The Girl in the Spider’s Web
A continuation of The Millennium Series
By David Lagercrantz
Number of Pages: 416
Date Started: October 5th 2015
Date Finished: October 17th 2015
Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return
She is the girl with the dragon tattoo—a genius hacker and uncompromising misfit. He is a crusading journalist whose championing of the truth often brings him to the brink of prosecution.
Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female superhacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering. Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Salander for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. The secret they are both chasing is at the center of a tangled web of spies, cybercriminals, and governments around the world, and someone is prepared to kill to protect it…
The duo who captivated millions of readers in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest join forces again in this adrenaline-charged, uniquely of-the-moment thriller.
Review:
I wanted to love this book. Truly, I did. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite meet the mark left by Stieg Larsson. This book was quite good as a stand alone book, but it seemed far more like fanfiction than an actual continuation of the same series. While we see our favourite characters, their depth and relatability seem to have gone.
The mention of Pippi Longstocking is quite annoying. It’s been written about in a few books about Stieg Larsson that she was his base for Salander, but instead of mentioning something about why she dyes her natural red hair black, Lagercrantz brings it up by having Salander sarcastically give that name when working, mentioning that the two police officers who are supposed to watch Palmer are like two of the characters from the story, and someone else mentioning that they were reminded of Pippi. Why? What does that have to do with anything? Tie it in or leave it as subtext. You know, subtext: that thing that Stieg Larsson actually knew how to write.
The use of superheros was neat, but completely negated previous mentions by Larsson. This could have been done as a ploy to get new readers, but as it wasn’t publicized and only those who read the book would know, it did more to take the reader out of the novel than it did to bring new people in. The enemy use of superhero names made the entire subplot seem immature. Likewise, the main villain’s “super power” did not fit into the well laid plans and world of Stieg Larsson at all, nor is the ability realistic in any way.
I did like the book, separate from the trilogy Larsson left when he passed away. The continuation this series had such potential, but unfortunately I do not think Lagercrantz was the right author to attempt it.
Author Bio: (From Amazon)
DAVID LAGERCRANTZ is an acclaimed Swedish journalist and author. He has worked as a crime reporter for Expressen, and has written several novels, including the forthcoming Fall of Man in Wilmslow. He worked with international soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović on his memoir, I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović, which was short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award and was nominated for the August Prize in Sweden.
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Amy S. Brown 