The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

from goodreads

4 stars

It can be nerve wracking when an author takes over another author's series. Will the voice be the same? Will the qualities you loved in the series continue? It can also be exciting. What new twists will there be? Will they take the books to even greater heights?

It must feel daunting to the take over authors. They know they are playing with fire. Either people will love what they do or people will be outraged and filled with scorn. I am sure they rarely get a mediocre response.

Sometimes a change can be good and refreshing. We can't always expect the same old things. We need to push the envelope and expand our horizons. I guess that is what new authors in an established series are able to do. What fun.

Synopsis

When a computer science genius is killed mere hours after asking to meet with Blomkvist a chain of events is activated. The only one who witnessed the murder is a mute, autistic savant, who is 8 years old.

Salander is also after answers after discovering a secret from hacking an American Federal Agency.

The two stories combine to give a heart pounding, intriguing, sub-worldly tale.

My Thoughts

While it was slow to start, this was a great addition to the Millenium Series, and in a way, a relaunching of the series.

I loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but the other two books in the series, well they just weren't as gripping. I was a bit trepidatious going into this book because I wasn't sure if it was going to take it's lead from the last two or the first one. This book is almost on par with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There is enough continuity and elements from the other books in the series, but it could definitely stand on its own. You wouldn't necessarily need to read the other books to enjoy this one.

There is a lot of computer and tech talk that happens in this book. It makes sense as it deals with computer hackers and that world. So if you can't stand computer talk, this might not be for you.

The whole time while reading I couldn't get over the amount of research that must have gone one for each story line and character. The author would have had to know about computer systems, the hacker underworld, autism and savants, the world of journalism, and more. So kudos to Lagercrantz for doing all that research to make it a believable and accurate book.

I am looking forward to the next installment. I am glad that something was done with the characters of Salander and Blomkvist. How the series had been left was so dissatisfying and now it is rejuvenated and that is very exciting.