Review: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

When we last left Lisbeth Salander, she saved a young boy’s life by kidnapping him. The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye commences with Salander’s two-month sojourn in prison as a result. Yet being behind bars does not dampen Salander’s search for justice, as she continues to lead journo-extraordinaire Mikael Blomkvist on yet another quest to uncover something earth-shattering.

Mikael is once again forced to investigate the unspeakable horrors from Salander’s past in an effort to connect the scant clues she leaves him. In so doing, he realizes that Salander was not the only child subjected to unorthodox therapies, and that others exist, though they may not be aware of it.

Lisbeth is the ultimate badass vigilante, literally kicking ass and taking names. Her ability to focus all of her considerable smarts and strength on a problem is both thrilling and unsettling. In stark contrast, Blomkvist’s James-Bondesque wooing while he gets the job done, a beautiful woman on his arm on each new adventure, provides a much-needed softness and emotional edge to Salander’s social disconnect and the terrible past which helped create it. The pair make an unusual but highly effective team, and this latest installment in their various adventures is just as pleasing and well-thought out as any other.

Steig Larsson set the bar incredibly high with his first Millenium Trilogy. His characters possessed a depth and intensity that made them all the more impressive given the darkness of the events they experienced. Despite this, David Lagercrantz has done a remarkable job of continuing not just an entertaining franchise, but of staying true to Larsson’s narrative and dark world.

I don’t think I will ever tire of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, nor the unbelievable situations they continually find themselves in. These characters, with their various quirks and enviable intelligence, are a literary feast. So I thank Mr Lagercrantz, and urge him to hurry up with the next epic investigation.

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz is published by MacLehose Press, an imprint of Quercus books, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.