the open door and the invitation.
According to several sources on the web it seems that Larsson, who died unexpectedly in 2004 at age 50, had planned to write 10 books in this series. He had a full-time day job and wrote these Millenium books as a hobby in his spare time. In fact, he had even written about three quarters of the fourth novel and had laid out plot lines and details for all or most of the other books in his planned series. I should say that I would definitely have loved to continue my relationship with these characters. In fact, I should think the best compliments that you could give an author would be to say that you were thristy for their work and you ended up caring deeply for the characters that they had dreamed up.
