A review of The Girl in the Spider's Web" by David Lagercrantz

[TexasProgresive]

I am glad that I read this novel years after reading the original Lisbeth Salander trilogy so that I could judge it on its own merits. Lagercrantz weaves a web of criminal political intrigue with strands of the NSA, Russian mobsters and a lady Zala. Blomkvist is having a bit of a midlife crises. Once the darling of investigative reporters the changing world of media has turned away from him. His deep well of seeing how best to lay out the truth seems to be dry.

Lisbeth has been out of his life for sometime and he misses her. Meanwhile Lisbeth is working hard to learn who has taken over Zalachenko's evil empire. Someone has been able to steal AI software that was secured with the highest possible cyber protection. Key to all this is a little autistic boy who exhibits signs of being a savant.

I enjoyed the novel for itself. As I reached the 2/3 mark memories of the original 3 Girl books started to come to the front of my mind. On Amazon there are mixed reviews with some loving and other hating the book. I agree with both the good and the bad reviews. What I find missing is in the character of Lisbeth. She was always the unpredictable action. Lagercrantz describes Salander as such, but she is a bit too predictable on the page.

The other thing is we want more of "The Girl." We don't get enough face time with her. Overall I give the book 7.5 stars out of 10. It is entertaining and worth reading just not the same as the original Larsson trilogy and how could be expect that? Lagercrantz leaves us with some spiders still on the loose so I expect there may be more Lisbeth adventures.

[Enthusiast]

1. Thank you, TexasProgresive!

[pscot]

2. It was ok

I finished it last night. As you suggested, distance made it possible to read the book in its own terms, but there's no way to unremember the original. Lagercrantz has made Lisbeth into kind of genius/super hero. She still has all the characteristics Steig Larsson invented for her, but she seems more like a prop than real person. Missing is the desperate ferocity that drives the Larsson books. The back story, which involves high level hacking and intellectual property theft, is actually pretty good. I give it a 6.5. Publishing being what it is today, sequels are almost guaranteed.

[hermetic]

3. Finished it last night

Happy to say that once the action started, it got pretty good. I thought it ended well.

Here is what I know now. Larsson had originally planned for 10 books. There is a notebook of ideas that his widow refuses to give over so Lagercrantz had to basically wing this one. Here's hoping she changes her mind and gives him access to it so future novels might better resemble the trilogy. Hmm, I wonder if she looks a bit like Camilla.

Thanks, all, for weighing in on this one.

[TexasProgresive]

4. I agree that once the action began it was riveting

Lisbeth in the trilogy is a multidimensional person with facets of mystery. Here I found her a bit flat. As I said I am glad it has been some time since I read the 3 and was able to take this one on its face. I hope Ms Larsson will relent and give Lagercrantz or someone access to the notes.