The Girl In The Spider’s Web – David Lagercrantz

More than 10 years after Stieg Larsson’s death and 5 years since the last installment of the Millennium trilogy, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return in a new adventure penned by David Lagercrantz.  After a long battle between Larsson’s estate, headed by his father and brother, and his girlfriend, who claims to posses an unfinished fourth manuscript by Larsson, the estate was given the go ahead to hire a new author to carry on Larsson’s series.  The Girl In The Spider’s Web is the first effort under that arrangement.

It’s been over 4 years since I read The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, so the characters, and Larsson’s feel for them, were not at the top of my mind.  That said, Lagercrantz’s portrayal of Salander felt a little off, though he certainly tried to cover it by limiting the chapters told from her point of view.  The other characters, especially noted journalist Blomkvist, are more in sync with their previous incarnations.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did, but it did feel a little off.  It felt like there was 300 pages of setup with only 100 of payoff.  That said, it couldn’t have been easy for Lagercrantz to step in to Larsson’s shoes and, given the monetary success of this outing, there is bound to be another one.  Hopefully his grasp of the characters improves and helps provide an even better outing.