As a fan of the original Millenium trilogy, I was sceptical about a new book by a different author to continue the series, which was brought to an abrupt and sad end by the premature death of Stieg Larsson. I had also read about the unpleasantness between Larsson's father and brother, legal heirs to his estate, and his widowed partner, who had an incomplete draft of his next book on a laptop. This book could never see the light of day without the involvement of his family. Reading the acknowledgments at the end of this new book it is clear that only Larsson's father and brother had a hand in its creation, and it is not the untold sequel held by his partner.The book is long, and slow to get going, and the second half is much more interesting than the first. It has a labyrinthine (and somewhat implausible) plot, largely centered around out-hacking the hackers, and an interesting familial twist for Salander, who is once again an improbable heroine, ably aided and abetted by Mikael Blomkvist. It is clever and complex, and all the things one would expect from a Stieg Larsson novel.
Interestingly, it is also clearly set up for a sequel. On the last page, Blomkvist and Salander appear headed for a rapprochement, and the dastardly villain behind all the trouble is still out there ...
In the end, I didn't regret reading it, but I was glad that I had read a borrowed copy and not shelled out my hard-earned dollars for it. It is going to be hard to replace the Larsson books and the excellent Swedish tele-movies based on these books. Is this going to be another 'pulp fiction' factory churning out new books every year or so - time will tell. Meanwhile, I wonder what story is yet untold on that laptop???
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