The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel

If you aren’t ready to let Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist go yet, this book by David Lagercrantz is a worthy follow up. While I missed the developing relationship between Blomkvist and Figuerola that began in Larsson’s The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and Larsson’s development of Lisbeth’s appearance into that of a slightly more mature and sophisticated woman, I found the story, the action and the development of the history of one of the remaining members of Lisbeth’s family, her twin sister Camilla, added a new dimension to the story.In addition there’s some fascinating information about the role of prime factorization in the world of data encryption, which though it may be old news these days, provides interesting reading for a lay person like me. It’s fun to see Lisbeth working to solve difficult problems and eventually resolving the issues she faces. I found it to be a fun and exciting read.

Sorry, David Lagercrantz, just isn't the same as Steig Larsson.

As always I thoroughly enjoy this book series surrounding the main characters of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. I have actually read the first three books twice now but this is my first time reading the new additions since the original author, Stieglitz Larsson’s, death. As always the series doesn’t disappoint, very well written and leaves me unable to put the book down as I hang in suspense wanting to know what’s going to happen next. I live with serious health issues that have unfortunately permanently disabled me now and to have this kind of very welcome entertainment via these books to get my mind off my daily suffering and onto the amazingly interesting subject matter within these books is a blessing for me. I really enjoy them and I’m now going to start the next one in the series with great enthusiasm. I highly recommend them. Enjoy!

A Swedish computer genius’ life is under threat. The NSA is hacked. It is going to take a computer expert to bring all of these strands together. Welcome back Lisbeth Salander.After Stieg Larsson’s death in 2004 like many fans of the Millennium Series, I was afraid that I had lost Lisbeth, Mikael Bloomkvist and the rest of the characters I had grown to love. David Lagercrantz brought them back in 2015’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web and gave them a new mystery to solve.For those unfamiliar with the Millennium Series here are the main two characters. Lisbeth Salander is the daughter of an abusive father who is a Russian defector. Her father is given complete protection by Säpo, the Swedish secret Service, which allows him to terrorize Lisbeth and her mother. At the age of 12, Lisbeth, having witnessed too much of his violence, takes revenge and sets her father on fire. Mikael Bloomkvist is an investigative journalist for the magazine Millennium. He is known for writing blockbuster pieces that expose corruption in Swedish society. Most recently he has been greatly aided by Lisbeth.The Girl in the Spider’s Web is the first book in the series written by Mr. Lagercrantz. Here we meet Frans Balder, a master computer programmer who has quit his job to return to Sweden to take care of his autistic son. He has also taken his research into Artificial Intelligence with him. Balder is warned that his life and work are danger from a secret criminal organization called “the Spiders” who are led by the mysterious Thanos. In hope of shedding light on his work and the threats against him, Baldor arranges to meet Mikael Bloomkvist. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander has been trying to hunt down The Spiders for her own reasons. In her efforts she has helped a group of hackers to break into the NSA’s intranet, and given her information on the threat to Baldor. As all of this comes together, Lisbeth’s past pops up to play a significant role in the investigation.It is not easy to pick up someone else’s work and carry it on. Mr. Lagercrantz has done a very good job adapting our familiar and loved characters to his voice. This is even more true since we now have not only a new author, but a new translator also. As with any change, the new tone of the novel is a little disconcerting at first. One review in Upsala Nya Tidning described the portrayal of Lisbeth and Mikael as “more brooding” and “less cartoonish.” My impression of the reinterpretation of these characters is the opposite. To me this novel is much less dark. This may be because it is more plot driven than character driven than the previous novels. I am not sure if this is a result of the original writing, the new translator or both.It is true that by the fourth book of a series, characters have a set of personality traits that well defined. That does not mean that characters should not grow. Unfortunately, there is little growth in this novel. It is a good mystery. The plot is compelling. It held my attention and was fun to read. But neither Lisbeth nor Mikael develop or change. There is nothing that moves them forward as people. This book could stand alone, and while there are some references that a new reader might miss, it would not affect the mystery in any way. The problem is that having read the previous books I was looking for new pieces in the personalities of my “friends” I did not find them here.www,readinginthe2ndhalf.blogspot.com

