A review by booknerd7820
The Girl in the Eagle's Talons by Karin Smirnoff

2.0

As a huge Lisbeth Salander fan, I was excited to see a new book released in the series that I have grown to love so much. After Stieg Larsson’s death, I thought no one would be able to fill his shoes in bringing Lisbeth and Mikael Blomkvist back to the page. David Lagercrantz exceeded my expectations and dare I say, I may have enjoyed his trilogy even more than the original.

Now we have yet another new writer attached to the series and I thought it was a hot mess. It is clear the author does not have either a journalistic or computer background and quite honestly, I’m not sure she read the previous novels, but instead was given a two sentence summary of the characters. Both Salander and Blomkvist are relegated to background characters in their own story with very little resemblance to the characters Larsson and Lagercrantz worked so hard to craft. There is no hacking. There is no journalistic search for the truth, no matter the cost. Instead of being the independent, devil-may-care super hacker that she is, Lisbeth is sidelined as a guardian to her niece and spends most of the novel worried about her safety. Mikael spends his time brooding about being a terrible father . The villains are over the top, the setting of a small municipality is unrealistic, and the coincidences and intertwining relationships completely jump the shark.

Many have suggested that the translation may be the problem, however the translation does not negate the fact that Lisbeth and Mikael are mere shells of their former selves and the typical Scandinavian eco-thriller plot does not save the book either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.