The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
by David Lagercrantz
Published by Knopf

I just love this series!

It’s been almost 10 years since I read the first book, and learned that Stieg Larsson died before the publication of his Millennium series trilogy.  I figured that was it.  I would enjoy the three books, and move on.  But luckily for me, and many others, that wasn’t the end.  This book continues the story, and does so with the same thrilling, fast pace and entertaining format as the original trilogy.  I sped through this one in just a couple of days, which says a lot.  I picked it up every chance I got.

I won’t go into the controversy surrounding Larsson’s wishes, or the battle over his estate and who has rights to the series, I’d rather talk about the book…but if you’re interested, you can find all of that on the wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye is the second book written by David Lagercrantz, who continues the series with the approval of Larsson’s estate – and I think he does a great job.  Let’s see, in this book we have an evil doctor, a story of twins, a suspicious death, some twists and turns, and last but not least – a little bit of hacking.

The story begins with Lisbeth Salander in prison serving a two month sentence for her actions from the previous book (see my earlier post on The Girl in the Spider’s Web).  She’s keeping her head down, biding her time until her release; but in true Lisbeth fashion, things don’t always go as planned.  She’s aware that the prison is being run by a corrupt system, and the cowardly warden is no help. In particular, Lisbeth has taken it upon herself to keep an eye on Faria, a young woman serving a sentence for killing her brother and who is regularly beaten and threatened by the prison bully.  She’s sure there’s more to Faria’s story, and has asked her attorney to look into it.

When her former guardian comes to visit her in prison, asking her questions about the origins of her dragon tattoo and leaving her with some cryptic clues, Lisbeth asks her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, to look into that as well.  Little does she know that Mikael is also attempting to put together an intricate puzzle on his own – which includes corruption, greed, fraud, and a social experiment gone very wrong.

But not one to sit still, Lisbeth confronts the warden, and hatches a plan from inside the prison.  As each clue is unraveled, the story quickly unfolds.

We get a glimpse into Faria’s home life, and find out the reason that she’s in prison and why she’s kept quiet about what really happened, and has done nothing to help her own case.  Lisbeth has figured out Faria’s story, and goes about retribution – “an eye for an eye”

While that story is being told, Mikael gains some insight into the mystery surrounding Lisbeth’s childhood, and how a clandestine agency has affected the lives of children like Lisbeth.  His investigation leads him to an incredible story about two children, now grown men, and how a deranged woman will do anything to make sure their story never goes public.

And finally, for those of us that have followed Lisbeth’s story from the very first book, we gain insight into how Lisbeth came to have a large tattoo of a dragon across her back.

Filled with intrigue, this book moves along these separate threads, culminating to a thrilling and fast paced resolution for one piece of the story; but still leaving some small threads left over. Does that mean there will be a third book written by Lagercrantz?  I certainly hope so.

Are you a fan of this series?  I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below.