I was a big fan of Stieg's Larsson's trilogy published in the USA 2008-2009. I gobbled them up as soon as they came out. I particularly liked "Dragon Tattoo" and I enjoyed the US and Swedish film versions of that story as well. While I liked the succeeding two books, "Fire" and "Hornet's Nest" I felt they treated Lisbeth Salander as more of a super-hero, and they both felt a bit like comic book treatments. However, I must admit that Amazon readers generally don't agree with me based on ratings and number of reviews. "Dragon Tattoo" was 4.5 stars with 6000 reviews; the other two Larsson books each had 8500 reviews and 4.5 stars. On the one hand while I was sad to hear of Larsson's demise realizing there would be no more "The Girl...." books, I was satisfied that the stories had probably run their course; I was ready to move on to new things. When it was announced a few years back that the series would continue under the authorship of David Lagercrantz I wasn't too excited - I was not familiar with any successful extensions of a deceased author's work, yet aware of a couple disasters.Recently, I read the Washington Post's Maureen Corrigan review of "The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye", book #5 if you're counting. In it she comments that #4, "The Girl in the Spider's Web" (SW) , had received terrific reviews and recalled Larsson's "numbed noir atmosphere" yet eliminated some of his stylist faults; I decided to give Lagercrantz a shot and try SW.I found it to be very different, not in a good way in many cases, from the original. For one thing, it's main focus was not on Millenium magazine, star reporter Blomqvist and the rest of the team. Rather it had an awful lot to do with hacking, computer security, software, and the inner workings of NSA, Sweden's Sapo, and the Stockholm police. Salander's presence in the first half on the book is mostly in the background, i.e., by reference; I kept waiting for her to make a grand entrance. Finally, she appears, and it's not so grand. She encounters a bad guy and smites him.....in a game of chess. He admits to some evil doings, confesses all, and Salander lets him go! A kinder, gentler, Salander? Well, yes and no. She does come to the rescue of a young boy with an all too common affliction, befriends him and saves him again, and again.I thought the writing style was inferior. Page 310: "Kajsa could tell that he felt terrible about shooting those children (reviewer's note, two little girls, both in the face). He was a murderer, a man whose specialty had been torture...but he still had his moral boundaries..." I didn't feel the same tension that I recall in the Larsson books, but then again it's been almost 8 years. Occasionally, some of the dialogue seemed off. Occasionally, there would be a response that didn't seem just right in English. I'm not sure if that's on the translator or the author, but it was a bit annoying. The plot wasn't that interesting to me. The original books were longer by about 250 - 350 pages but they seemed to fly by faster than SW. The comic book aura is still there. A leading character is shot, entry and exit wound; takes some anti-biotics but no doctor, no stitches - really!? And several key characters use handles to disguise their web identity, e.g. The Wasp - if you're between 12 and 28 you probably know who that was, or is, I'm not sure.In conclusion, let's first take a look at the Amazon numbers. Four stars for SW, down 1/2 star, but 9600 reviews. I suspect that the reader count may have been boosted in part by the advent of e-readers in the ensuing years. Will I read "Eye for an Eye"? Probably not, but I may feel differently a year from now.

