Ever since I read about the Stieg Larsson trilogy (for those who came in late, it is the fast approaching cult status series featuring Lisbeth Salander - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, and finally The Girl Who Played With Fire) also referred to as the Millenium trilogy, I have been fascinated by it.
That an author has three fully written books ready which get published after his demise and which turn into international bestsellers, is a riveting story in itself, that the books are so good is icing on the cake.
Without giving much away, the books follow the life of Lisbeth Salander and also Mikael Blomkvist (one of the other major characters in the book, arguably the first book is as much about Mikael as it is about Lisbeth). The genre is hard to pin down, on one hand, shenanigans in the world of big business, on the other hand, historical fiction (through the story of Harriet Vanger) and the third being the unspeakable horrors of what Lisbeth Salander has had to go through early in her life (if you think the events of the first book are horrific then to paraphrase American movies, 'you ain't seen nothing yet kid').
The books are that often overused term, unputdownable, and I am sure that once started, many people will stay up late at night wanting to know what happens next - I know I did! Overall, I recommend all three, though reading them consecutively is likely to drain the most persevering of readers. One aspect I enjoyed is that the books give an insight into life in Sweden, which many people outside Sweden or Europe may not be familiar with, though not to the same extent as the other great series featuring Kurt Wallander written by Henning Mankell (which can be more easily classified as detective fiction or police procedurals).
In summary, I think time spent reading the Millenium Trilogy is well worth it, and while the books may not be termed as literary masterpieces, nevertheless they are well written and I think have been well translated too. The books are not without their (imho) flaws, the computer hacking skills of Lisbeth Salander defy logic and copying gigabytes of data over the internet in a matter of minutes (cloning of hard drives, etc.) is something that is definitely not feasible even in late 2010 (forget about the early 2000 timeframe when the books were written/set), but that is the geek in me quibbling. Worse has been done in film, but then that is another post :)
