5 Reasons We Can’t Wait to Read The Girl in the Spider’s Web

When Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo appeared on bookshelves in 2005, shortly after he passed away from a heart attack, it was a sensation—first in his native Sweden (under the original title Men Who Hate Women) and then worldwide. The book and its sequels, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, were fresh, gritty tales that depicted the world as poisonous and rotten, yet still worth fighting for. And they introduced one of modern literature’s great characters in Lisbeth Salander: expert hacker, rape survivor, and justice warrior.
Larsson’s estate has decided to continue the franchise, now taken over by bestselling author David Lagercrantz. The new book, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, has been written in utmost secrecy. Lagercrantz reportedly worked on a computer without an internet connection and delivered the manuscript as a hard copy, by hand, to his publisher. Here’s why we can’t wait to read this new novel—which is now available for purchase.

Because of Lisbeth Salander
Let’s face it: great characters often outlive their creators. Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Jason Bourne—the literary world is awash in characters being kept alive, reinvented, and brought to new audiences years and even decades after their original creator has passed on. Lisbeth Salander is in that league. She’s one of the most complex, most interesting, and most entertaining characters ever created. She’s scary and capable of violence. She has a moral code she adheres to no matter what. She’s brave and willing to sacrifice herself for her friends and for the cause of justice. She’s smart. And she’s the farthest thing imaginable from a damsel in distress. It’s safe to say the world needs more of her, and it needs it sooner rather than later.

Because of Michael Blomkvist
The focus on Salander shouldn’t make us forget the other half of this team: journalist Michael Blomkvist. He’s smart, funny, and messy, with an acerbic view of the world and a melancholy approach to mysteries—not to mention a fluid sexuality and willingness to explore the darkest parts of himself—that make him a welcome and able partner for Salander in every way. The two were painted just differently enough to make their relationship crackle, and a new book offers the possibility that they might partner up on a more permanent basis.
The Worldview
Larsson created a singular worldview and universe in his trilogy, a world in which money and brand names had corrupted everything around them, yes, but also a world in which it was still possible for a few dedicated people to win the day, at least briefly, solely through their own efforts. The Sweden that Larsson created—and that Lagercrantz will hopefully maintain—is dirty and unfair, but also fascinating, especially when Salander’s hacker underground rubs up against Blomkvist’s liberal intelligentsia.

The Story
Let’s not forget that these books are crackerjack mysteries and thrillers as well as character studies. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the best Locked Room mysteries ever written, and the subsequent novels delved into the mystery of Salander’s family and backstory in ways both satisfying and surprising—even shocking. The world of the Millennium Series is genetically coded for thrilling mystery stories, and the tidbits released by the publisher are tantalizing: Blomkvist is once again contacted by someone with a mind-blowing story to tell about his breakthrough research into a frightening form of artificial intelligence—someone who’s working with Lisbeth Salander, who is pitted against the NSA itself and running afoul of a secretive group of blackhat hackers known as the Spiders. While these details are skimpy, they paint a picture of the ideal Salander/Blomkvist team-up.
David Lagercrantz
American readers may not be terribly familiar with Swedish journalist and author Lagercrantz, but he’s a very successful writer whose journalistic background matches up well with Larsson’s. Lagercrantz is a bit of a wild man, once claiming he invented all the quotes in the famous autobiography he ghostwrote, I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic. That book was wildly successful, so Lagercrantz can do whatever he wants in his career. The fact that this impish, mischievous writer chose to work on these books says he’s passionate about the characters and the legacy—and it’s always good news when a writer this talented takes on a franchise.