The Accident by Linwood Barclay

The Accident by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was both riveting and disappointing.

By page 80, I was becoming frustrated, as murders were occurring at a rate that would put Cabot Cove, Maine, to shame, and there were numerous apparently unconnected threads, with no hint of connection.

Not long after, the story started to become interesting as it became clear how the various events were interconnected, but it really took too long to get there – most people will give up on a book before I do.

There are two things that I can't stand in mysteries and thrillers: outrageous coincidence – where events don't seem to have cause and effect, they're just placed together for the sake of the story; and the way heroes in these stories feel they have to risk life and limb doing things that would be far more easily and effectively handled by the police. It came as a very pleasant surprise that our hero, Glen Garber, isn't a gung-ho vigilante. When it becomes clear to him (in part because of good counsel from his lawyer) that his wife's death may not have been an accident, he talks to – and convinces – the police. His actions are not unreasonable and he doesn't act as if he assumes that trained professionals can't be as effective as a motivated amateur!

However, in the end the whole story is bogged down by an incredible overcomplexity – relying on that personal bugbear, the coincidence.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The probably-last book in the Millenium trilogy is another great read.

The characters are interesting, and you love the good guys, hate the bad guys, just as you should. It's a fascinating insight into both a political and legal system that are almost unbelievable to North American readers. The bad guys - in this case, a secret group inside Sweden's equivalent of the CIA - are practically pussy-cats compared to CIA black-ops people that we've read about in American fiction (and perhaps non-fiction, too). The whole story is based on the premise that the spooks are protecting a troublesome Russian defector, and covering up an increasing number of his crimes, long after the cold war has ended and he is no longer of any value to them (if he ever was). A fictional American agency would surely have put a bullet in his head a decade earlier, but the Swedes can't even imagine doing that.

On top of that, Sweden apparently has honorable and trustworthy politicians! It would warm the cockles of my heart, if I knew what those were...

The only downside to the story is knowing that there is a fourth book, and that it will likely not get published as Larsson's family claim the rights, but his partner has the actual text.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was the weakest of the Millenium Trilogy, imo. I absolutely hate mysteries that depend on coincidence, and this one has a humdinger. The author even goes so far as to call it "incredible luck", that our heroine's fingerprints just happen to be on a murder weapon.