The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander novel, continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series (Millennium, #4)

by David Lagercrantz

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. 

• ISBN10: 0385354282
• ISBN13: 9780385354288
• Publish Date: 1 September 2015 (first published 27 August 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
• Format: Hardcover (Deckle Edge)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385354288

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

This book marks the first written in the aftermath of Stieg Larsson’s death, and the difference in writing style between Larsson and Lagercrantz is clear. Perhaps it’s because the world was born from Larsson’s style, which carried us through the three books, the “formative” years, but this first takes a bit to settle into. This is not to say it’s bad; it’s not. It’s just… different.

Different writing style or not, Lisabeth Salander continues to be one of my all-time favorite characters. She has all the makings of a fictional villain. She’s an antisocial, abrasive, hacker with a violent streak who thrives in the underbelly of the world. But she’s also a warrior, fighting against injustice (especially against women). I had fear that with a new writer, the magic that is her would disappear. It did not, although it did feel as if the author held back a bit in how he used her character in the novel. He pushed to her to a point, but that point felt slightly behind the line she went to in Larsson’s books. However, I suppose that is better than pushing a new-to-him character too far and ruining an icon by turning her into a caricature of herself.

I had started and stopped this book many times over about a year for various reasons. I loved the first three books and this one was harder to get into. It didn’t help that Lisbeth Salander was not as prominent until the second half, which was too bad because for me she’s why I love this series. I’m glad I stuck with it because I did end up enjoying it very much. I feel like this new author did a good job continuing the series.

Reads like Dan Brown and Cory Doctrow in Sweden, which is original enough to be engaging for light reading. The story feels flat but the characters are intriguing as always. It's been so long since I read the original trilogy that I don't remember if it's always been like this but it's a treat to read after actually visiting Sweden.

[clementine]

There was so little tension here. The plot was really simplistic compared to the first in the series and it lost its focus on men who hate women. It's obvious this was written by someone else, and while it's a little more to the point, it just wasn't very interesting or well-written.