Here’s a book that I viewed with mixed feelings. I’m not greatly enamoured of writers taking on the characters of other authors and I tend to give the books a miss. I made an exception for The Girl in the Spider’s Web for a number of reasons. Firstly I enjoyed Lagercrantz’s Fall of Man in Wilmslow that was published earlier this year and think he certainly knows hows to tell a good story. I also wanted to give the book a fair assessment for the 2016 Petrona Award for which, as a Scandinavian translated crime novel, it’s eligible. And I wasn’t disappointed. I thought the book to be a decent crime novel that, in my opinion, is better than the last of Larsson’s trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.
A famous Swedish scientist, Professor Balder, contacts investigative journalist Mikhael Blomkvist, to say his life is in danger from a group who call themselves the Spiders and he want’s Millenium, Blomkvist’s newspaper, to publish the story. The professor reveals he has been working with Lisbeth Salander to discover what computer files are available to back up his story. But Salander has her own mission, to hack into the US National Security Agency to discover the whereabouts of her sister who is still trying to kill her.
The characters of Blomkvist and Salander are immediately recognisable as Larsson’s creations. Once more, it’s Salander who dominates the narrative although Lagercrantz does try to give the character extra depth by showing the pain and conflict having a murderous sibling can bring. The other compelling character is Balder’s autistic son who is witness to a horrific act. The story of professionals attempting to tease out details of the criminals from his mind is never trite and detailed with subtlety.
It’s clear that this is a book written after the success of the trilogy. Salander has been described by commentators as a modern day super-hero and Lagercrantz picks up on this and develops the motif. But, apart from a dip in the middle of an admittedly long book, the action goes at a fair pace. It’s a worthy successor to Larsson’s work and a very enjoyable read.
Thanks to Quercus for my review copy.
I’m glad you enjoyed this one, Sarah. Like you, I don’t care for follow-ons that are written by other authors. I prefer the original author. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no way they can be well-written.
Thanks Margot!
I also have an aversion to authors picking up and continuing a series. (I did read most of the continuation books for the Nero Wolfe series, because I love the characters so much… and they were not so bad.) This one I might consider because I did not care for the original series. Too, too long and too much extraneous stuff. Thanks for the review, I was curious about the book.
I largely read it from curiosity too, Tracy
I’m glad you liked it. I put it on reserve at the library and look forward to reading it.
Great! I’ll look forward to hearing what you think.
Glad it worked for you Sarah as I tend to resist this sort of belated follow-up. But I think i have less invested in the series having found the superhero aspects of Salander in volume 2 already too much to take seriously …
Fair enough. I was interested what Lagercrantz would do with the character. I’m not sure I’ll read any more though.
Are there more planned?
Good question. Not that I’m aware of but I suspect are likely!
Thanks for your comments, Sarah. I wasn’t sure whether to put this one on my list, but it seems from your review it’s definitely worth a try!
Great! I’ll be interested to see what you think!
Hey, I am disappointed with the book a bit. Alone, its a good read but it doesn’t even come close to the original series. I also reviewed it. Check it out at: https://explorerofbooks.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/lisbeth-salander-resurrected-book-review-of-the-girl-in-the-spiders-web-by-david-lagercrantz/
Thanks! I’m sorry you were disappointed. I preferred it to the last book in the series but I can see how it wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste.
I’m about 3/4 the way through it and the book picked up. Some of it is a bit far-fetched and the use of coincidence is annoying, but it has its merits, too.
Not as compelling as Larsson’s trilogy, but there is enough to hang on to.
Glad there’s enough to keep your interest, Kathy.
About to start reading this now. It should be interesting!