The Spider’s Web

I talk and write about books a lot, usually about books I have read. For this landmark post (it will be my 100th post on WordPress in my present incarnation), I’m going to talk about one I haven’t read. In fact, it hasn’t been published yet.

Rumours of a new ‘dragon tattoo’ novel began to circulate just over a year ago. Now it is actually going to happen.

https://www.waterstones.com/blog/brand-new-lisbeth-salander-book-announced-millennium-4

Next August, Quercus Publishing will issue its fourth novel in English featuring Stieg Larssen’s creations Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Larsson, who sadly died of a heart attack in 2004, left behind sketch notes and plot ideas for more Salander adventures. Problems with his estate meant that we were to be deprived of a sequel to the original trilogy, for the time being at least.

Now it seems legal issues are resolved, however David Lagercrantz, who has written the new Millennium book, is to give us a completely original story, rather than relying on Larssen’s jottings. Translated from Swedish by George Golding as The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the storyline is a closely-guarded secret but apparently (according to Amazon) involves some threat to the United States, information acquired from ‘a young female super hacker’.

Now, I know nothing about Mr Lagercrantz – he is a journalist apparently – but as a fan of Lisbeth, the probability of another gripping read is too great to ignore. The UK list price of the book is £19.99 but Amazon is currently offering it for £9.00 if it’s ordered in advance. I surmise that high street bookstores too may eventually offer pre-publication deals.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz ISBN: 9780857059994

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