This is NOT Stieg Larsson. Let me start off by saying that. No, what this book essentially amounts to is commissioned fan fiction; and a contentious piece of literature at that. Regardless of which side of the feud between Eva Gabrielsson and the Larsson family over who has rights to the intellectual property you find yourself on, one thing that simply can not be overlooked is that, for all the hype surrounding the book, "The Girl in the Spider's Web" is an absolutely fantastic read. While it does not have Larsson's sharp, journalistic approach or his dry, prosaic style (to attempt to imitate him would have been an insult to his legacy IMHO), what the story lacks in terms of depth and complexity of plot and interwoven sub-plot ala the previous books, it more than makes up for in the way the author (David Lagercrantz) paints the world of Millennium in broad, colorful strokes, while managing to capture the essence of the characters in a believable, familiar way.However, many of the hallmarks of Larsson's writing are sorely (perhaps intentionally?) absent. Gone are the page long litanies expounding the hardware specs of Lizbeth's shiny new PowerBook G4. In fact, gone seems to be the rampant Apple fanaticism that I feel was a defining characteristic of several of the main characters. Larsson himself was clearly a fanboy. In it's place is a vague dialogue about Linux and Android, which to be honest, I feel is a bit off the mark. Lizbeth, and the crew at Millennium, were dyed in the wool Apple die-hards. You've got to understand, especially if you're not old enough to remember the PowerPC days, that to own a Mac used to say something about you. Mac users were the intellectuals, the creatives, the rebels, and the dreamers, those who insisted on unflinching quality and equally thoughtful design; the perfectly harmonious marriage of software designed for the hardware it's run on and vice versa. While that may be somewhat less true now since the deal with the devil (the switch to Intel in 05/06), and the rise of iOS, it still applies to some extent to hard core Mac fans. Which model of Mac you used also said something about you, the affordable iBook was intended for the user who needed a computer that "just works ©", a user who needed reliability, speed and uncompromising quality in a highly transportable form factor -- this is right in Mikael's utilitarian, uncompromisingly ethical wheelhouse. The lavish 17" PowerBook G4 on the other hand, in Larsson's own words, was the "Rolls Royce" of computers at the time. When the 17" PowerBook came out, it was the largest, most powerful laptop in the world. It outclassed every other contender in the field by orders of magnitude, and looked effortlessly sexy in the process. It's STEEP price point (Nearly $3000) set it well out of the reach, and the need, of all but the most demanding users. Of course Salander, the greatest hacker in Sweden, nay, the world, would have to own one. But I digress. I'm just saying, the fact that there wasn't a single mention of "Then Salander opened her sleek, quad core MacBook Pro and set about righting the wrongs of the world..." or "Blomkvist sat on his couch brooding, his inner journalist sensing something about the situation just didn't add up. Just then a thought occurred to him, and at once he opened his MacBook and set about creating a new document in the folder 'Lizbeth Stuff'..." is amiss. In fact the only mention of Apple in the books is a derogatory reference to iPhones being somehow security compromised, which in light of the whole San Diego debacle last year, has turned out to be flagrantly inaccurate. Hindsight, is -- as they say -- 20/20. Lizzy is a jailbreaker, no doubt about that!Refreshingly though, Blomkvist's unrealistic and inexplicable propensity for charming his way into the hearts and beds of virtually every woman he encounters is gone. I almost cringed for a moment when he met with Farah Sharif, but then uncringed when he left without it inexplicably turning into a fling. Glad to see Officer Bubble get some action! However, I must say that I was surprised that nothing happened between him and Hanna Balder. That seemed like the obvious way for Blomkvist to pull a James Bond (Daniel Craig?) and get to continue his womanizing ways.all in all, this book was a solid read which manages to remain true to the spirit of the characters without pandering to the audience nor does it ever feel like it's verging on imitation. This book, in my opinion is a valid spiritual successor to Larsson's trilogy, yet stands on it's own right. If you were a fan of the Millennium trilogy, do yourself a favor and give this book a fair shake. You may just enjoy it.

This is a very difficult book to rate. As the fourth book in the Milennium series and a continuation on from Stieg Larsson's writing, it's a 3, maybe even as low as a 2. But if you separate it out, remove your expectations and comparisons, and even mostly try to ignore all the references to the originals, it's a good story. It starts out very slowly, and throughout there are some very dense, technical explanations. But I quickly found myself immersed in the story and it works well as an intelligent crime thriller. However, the really weak links here are the characters brought in from the original series.Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are treated with a kind of reverence that keeps them from being anything more than one-dimensional characters. Blomkvist is just so good and perfect, always doing the right thing, and of course comes out a hero with a great success. And Salander is barely even one-dimensional, just a caricature of the original. Here she is a comic book super heroine, righting wrongs with super human skills, with all the goodness and righteousness and bravery we expect from our super heroes. And of course she wins at every turn, but easily, without any of the tension or surprises in the original series.But when the novel focuses on the new characters and the actual story line, that's where it is an interesting and engaging read. Some details do stretch for credibility - like the severely autistic boy who suddenly understands, communicates and even shows emotion (and of course due to Salander's intervention). But for the most part it's at least as good as any Dan Brown novel and much better than others in the genre, such as John Grisham.One other small quibble is that there was far too much mention of streets and neighbourhoods and roads in Stockholm where it is set. I'm sure this appeals to the local audience, but it was overused and this was always meant for an international audience.In summary, if you are looking for a continuation of Stieg Larsson's exceptional trilogy, you will be very disappointed. But if you can put aside those expectations, this is a passable thriller. I gave it four stars because I did find it hard to put down, I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next.

