The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

On a random Sunday when the Husband and I were on our regular weekly pilgrimage to Costco, we did our usual swing by the book section to see if anything caught our eye.  We often look at what's out to make our library book list then request them of our local library (best thing ever!).  This book caught my eye.  The Husband asked if I had read the other books in this series, indeed I have, and I watched the original movies in Swedish with English subtitles - streamed from Netflix on my computer.  I don't remember if I saw the English-language movies.  I normally don't like to read my movies - I opt for films in English.  But since the English-language movies hadn't been made yet, and I was so eager to see them, I watched/read the movies.  They were fantastic.

When we saw this book at Costco, I was intrigued and wanted to know if this was the "next" one in the series.  Indeed, it is.  Except it isn't by the original author, Stieg Larsson, but rather by David Lagercrantz.  I like continuity in series books, but I'm not one to not read a book in the series if it is by a different author, especially if the original author has passed.

So, the Husband requested this for me from our local library, and I started it on September 5th and finished it on September 30th.

I hadn't read the synopsis or any reviews, I just dug right in.  It started a little slow, but once it picked up, it was like a kick in the head from Lisbeth Salander herself.  The action was awesome, I was invested in the characters, and in the last 100 pages or so, I couldn't put it down.  The day I finished it was a Saturday.  I usually get up around 8am, have a quick breakfast and watch a show on the DVR, then rush off to work out with my trainer for an hour.  On September 30th, I got up at my normal time, read during breakfast, and when I got home, continued reading until I finished the book.  Lisbeth lent me some of her bad-assness during my training session.  I was boxing that day, and channeled Lisbeth.  It was fun!

Lagercrantz paints a good picture of life for Mikael.  Millennium is a pickle and the press for some reason is on Mikael's ass, and in typical Nordic form, there is a storm raging outside.  We come to learn more about Millennium's pickle and about a young autistic boy.  Lisbeth is her usual brooding, loner-self who is on a hacking tirade.  Somehow all of these things collide and in typical form, the shit hits the fan.  There are guns, car chases, seductresses, hit-men, hackers, government employees, sexual encounters, artistic moments, mathematical equations, and more.

I loved it.  There is another book out that follows this - the Husband already has us on the list for it from the library.  Woo hoo!

The book starts slow, but ends with a thrill.