In 2004, Stieg Larsson, the editor of a Swedish political magazine and author of the Millennium Trilogy, which included The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest died of a massive heart a
In 2004, Stieg Larsson, the editor of a Swedish political magazine and author of the Millennium Trilogy, which included The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50. As of 2015, Larsson's trilogy has sold more than 80 million copies, all published posthumously.
Now, 11 years after his death we have a new book in the series, The Girl in the Spider's Web.
With permission from Larsson's estate and controversially not with the permission of Larsson's long-term but unmarried partner, the torch has been handed to David Lagercrantz, a Swedish journalist.
The real question, though, was how to continue this series under the watchful, scrutinizing eye of fans. Larsson's punk hacker Lisbeth Salander is a character who haunted the page with her angry, compelling and brilliant style. How then to recreate her and her protagonist, investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, without veering too far off course and without too much fan gratification?
Happily for readers, Lagercrantz pulls it off in with The Girl in the Spider's Web with an enormous amount of finesse. In a wonderfully intricate plot, he gives us everything from an autistic boy witnessing a murder and then being unable to verbalize what he saw to Salander boldly and ingeniously hacking into the NSA.
Blomkvist, meanwhile, jaded and bored at the magazine he writes for, is pulled into the world of scientist Frans Balder, a world-renowned authority on artificial intelligence. Balder's research is cutting edge and perilous; he contacts Blomkvist when he believes that his life is in danger. This contact generates - finally - a story Blomkvist can sink his teeth into.
The story winds in such a way that he reconnects with Lisbeth Salander, a meeting which Lagercrantz builds up to beautifully. The result of these two characters intersecting is electrifying. I lost myself in the new author's words and forgot his real identity, slipping right back into Larsson's world of computers, maneuvering and righteous retaliation.
If you enjoyed the original three books or just enjoy suspenseful thrillers, this book is for you. It is a tad technical at times but well worth it as the intrigue is compelling and fast paced.
I give The Girl in the Spider's Web a 3.7/5.