Let's be honest about the original Millenium Trilogy--the first, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, was the best of the three by a very wide margin. Both of the sequels were enjoyable but noticeably inferior by comparison. The Girl in the Spider's Web isn't as good as any of the original three--but that doesn't mean it isn't an enjoyable enough read if you were a fan of the earlier books.It's nice to see the familiar characters back again, particularly since the original trilogy was obviously never meant to be a trilogy at all--it's just thought of that way because of the unexpected death of author Stieg Larsson, who was reportedly well into working on a fourth book when he died from a sudden heart attack.The Girl in the Spider's Web is not that fourth book, which reportedly dealt with human trafficking. Because of a bitter dispute between the author's family (who he was apparently estranged from but became his heirs under Swedish law since Larsson left no will) and his longtime live-in girlfriend the world might never get a glimpse of the intended fourth book, so we get The Girl in the Spider's Web instead, which was approved by the dead author's estate--meaning the family he would have likely left nothing to if he had actually had the foresight to make out a will.This is a decent page-turner that generally captures the spirit of the Millenium Trilogy but not quite--it's kind of like when people other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle write Sherlock Holmes stories or someone writes their own sequel to Pride and Prejudice. However skillfully written, there's a connection between author and characters that is missing in other peoples' continuations and the same is true here. The Girl in the Spider's Web feels like a pretty skillful facsimile of Stieg Larsson's writing rather than something original and creative of its own. It is a decent enough thriller about NSA Surveillance and computer encryption and a rough gang of criminals headed by someone in Lisbeth Salander's past. It is well researched and generally does justice to the iconic characters from the original trilogy. But there are two obvious failings, beyond the feeling that you're not quite reading the real thing. One is a very unfortunate stretch where new author David Lagercrantz overexplains and oversimplifies Salander's psychology in the form of a long explanation by her former guardian to journalist Mikael Blomkvist. That section of the book made me cringe and reminded me of the boring scene at the end of Psycho where the psychiatrist wastes everyone's time by explaining away Norman Bates and his behavior, making him infinitely less interesting and scary in the process. The other obvious failing compared with the original trilogy is that the villain here is far less vivid and memorable than the villains in the original books.The Girl in the Spider's Web is still a worthwhile read despite its faults and it offers a more satisfying conclusion for Salander and Blomkvist than the abrupt end to the Millenium Trilogy did. Purists are unlikely to be impressed, but more casual fans should find themselves more than adequately entertained. But if there is going to be a fifth book, I honestly hope it's better than this one was and that they find an author with a stronger voice to pen it. David Lagercrantz is clearly a capable writer but his addition to the Millenium series is far from inspired and feels like it was driven by economics rather than the need to tell a good story.

