View source for The Girl in the Spider's Web (Millennium Series) by David Lagercrantz

{{infobox1
|title=The Girl in the Spider's Web (Millennium Series)
|sort=Girl in the Spider's Web (Millennium Series)
|author=David Lagercrantz
|reviewer=Peter Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=Stieg Larsson only lived long enough to write three Lisbeth Salander novels.  David Lagercrantz has taken over the franchise and whilst he's ''not'' Larsson, it's still a good read.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=448
|publisher=MacLehose Press
|date=August 2015
|isbn=978-0857059994
|cover=0857059998
|aznuk=0857059998
|aznus=0857059998
}}

Mikael Blomkvist is a crusading journalist, determined to expose corruption and abuse, so it was probably no surprise when he was contacted by Professor Balder, a renowned scientist.  Balder had been warned that his life was in danger, but he was more concerned for his son's well-being and wanted ''Millennium'' to publish his story.  Sweden's security police had offered him protection but his primary aim was to ''preserve'' his life's work - by going public.  But Blomkvist is not that interested in Balder's advances in Artificial Intelligence - what seems more important is that Balder has been working with superhacker Lisbeth Salander - the girl with the dragon tattoo.  And Salander has been trying to hack the American National Security Agency.

I read the original ''Millennium'' trilogy - [[The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]], [[The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)|The Girl Who Played With Fire]] and [[The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)|The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest]] back to back, unable to put any of them down for long and saddened by Steig Larsson's early death which prevented a continuation of the series.  It was with mixed feelings that I allowed myself to be persuaded into reading ''The Girl in the Spider's Web'', where David Lagercrantz picks up the franchise.  We see the continuity of characters - particularly Blomkvist and Salander - but the inspiration for the book belongs entirely to Lagercrantz.  Would the book stand up in its own right or merely be worth reading for its novelty value?

It was perhaps a mistake to come to reading the book direct from the original trilogy, with Larsson's style of writing fresh in my mind and it did take me a little while to adjust to Lagercrantz.  I'll confess to even being slightly annoyed at first, as ''The Girl in the Spider's Web'' lacked that essential sharpness.  But once into the book the plot quickly took hold and the story proved to be a gripping read and a not unreasonable representation of the series.

Would I read a further book from the franchise by Lagercrantz?  Of that I'm less certain.  It was a good, solid read, but not one which made me eager for the next in the series.  I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

The book would read perfectly well as a standalone, but don't deprive yourself of the pleasure of starting at the beginning with [[The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and Reg Keeland (translator)|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]].  As I finished reading the book news came through of the death of [[:Category:Henning Mankell|Henning Mankell]] and if you enjoy Swedish crime you might enjoy his [[The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell|Kurt Wallander]] books.  Unlike the Millennium Trilogy, they didn't arrive perfectly formed but improved as the series progressed.  For more from Lagercrantz you could try [[Dark Music by David Lagercrantz|Dark Music]] but we were not entirely impressed.

[[The Lisbeth Salander ''Millennium'' Books in Chronological Order]]

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