16 January 2018

Review: THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, David Lagercrantz

  • format: Kindle (Amazon)
  • File Size: 2206 KB
  • Print Length: 432 pages
  • Publisher: MacLehose Press (August 27, 2015)
  • Publication Date: August 27, 2015
  • Sold by: Hachette Book Group
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00SJPZCWE
  • #4 in the Millenium Series (Stieg Larsson)
Synopsis  (Amazon)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO IS BACK.

Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist have not been in touch for some time.

Then Blomkvist is contacted by renowned Swedish scientist Professor Balder. Warned that his life is in danger, but more concerned for his son's well-being, Balder wants Millennium to publish his story - and it is a terrifying one.

More interesting to Blomkvist than Balder's world-leading advances in Artificial Intelligence, is his connection with a certain female superhacker.

It seems that Salander, like Balder, is a target of ruthless cyber gangsters - and a violent criminal conspiracy that will very soon bring terror to the snowbound streets of Stockholm, to the Millennium team, and to Blomkvist and Salander themselves.

My Take

I'm not sure now what I felt about this novel. I've had it on my TBR on my Kindle for at least a couple of years and have only just managed to read. I was a fan of the first 3 novels in Millenium series, but I had trouble remembering them through this novel.

The novel felt very heavy, too detailed, with the author determined both to uphold the Stieg Larssen style, and to make sure that the reader has all the information. It felt as if there was a lot of new plot data which had not been part of the original novels. There seemed to be too many details about the main characters that I was not aware of. But maybe that was just my forgettery at work.

However, I don't think I will read another.

Was this Steig Larsson's unfinished manuscript?
From Wikipedia:
The late author's [ Stieg Larsonn] literary estate is fully controlled by his brother and father, who hired Lagercrantz and have supported the latest book in the series. However Larsson's long-term partner Eva Gabrielsson, has voiced criticism against this project. She possesses an unfinished fourth manuscript of the Millennium series, which is not included in the upcoming fourth novel. She referred to Lagercrantz as a "completely idiotic choice" to continue the Millennium series.

Here is what I say elsewhere about "coattails" novels.



My rating: 4.0

About the Author
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.

My reviews of the Steig Larsson novels
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST

1 comment:

Kay said...

I read this one a while back and liked it well enough. I really liked the first 3 books. This one was different and I could tell it had another author. I understand that Lagercrantz has a new book out, but I haven't rushed to it. I may get to it at some point. I'm a bit on the fence as to whether someone should have continue the characters, but that's usually my feelings when the original author is gone and someone else continues.

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