I am not sure if things are perhaps lost in translation, but the plotline is set for an amazing and explosive book, but the execution falls short. In my opinion, here's why:I. Lagercrantz has changed Salander, the shining star in the series.In this 4th novel:1. Salander frequently makes religious references, swears in Jesus' name, and tells people they better pray (since when did Salander ever mention/care about religion?).2. She has been more normalized, she is more conversant, empathetic, and soft (part of her appeal is how completely asocial, abrupt, and uncompromising she is, even when painful). Salander measured her words precisely and rarely spoke, even when she needed to. In this novel, she has several rather unnecessary "you should fear me" big stick conversations. The real Salander would never have wasted her breath this way, and it waters down her strength. There was so much strength in Salander's brooding, angry silence.3. She turns evidence in to the police (What?? The real Salander would never have done this, as she greatly detested these sorts of institutions. She'd have sent it to Mikael or broadcast it on television or something, but certainly never would she have turned to the courts or police).4. She rejoices and expresses happiness and longing/friendliness (the real Salander was painfully antisocial and couldn't figure out how to express happiness or friendliness). Her moments of rejoicing seem very out of place, but they are clearly offered to push along the plotline...and they do so poorly.5. Lagercrantz makes Salander seem a bit materialistic and girlier (she randomly owns an expensive BMW - Salander wouldn't have bought that unless she needed to, she didn't care about material things; at the end, she puts on make up to see Blomkvist and coyly toys with him? WHAT?? Since when??)6. Lagercrantz' has calmed her down in her fury, which is the saddest part.7. You never REALLY get the sense for WHY Salander cared or wanted to crack the NSA codes etc in the first place. You never really know why it was of interest to her, because apparently it wasn't to find her sister.II. Nothing is well described. Everything just felt kind of glossed over. Massive portions of the plot are solved in one sentence. Spoiler alert: Andrei is just found dead, as we find out in a one liner - there is not even a description of a search; the build up to Needham meeting Salander and the ensuing chaos is barely described across three pages; the result of the ensuing chaos is basically....nothing. People offer public apologies and the rest is to be determined, basically. That really falls short. They manage to solve who faked messages to the mental institution in one paragraph, and foil a plot to kill the boy in like..two paragraphsIII. Odd modern day references. References to specific makes and models of cars, Avicii playing on the radio (why?), and various other irrelevant details throw off the story.IV. Other than a lengthy description of the fact that Camilla's beauty entrances people, there is no real understanding of her value or necessity. Why do dangerous, strong men - super hackers and killers - fear, respect, dread, and long for this woman? Basically, because she's pretty? That's it? Seriously? Salander's strongest features are her 1. photographic memory 2. savant-like mathematical skills 3. computer skills. What are Camilla's? According to Lagercrantz, she possesses none of the mathematical/technological intelligence of her sister, can't fight as well as her sister, but is more sociable. In no way did she strike me as the arch nemesis to the very strong, very capable Salander. Further, there is no description or understanding of what Zala's relationship was with his daughter following the accident; apparently, for all these years, theyve been rather close as she admired him because he was powerful, but that's as much as you know. That would have been fascinating to read about but because this is not even touched upon, you can't really understand why or how she is the head of a massive criminal organization or why anyone listens to or respects her. What cards does she have above these other people, that she is able to destroy people's lives in a single touch? Still have no idea. She pales in comparison to Salander and is not made out to be a worthy foe/nemesis.It is too much to want someone to write exactly in the voice of the original author, but I think too many aspects of the tone and speed of the book were changed, as well as too many crucial aspects to main character's personalities. Too many crucial details were left out. I honestly think this book would have been better had it been split between two novels, or expanded by several hundred pages, as this would have allowed major events in the book to be described and drawn out in a more Larsson-esque, real-time manner.

I enjoyed reading the 4th installment of the Lisbeth Salander series, despite several very annoying facets. I hope that Lagercrantz continues to write more books in this series. I will purchase Book 5 as soon as it is released.The Good“The Girl in the Spider’s Web has a complex and evolving plot; with many different characters and the book kept me entertained. The descriptions of weather conditions were very good. Some of the character interaction was excellent.Salander’s complex character is well treated, and she appears throughout the narrative.Salander’s sister is an emerging character in the book, and hopefully will feature in future novels.The descriptions of the weather are realistic and add to the plot.The BadThe author Lagercrantz portrays Mikael Blomkvist almost as an empty character, and Mikael does not come across as a real person as he does in the three earlier novels. I always enjoyed the Blomkvist / Salander interaction in the earlier books; the sexual tension, the development of mutual trust, and the art of working together. In “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” the only interaction is by computer messages until they finally meet on the very last page.Also the Salander character is not as evenly developed as in the earlier novels. No disguises for example.The book’s biggest fault is that Salander’s “shoulder wound” is not medically possible or survivable. A bullet that penetrated the shoulder from the front and exited the back would smash bones and incapacitate the person. It would not be possible for the victim to continue, drive a car and self-treat the wound. I hope the author does some research on firearms, ballistics and survivability before the next novel.The botched assignation scenarios are unrealistic, any competent shooter would have been successful.There are no graphic descriptions of the geography and the scenery as was very well done in the three earlier books. The author gives us a sense of the weather conditions but not of the urban or rural landscapes in which his characters operate.The Author should have used a different acronym for the NSA as his descriptions of its activities are incorrect and almost slanderous. This organization is at the leading edge of combat against cyber-crime and terrorism, not an agency of evil. That is my opinion anyway.In summary a good read if somewhat annoying at times.

