John's selection is the second in the three-part Millennium (magazine) series written by Stieg Larsson. It follows our only perfect 5, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Lisbeth Salander proves to be the ultimate bad-ass by taking on men that abuse women with her own sense of moral justice. Although she is small in stature, she makes up for it with an unbridled fierceness. She takes on the nickname "Wasp" by sparing with heavyweights in the gym and has no fear. In this installment, she has a woman love interest, the villains turn out to be her father and half-brother, she has a macho boxer friend, and a comrade in arms in the persistent journalist Mikael Blumkvist. The middle section did drag on a bit where most everyone is convinced that she is mentally incompetent and is the killer. Yet she battles on independently, and despite being shot three times and buried alive, she somehow survives to get justice.
Larsson died before publishing the third book of the series; however, he had envisioned a total of 10 books. The series has continued through 8 books with the help of ghost writers. I find these books, although quite long, very exciting and true page turners. This series (circa 2005-2007) reminds me of several other long page turners such as "Clan of the Cave Bear" (1980), "Pillars of the Earth" (1989), "Century Trilogy" (2010), "Harry Potter" (1997-2007), and "Hunger Games" (2008-2025) to name a few. I am sure each of you can think of your own personal favorite series that you could add to the list.
