This series is so good at keeping things interesting. Where the first novel was something like modern day cyberpunk and the second was stricter much more like a well paced thriller. The third further switches it up, becoming an amalgamation of spy fiction and court room drama. And it works! This time it centres the Swedish government and conspiracy and is slow moving but comes with the most satisfying pay off of perhaps any trilogy I’ve read.

I think why these books are so compelling is the amount of detail in the chapter-by-date-range format. It creates so much clarity around every aspect of every character—almost all of whom are interesting because of the ways they differ from the average neurotypical, heteronormative citizen or archetype populating these lines of stories. That when there are moments that are contrived there is so much work already down to demonstrate what is established to be true that it’s more than acceptable. In a strange way, any time it is tedious, it’s backing itself up later. And the tedium generally leads to some interesting sub-plots, such as Berger’s stalker problem.

There is so much more to the books than to the movies, which are still quite good. Very glad I took the time to read them. I’ll continue with the other books too, despite the change in author just because it’s an opportunity to stick with Lisbeth some more.