It bothers me that the cover picture for this book on Booklikes does no match the others. Very annoying on a petty yet profound level of my bookworm soul.
This book resolved the problems that appear, and escalate to a ridiculous yet realistic degree, in Lisbeth Salander's life during The Girl Who Played with Fire. I would say you could read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as a stand-alone novel, but the second and third really must be read together.
It is rather satisfying that Teleborian (sp?) and the other 'villains' get their comeuppance in the end. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the side-plot of the independent, well, it's kinda like the Swedish MI6? But more secretive/unknown by the public, reminds me of the Section in the old Nikita TV series actually. Although it does resolve the issue of Zalachenko quite succinctly, it just seemed like a lot of time spent on this subplot that will never be relevant again. If the series had been continued, I feel like it may have reappeared again in later storylines. Haven't read The Girl in the Spider's Web so unsure if it is important to that story.
Also, Blomkvist and Salander's continual Astrid Lindgren jokes to each other. I really need to find out if they offer the detective stories in translation. Pippi Longstocking was a popular cartoon movie on TV all the time when I was a kid, but I don't think I ever read the book? I should really educate myself on Swedish culture and history and then reread the Millennium trilogy because I feel like there are a lot more jokes and ironic details that I could understand as a foreign reader reading a translated copy - or listening, as the case may be.
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