RATING: SUPERB!!!
SPOILERS!!!
The last part of the book is a rollercoaster of emotions and events. I loved it.
When the date for Lisbeth’s trial is approaching, the men in the section start to worry, especially when the prosecutor receives a biography that Lisbeth has written. That throws back these men, and they think that Blomkvist has a card up his sleeve, and they are worried. So they decide to remove the threat.
One of the Section men plant cocaine and a large amount of money in Blomkvist’s flat, and the camera that Milton Security placed there record the fact. They think that if the cocaine had been found by the police, Blomkvist would have lost credibility. What they don’t know is that what they want is to kill him. Thankfully, the police and Monica discover what the real plans are. Michael is having dinner with Erica, and when he is on his way to the toilet, he bumps into a man, and notices the gun. It is the killer, and when the man grabs the gun, Mickael and the killer start to struggle. Several shots are fired, but thankfully, they don’t hit Mickael. In the end, the police arrive and they arrest the man and his brother, who was waiting in the car.
The day of the trial arrives, and the prosecutor requests a closed-door trial, and his request is accepted. On the first two days the prosecutor seems to have the upper hand as Annika does not care to question the witnesses too much. On the third day things become interesting. The Security Police arrests the director of the section, and when he is questioned, he breaks down and he tries to defend himself by confessing that he wasn’t the one to kill Zalachenko or Bjorn. Then the other members of the Section are arrested and charged with murder and a string of other crimes.
It is on this day that Teborian takes the witness stand. The prosecutor asks the suitable questions so that Lisbeth could be declared incompetent again and be sectioned. Then it is Annika’s turn to cross question him, and she is wonderful. The facts about Lisbeth having been section when she was thirteen are terrible, and Annika manages to prove that Teleborian treated Lisbeth unfairly and cruelly, having her tied for almost a year. Annika also proves that Lisbeth’s behaviour after she was discharged was not different from other young people. The coup of grace is when Lisbeth’s claim that Bjurmann raped her is put into question, so Annika plays the video of the rape, proving that it was truth. Then the police come to arrest Teleborian.
After that, Annika demands Lisbeth be acquitted of all charges and be released. The judge is reluctant, but he eventually agrees with certain conditions. Lisbeth is finally free after months in hospital and prison. Soon after that, she decides to travel to Gibraltar where she want to feel free, and she goes off the rails for a while. She gets drunk every night, and she picks up a few guys to have sex with. One of the things that she felt upset about when she was acquitted was the fact that Mimmi had gone to live in Paris. In Gibraltar the only person she becomes friendly with is the barman of the pub where she goes every night, and she tells him about Mimmi and how she feels guilty for what happened to her. The barman tells her to go and see her in Paris. So Lisbeth travels to see Mimmi, and the latter tell her that it is not her fault that Niedermann tried to kill her, and she wants to keep being friends with her.
The epilogue takes place in December, and Lisbeth is back in Sweden. Annika calls her to tell her off because whenever she needs to contact her for some loose ends in her case, Lisbeth is unreachable. Annika threatens to quit, but Lisbeht promises not to be so difficult. Then Annika tells her that one of the matters that she needs to see to is hr father’s inheritance. Lisbeth is not interested, but Annika insists that she needs to decide what to do with his estate. It should be equally divided between her and her sister Camilla, but Lisbeth says that she hasn’t seen her sister for ten years and doesn’t know where she is. So Annika thinks that everything could be sold, and her part of the money could be kept in an account for Camilla.
One thing that intrigues Lisbeth is one dilapidated property that her father had, a big factory in disuse. Curious about the reason why her father would keep something like that, she goes there. The building is huge and she manages to get inside. Soon she notices that there is evidence of habitation in a few areas, and she finds the passport of a Russian woman called Valentina. Lisbeth can imagine the way this woman and others were kept here, and then in a big tank she finds two bodies.
At this moment she hears the doors close and finds face to face with Niedermann. He has been hiding here all the time and has been looking forward to the moment when he can destroy Lisbeth. He holds a knife as he intends to kill her. Yet, Lisbeth defends herself, fleeing from him and at some point she manages to disarm him. Then she dashes into one of the rooms, and Niedermann chuckles, thinking that he now has her. When he gets into the room, there is only one desk and he thinks she has hidden in one of the drawers, but they are empty. Lisbeth is actually behind in the gap under the desk, and when Niedermann stands there, she uses a nail gun and shoots the gun into his feet, paralizing him there. Lisbeth considers killing him, but then she decides not to do it.
What Lisbeth does is leave the building, and then she calls the two men from the bike club who Niedermann doublecrossed. The two men arrive an hour later, intending to kill Niedermann, and then Lisbeth calls the police. So from her hideout she watches the police arrest the two men and a stretcher carrying Niedermann’s dead body. So she is satisfied as the man is dead, and she hasn’t lost her freedom.
The last pages of the book shows Lisbeth at home. There is a knock at the door, and she opens to find Mikael there. Lisbeth’s expression doesn’t give anything away, and Mikael tells her that he is sorry if he treated her wrong, and he is her friend, her true friend. Things with Monica are going well and he even refused Erika a few weeks ago and admitted to her that he may be in love with Monica. He only hints something about this to Lisbeth, and she hears him and after thinking for a couple of minutes, she opens the door and Mikael steps in.
I really loved the book. This is the third and last book that Stieg Larsson wrote because he died, but another author, David Largencratz, continued where he left off. So I’ll be reading his books as well.
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