Stieg Larsson 2007
Translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland
This definitive conclusion to the Millennium Trilogy masterfully unravels most of Lisbeth Salander's convoluted cruel past, introduces many sub-plots and answers most of the questions from the last two books with the very riveting and satisfying last 100 pages.
'Dr. Jonasson was woken by Nurse Nicander five minutes before the helicopter was exxpected to land. It was just before I.30 in the morning.'(5)
'The axe isn't still in his head. I assume it was Salander who nailed him. His real name is Alexander Zalachenko and he's Lisbeth's father. He was a hit man for Russian military intelligence. He defected in the '70s and was then on the books of Sapo until the collapse of the Soviet Union. He's been running his own criminal network ever since.'(19)
'She was surprised to be alive. Yet she felt indifferent. If death was the black emptiness from which she had just woken up, then death was nothing to worry about. She would hardly notice the difference. With which esoteric thoughts she closed her eyes and fell asleep again.'(50)
'She has been called a psychopath, a murderer, and a lesbian Satanist. There has been almost no limit to the fantasies that have been circulated about her. In this issue, Millenium will tell the story of how government officials conspired against Salander in order to protect a pathological murderer...'(52)
'"The Section" was Francke's idea. He called it "the last line of defence". An ultra-secret unit that was given strategic positions within the Firm, but which was invinsible. It was never referred to in writing, even in budget memoranda, and therefore it could not be infiltrated.'(88)
'Teleborian's report from 1991 has been leaked, and it's potentially as serious threat as Zalachenko.'(113)
'She was afraid that it was a moral issue, and that was one of his weaknesses. He was Salander's friend. She knew her brother. She knew that he was loyal to the point of foolishness once he had made someone a friend, even if the friend was impossible and obviously flawed.'(178)
'Besides, he had--literally--rootled around in her brain. Someone who rummaged around in your brain had to be treated with respect. To her surprise she found the visits of Dr. Jonasson pleasant, despite the fact that he poked at her and fussed over her fever chart.'(181)
'It's not over. The conspiracy is continuing. It's the only way to explain the tapped telephones, the attack of Annika, and the double theft of the Salander report. Perhaps the murder of Zalachenko is a part of it too.'(190)
'Your job description as a journalist is to question and scrutinize most critically. And never to repeat claims uncritically, no matter how highly placed the sources in the bureaucracy. Don't ever forget that. You're a terrific writer, but the talent is completely worthless if you forget your job description.'(203)
'Putting a mobile telephone into an air vent inside a locked cleaning supplies room, turned on but not uplinked, was so crazy that Ghidi could not imagine what use it could be.'(223)
Her heart skipped a beat. It's my Palm. But how...In amazement she glanced over at the locked door. Jonasson was a catalogue of surprises. In great excitement she turned on the computer at once and discovered that it was password-protected.'(252)
'Hacker republic comprised a very exclusive club of the best of the best, an elite force that any defense organization in the world would have paid enormous sums to use for cyber-military purpose...'(258)
'The only person who can decide your future is you. It doesn't matter how hard Annika works for you, or how much Armansky and Palmgren and I, and others, try to support you.. I'm not going to try to convince you one way or the other. You've got to decide for yourself. You could turn the trial to your advantage or let them convict you. But if you want to win, you're going to have to fight.'(286)
'She had decided to go along with Blomkvist's plan. That was why she had written the plain, unvarnished truth about her life in a crackingly terse autobiography of forty pages. She had been quite precise. Everything she has written was true.' (375)
'And I guess that in some way I'm falling for you because you are who you are. It's easy to sleep with you because there's no bullshit and you make me feel safe.'(451)
'It was a question of credibility. She had come as herself and no-one else. Way over the top--for clarity. She was not pretending to be someone she was not. Her message to the court was that she had no reason to be ashamed or to put on a show. If the court had a problem with her appearance, it was no concern of hers.'(493)
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Great Britain edition 2009
599 pages
Book borrowed from my friend SHK, February 2010
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Personal Note: Although this is the last book, somehow, I am left with the same feeling as most that there were supposed to be more...
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