The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson: Book #32 for 2018
The third book in the Millennium series is the last book Stieg Larsson finished before his untimely death; I read he planned to write ten books, which is presumably the reason why the series is being continued by David Lagerkrantz.
This book starts immediately after the previous book, The Girl Who Played with Fire, so - spoilers ahead.
[Spoilers for the previous book and this one]
Lisbeth Salander and her father Alexander Zalachenko had a confrontation at the end of the previous book, which ended with both of them being seriously injured, most significantly, Salander almost died after being shot in the head, but was found by Mikael Blomkvist just in time. So, the book starts with Salander in hospital.
Ronald Niederman, Salander's brother and the real killer from the previous book, escapes captivity very early in the book, and goes on the run. The pace doesn't let down early on in the book, as the reader is introduced to Evert Gullberg, who seems to be part of the same child prostitution ring that Zalachenko was involved in. Gullberg decides that he has to silence Zalachenko for good, and shoots him dead in the hospital, and then realising he's not to get away, shoots himself in the head. He doesn't succeed in killing himself and ends up in a coma for much of the book, although he does end up dying eventually without waking up.
Most of this story continues the storyline from the previous book, in the run-up to Salander being put on trial for the murders she has been accused of. The book becomes more of a political thriller than previous titles, as Blomkvist discovers evidence of a government cover-up, and other characters start questioning whether Salander is mentally stable.
There is another plotline in the book involving Blomqvist's boss and occasional lover Erika Berga leaving Millennium to become editor-in-chief of another magazine, where she starts receiving threatening e-mails from someone, who escalates to stalking her at her house.
I enjoyed this book more than the previous installment, and found the storyline compelling, even though it turned into a standard courtroom drama in some of the later chapters. It was satisfying in that every single loose end from the second novel was tied up by the end, although some of the chapters towards the end went in new directions and felt almost like mini novels of their own, introducing plot elements that hopefully have been developed in the fourth book, The Girl in the Spider's Web.
It's unfortunate that Stieg Larsson only lived to write three of his books, but I'm planning to read the next two books, hoping that the writing is faithful to the first three installments.