Book 96: The Girl in Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz
Book 96: The Girl in Spider's Web (Millennium Trilogy #4) .
Author: David Lagercrantz, 2015. Translated from the Swedish by George Goulding.
Genre: Thriller. Nordic Noir.
Other Details: Hardback. 431 pages. Unabridged Audiobook (16 hrs, 46 mns). Read by Saul Reichlin.
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. - synopsis from UK publisher's website.
I decided to put to one side the controversy over how this novel came to be written after Stieg Larsson's untimely death and the acrimonious legal battles over his estate. I certainly felt that David Lagercrantz had a deep respect for Stieg Larsson and the characters that he had created and that he had striven to honour that legacy.
At first the novel felt a little stilted as though Lagercrantz was treading a little too carefully but once the story took off - well wow! I found myself was glued to it. The faithfulness to the series as I said above went a long way for me.
The reason I did this as a dual read/listen was that I had pre-ordered the audiobook but was on a waiting list at the library for the hardback. So when I had a chance I started listening to it and got part way through before the library was in touch. I then stopped and caught up reading and then continued as I do with others by listening to a section and then reading corresponding pages.
Saul Reichlin had been the narrator for all of the previous books in the series so I was happy to continue with him and it created a link to the original series.
While the novel did not quite have the brilliance of the original trilogy, it still proved a good read and if they decide to continue with a fifth book in the 'Trilogy' as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy expanded I certainly will read it.
Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge.