In a departure from his world-famous Wallender detective series, Henning Mankell’s new murder mystery is set in 1874 and focuses on crimes of colonialism and racism. The first victim is a mentally retarded Swedish girl. Her crime goes unsolved until much later, when the central plot, involving an entomologist and the orphaned African boy he brings back to Sweden, converges with the novel’s opening. DANIEL (New Press, $26.95) is an evocative and often troubling look at history, ambition, and betrayal. Mankell’s acute psychological sensitivity makes Daniel, as the San boy is re-christened, an unforgettable character, struggling with a strange new culture and yearning to return home and avenge his parents’ killings.
The lives of Mikhail Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander cross again in the follow-up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In The Girl Who Played With Fire (Vintage, $15.95), Stieg Larsson brings Lisbeth’s secretive past to the surface. When Lisbeth is accused of murdering two of Blomkvist’s colleagues, she is forced to go on the run, relying on her inexhaustible range of talents, including disguise, kick-boxing, and computer-hacking. Meanwhile, Blomkvist delves into the world of sex-trafficking in an attempt to prove her innocence. Larsson’s unique characters, unpredictable plot, and fascinating political backdrop create a riveting story that will stick with the reader long after all the pieces come together and the book is closed.
Stieg Larsson’s addictive Millennium Trilogy just got better! The long-awaited and thrilling conclusion, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest (Knopf, $27.95), picks up where the cliffhanging Girl Who Played with Fire left us. Incapacitated, under arrest, and strapped to a hospital bed with no ability to defend herself, computer-hacker Lisbeth Salander must rely on the more orthodox methods of journalist Mikhail Blomkvist and her lawyer Annika Giannini as she battles for retribution against the sex-trafficker and crime boss Zalachenko, his thug Niederman, the corrupt psychiatrist Teleborian, and the secret society buried within the bureaucracy of the Swedish State Security Agency. I couldn’t put it down and barely slept for three nights straight!
