I'm waiting for number 3.

I just finished the second in a trilogy by Stieg Larsson. The first was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Then came The Girl Who Played with Fire. Both concern continuing characters with the girl in each book being one Lisbeth Salander - who is a well drawn and highly interesting if unlikely heroine. The third in the set is probably out in hardcover this month in some European book markets and is titled The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I am already scanning the book shelves for it.

Larsson was Swedish and had completed the 3 books in the series when he died of a heart attack. There is supposed to be a fourth book residing on a hard drive inside a computer that is owned by his live-in girlfriend but due to the death of Larsson, it may not be easily published. Larsson's family is hindering any plans toward that end.

The Lisbeth Salander character grows on you. She has had a hard early life and is an independent soul - genius and anger are mixed together because of her formative years and the violent effects of those years are not over in the present day.

I found it slightly disconcerting to read a novel set in another country - the place names throw one off until you come to a reference to eating in a McDonalds and then you're on familiar ground. I know what that place looks like but not necessarily what a small town in Norway should be in my imagination. Larsson did a fine job describing the landscape so that I could follow place changes without any trouble. He also did a fine job writing a novel that is worthy of a rainy afternoon spent on the couch. Turn the television off. Lock the door. Don't answer the phone. Read on!