Got a hold of a copy of Stieg Larsson's

The Girl Who Played With Fire

a couple days ago.

Could not put down this second book to his

Millennium Trilogy.

Like the first book,

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,

everything was great.

Characters Blomkvist and Salander,

plot, pace, and setting.

Jonesing for the third part to this work,

and not willing to wait for the

May 2010 US release date,

I ordered

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest

from Amazon UK.

I should receive my copy in early October 2009.

I'm already wondering what I'll do when I have downed that!

Here is a summary of the upcoming novel.

Thanks to the Stieg Larsson web site.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

Luftslottet som sprängdes

© Stieg Larsson 2007, Norstedts Förlag, Stockholm

Plot summary

Two seriously injured people arrive at the emergency ward of the Sahlgrensa hospital in Gothenburg. One is the wanted murderer Lisbeth Salander who has taken a bullet to the head and needs immediate surgery, the other is Alexander Zalachenko, an older man who Lisbeth has attacked with an axe.

In this third novel in the Millennium trilogy, Lisbeth is planning her revenge against the men who tried to kill her, and even more importantly, revenge against the government which nearly destroyed her life. But first she must escape from the intensive care unit and exculpate her name from the charges of murder that hangs over her head.

In order to succeed with the latter, Lisbeth will need the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist. He is writing an exposing article that will shake the Swedish government, the secret service and the whole country by its foundations. Finally there is a chance for Lisbeth Salander to put her past behind her and finally there is a chance for truth and justice to prevail.

I also watched the Guiseppe Tornatore film

An Unknown Woman.

Like The Girl Who Played With Fire it was very good.

The two works are similar in their disturbing subject matter.

Sadly both dealt with and depict violence to women on many levels

including various types of abuse, sex trafficking, prostitution,

and forced childbirth.

Here's a plot summary from IMDB:

An Ukrainian woman named Irena calculatedly insinuates herself into the lives of a young, affluent Italian family. Stopping at nothing to become the couple's trusted maid and the beloved nanny to their fragile young daughter, Irena risks everything in her quest to uncover the truth about the family. Like an intricately constructed jigsaw puzzle, The Unknown Woman reveals piece by piece the enigma of Irena's past.

Among the extras, I found the director's comments to be illuminating.

Ennio Morricone is a frequent collaborator with Tornatore.

His soundtrack to The Unknown Woman is beautiful and moving.

Morricone just finished the soundtrack to

the upcoming Tornatore film Baaria.