For those of us who were mesmerized by Stieg Larsson’s magnificent Dragon Tatoo books, it was quite depressing closing the book on the third and final volume, knowing that there would be no more because dead people cannot write more books (though that doesn’t seem to have stopped Robert Ludlum). But alas, a few weeks ago, I read, with great excitement, that the Larsson estate commissioned an accomplished writer with investigative journalism credentials ala Larsson and his fictional protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist, to keep the series alive. I’m pleased to say that David Lagercrantz has done a very credible job with book #4 – The Girl in the Spider’s Web, though Stieg Larsson he ain’t.The plot line is intoxicating, though at times, quite complex due to the heavy role played by computer technology. Once again, we marvel at the dark, mysterious Lisbeth Salander and her diverse portfolio of prodigious skills. In this book, a brilliant, an eccentric and reclusive scientist is on the verge of a major scientific breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Competing organizations including major worldwide corporations, governments and criminal elements pull out all stops to acquire the scientist’s work. The scientist’s savant, autistic, mute eight year-old son holds the key to resolving major issues in the story line. This is where Salander and Blomkvist step in to protect the boy. The story’s major bad guy is a member of Salander’s family, who many of us were led to believe was a non-entity in the Larsson books.Here’s what I found disappointing, though the sum of all of these only caused me to rate the book four stars instead of five. (1) I was greatly annoyed by Lagercrantz’s obsession with ending too many chapters with cliffhangers, ala the Flash Gordon-type serials of the 1930s and 40s, (2) Although major hacking disasters seem to arise daily in the real world, I found it implausible that the Salander character and many other hackers who play prominent roles in the book seem to be able to hack into computers with the greatest of ease and get whatever they want whenever they want, regardless of how top-secret, secure and guarded the hacked sites are. It felt the same as if the characters could read peoples’ minds instead of hacking computers. Alas, I don’t profess to be an expert on hacking – maybe this level of hacking is possible, but I remain skeptical, (3) As the plot develops, the chapters seem to get choppier and shorter, giving the reader a feeling of excessive back and forth with all the story lines, making it hard to follow at times. Finally, I found it frustrating that it took so long to get Salander’s character fully engaged in the story line after the author kept her in the sidelines too long. But maybe this served to enhance our anticipation when she finally emerges in her usual, dramatic, unorthodox style. .All in all, I can’t wait to read the next book.

