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Book Review of The Girl in the Spider's Web (Millennium, Bk 4)

The Girl in the Spider's Web (Millennium, Bk 4)
perryfran avatar reviewed on + 1228 more book reviews


I was a big fan of the Millennium series written by Stieg Larsson and was really sad to hear of his death when the third installment of the series was published. Then I heard the series would be continued by David Lagercrantz. I've had his first effort on my shelf for a while and decided I better read it because the next installment, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye was just recently published in the US. For me, I thought Spider's Web was not quite the thriller as the previous books by Larsson, however, once the book got going, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it for those who enjoyed the original trilogy. The book starts out a little slowly with a lot of detail about computer hacking and industrial espionage. Lisbeth Salander doesn't show up until about a third into the story but once she does, I thought the story really took off. Mikael Blomkvist, who is on the brink of getting fired from Millennium Magazine, gets involved in a case involving a murdered scientist when he discovers that Salander also has an interest in the case. The scientist, Balder, has perfected an artificial intelligence program that holds the interest of a criminal organization as well as the NSA. When Balder is murdered, he leaves behind an autistic savant son who may be able to identify the killer. Salander gets involved in protecting the son and at the same time is being sought by a criminal group led by a mysterious female. But who is this person and why is she so interested in Salander? Can Salander and Blomkvist get to the bottom of why the criminal group and the NSA is so interested in the case?

The book also included a lot of information about savants which I found to be very interesting. It referenced a book titled The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat which I now want to read. Overall, I thought Lagercrantz did a good job of continuing where Larsson left off...I'm sure it was no easy task considering how popular the series became. Lagercrantz also left some loose ends at the end of the book which I'm hoping will be addressed in the next outing. Looking forward to reading it.