With all the controversy surrounding this book, I was a little wary about reading it. I loved the first three books of the series (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest) and are considered some of my favorites so the innate biased against the book, along with the controversy, created a pretty big uphill for The Girl In The Spider’s Web and David Lagercrantz to climb. But it’s that same love for the series that enabled me to keep an open mind and roused my curiosity for this book.While I don’t think the book (or any subsequent books) carried the same aura as the previous books, it wasn’t a trainwreck that I was fearing it would be. There were no outrageous additions/changes made to the overall foundation of the series which would’ve made me question whether I’m reading an installment from a different series. Lagercrantz did a pretty good job of maintaining a consistency in the tone and style from the previous books. The narrative was crisp and straightforward but manages to create a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere. It makes you want to keep reading to find out what exactly is going on.Obviously, what made the series so great is the chemistry between our odd couple of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. With having someone other than Stieg Larsson at the helm of directing these twosome, it’s understandable that a certain amount of unease would be present regarding their take on these two characters. Lagercrantz manages to keep them in character along with their unique connection. Unless you’re really nitpicky/die-hard, you’ll be happy with his portrayals. He does a good job of creating their backstory since the last book leading up to their current situations (which carries a similar tone: Blomkvist down on his luck and looking for a story to revitalize his career and Salander finding information regarding her father and his business).In essence, what made this book not as good at the previous ones was the storyline. I thought that it wasn’t as compelling as it was with the other books. The fact that the first 3 (actually the latter 2) focused on Salander and her background made those books such engrossing reads. While this book still does involve her and her family, including the appearance of a certain sister that I thought is great to include in the series, the plot point involving the NSA, industrial espionage and cybercriminals didn’t have the same compelling nature as before. It didn’t help that it took almost the first half of the book to establish the background/foundation of the story and at times it was difficult to follow what was going on. Although I did like how the details appearing at the beginning ended up having an impact on events occurring later in the book. Perhaps if the beginning of the book was written differently in which it wasn’t as long and less disjointed (because the rest of the book was great) then the overall entertainment factor would be higher for me.As you can see, a lot of my feelings for the book is compared to my love of the previous books. That may not be fair, but I would be lying if I didn’t. It would be that proverbial elephant in the room. It would not only be expected, but understandable. Any subsequent books in the Millennium Series will never be as great as the first three (and we all know why), but if they are like The Girl In The Spider’s Web, I think the series will stay alive. This new installment managed to maintain familiar territory especially in regard to Blomkvist and Salander. As long as their strong personality and unique relationship are kept intact within a good plot, the books will find their place. The series will never be the same, but as long as they stay within the sphere that Mr. Larsson created, I can see a point where I can stop comparing them to the first 3.

The continuation of the Millennium series is a literary event of some moment, since it continues the career of Lisbeth Salander, one of the very special characters to emerge in the second golden age of crime fiction. Each of the three books in Stieg Larsson’s series is written in a different subgenre (locked-room [island] mystery, legal thriller, etc.). The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a technothriller. A genius studying artificial intelligence is murdered. His death is connected with an international plot between an American government agency and a private firm to profit from the acquisition of industrial secrets. Enter the Russian mob, the principal Swedish security agency, local investigators, Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth Salander and Lisbeth’s evil twin sister, Camilla. The last element takes us deeper and deeper into Lisbeth’s backstory and, in the process, adds a touch of the biblical/mythic. A further delineation of Lisbeth’s character comes when she finds herself in the position of guarding/mothering a young, autistic savant, the son of the murdered Swedish AI specialist. This is a very clever way of getting us into the brilliant, quirky mind of LS.Issues: the technothriller focusing on the nuances of computation, encryption and hacking entails risk. How do you make the story interesting enough to delight the digital generation without making it so complex that it results in tedium for others? The world of quantum computers and the factorization of prime numbers is fascinating, but a little of it goes a long way. There is also the question of pace. LS is such a fascinating character that I can understand the decision to keep her in abeyance as the plot develops. This helps build both suspense and anticipation and we are anxious to see her appear on the scene and electrify it by her very presence. She does not really appear in the novel until we are 50 pp. in. On the other hand, the conclusion is superb and she is well worth waiting for. Finally, there is the issue of atmospherics. The literal atmospherics—icy winds, swirling snow, chilled bones—are easy enough and they are done well, but how does one convey the ethos of Stockholm, etc. for those who have never been there or who know it very superficially? Lagercrantz’s technique is to enumerate every street for every character, every café, every corporate office, every encounter and every memory. Ultimately this seems to work, even though the reader may not have anything approaching a mental image of the street being described. It creates a sort of rhythm, like the names in apposition in Homeric epic (Achilles, breaker of horses, etc.), but it points up the difficulty of presenting a story set in a relatively small and relatively isolated place to a vast, international audience.Lagercrantz’s narrative is effective and polished (to the extent that I can judge it); the translation by George Goulding is certainly smooth and does not draw unnecessary attention to itself. The ‘English’ is international and does not succumb to the temptation to rely on awkward British or American idiomatic expressions.Finally, I enjoyed the novel very much. The new author makes excellent use of a brilliant set of core characters and is able to handle the technical details of the novel’s principal plot arcs with skill and authority. While it does not quite achieve the effects of Larsson’s work, that might be in part because Larsson entered the crime fiction scene with such drama and panache that Lagercrantz was forced to meet impossible expectations. The bottom line is that I would purchase the next novel in the series and look forward to reading it.