Fiction Review: The Girl Who Lived Twice

The latest Millennium Series novel, The Girl Who Lived Twice, from David Lagercrantz is a huge yawn.

There, I said it.

It's the third novel that he has written since the death of the original creator of the Millennium Series in 2004. And it seems fatigue is setting in. I find myself not caring very much what happens in the novel because all the characters feel like strangers to me, to some degree or other.

You'll find plenty of complimentary reviews if you do a simple web search. And even those feel forced, as though the reviewers are struggling mightily for something positive to say. This review will not be one of them.

The Premise

Some hobo dies and Mikael finds himself investigating. Meanwhile, Lisbeth is hot on the trail of Camilla, her evil sister. Will the paths of Mikael and Lisbeth cross once more?

The Characters

Lisbeth Salander. She's now become almost unbelievably bad-ass, and somehow less compelling as a character because of it. It was her fragility coupled with her brilliance that drew me in from the first novel, and now somehow it's gone.

Mikael Blomkvist. Comes across as really lost and befuddled at the start of the novel, a far cry from the shrewd and persistent investigator we've grown with the last several novels. Mid-life crisis, perhaps?

Camilla Salander. Lisbeth's twin sister. She's beautiful, but cold. There's a certain psychosis to her narcissim. But as a villain, she's a lot less interesting now.

Jurij Bogdanov, Camilla's security guy. A competent fellow with a drug history, who managed to turn life around. Like Felix, he's always playing catch-up with Lisbeth. Interestingly, though, Lisbeth considers him "in the same league as Plague", whom she holds in certain regard.

Frederika Nyman. A medical examiner who believes in human dignity. It's this very dedication that leads her to call Mikael to investigate even though it's clearly beyond her duty.

Kadi Linder. We first meet her when she takes over Lisbeth's apartment. Tall, lively, elegant.

Vladimir Kuznetsov. Described as an old man with white hair, a pot belly and thin legs, kind of like Santa Claus. An accomplished liar who manages to take this to a whole new level by creating fake news.

Felix, Kuznetsov's Chief Technician. Hipster guy who's run ragged trying to keep up with Lisbeth when she starts hacking Kuznetsov's network.

Sofie Melker. Mikael's young colleague at The Millennium. The first time we see her, she gets angry and tells Mikael off, which I think is pretty plucky.

Paulina Müller, a woman that Lisbeth has an affair with. She's an abused wife.

Dragan Armansky makes an appearance to provide some background information for Mikael, and that's all his involvement in this story. Pity. I like Dragan.

Hans Faste is back as the idiot police officer.

Inspector Carl Wernersson is a Faste-like one-time character who responds to Catrin's call to the police.

Jan Bublanski. The Jewish policeman is his aging kindly wise self when he first appears. and we hear that he's been engaged to Farah Sharif.

Catrin Lindås. Described as a regally beautiful woman with a haughty air. Polarizing figure online, right-winger and feminist. Has a prickly demeanor towards Mikael at first.

Sonia Modig makes a return, but seems to serve little purpose in the story other than as an errand girl for Bublanski.

Kurt Widmark. Owns an electronics store and proves to be of help to Sonia, despite his curt (heh heh) demeanor.

Ivan Galinov. An old, highly intelligent agent with a sinister reputation. He has a prosthetic eye, and is said to be cold as ice. Close to Camilla.

Johannes Forsell. Defence Minister. Fit and intelligent. Described by Mikael as a lively and enthusiastic interview. Some recent events have reduced him to a nervous wreck.

Rebecka, Forsell's Jewish wife. A concerned spouse who has to put up with the smear campaigns started by Kuznetsov, especially the anti-Semetic ones. Later on, she sticks by her husband, though she's clearly in over her head.

Robert Carson from Colorado, who is friendly to Mikael and even quite enthusiastically assists in his research.

Plague. Other than a glorified cameo from our favorite geek, not much. What a pity.

Erika Berger. She's not involved much in the story and functions as someone for Mikael to bounce ideas off of.

Charlie Nilsson. He owns a liquor store and is investigated by Sonia regarding the beggar's death. Charlie panics quite easier and gabbles on when he's nervous.

Thomas Müller. Paulina's abusive husband who gets his comeuppance at the hands of Lisbeth.

Chief Inspector Ulrike Jenssen. A police officer who has to deal with the fallout after Lisbeth pays Thomas a visit.

Marko Sandström. President of the Svavelsjö MC. Surprisingly not scruffy-looking and well-spoken.

Krille. A common thug who is part of Svavelsjö MC.

Heikki Järvinen. A man who gets into a fight with the beggar at the beginning of the story, and gets interviewed by Bublanski. Comes across as just another drunk.

Elin Felke, a woman who was part of the Everest expedition. She turns out to be extremely helpful in helping Blomkvist put piece together.

Conny Andersson. A common thug from Svavelsjö MC that quickly gets softened up by Lisbeth.

Svante Lindberg. Colleague of Johannes Forsell. Described as hearty and fit, but also shrewd and manipulative. He's the one behind the entire blackmail angle.

Else Sandberg. A young medical intern mentioned at the start of the story, and then again in the middle assisting Officer Bublanski in the ongoing investigation.

Janek Kowalski. An old man who happens to be some kind of espionage operative.

The Mood

Meh. The author fails to recapture the suspense that made the original series by Larsson such a hit. In fact, he's been failing for the last two novels already.

What I liked

The way Lisbeth finds out Camilla's address is pretty neat. Under the guise of catching her balance while attacking Camilla, she attaches a GPS tracker to Camilla's car. That's the kind of thing I want to see from a Millennium Series tech thriller.

When Lisbeth gets bad-ass. Lisbeth kicking Conny Andersson's ass was pretty great. And she even made it all look so casual. Lisbeth's dispensation of retribution on Thomas is predictable, but oh-so-vintage Salander.

Camilla's death, for someone so narcissistic, is really quite poetic.

What I didn't

Erika and Gregor are getting divorced. Not that it bothers me, but... so what?

The sudden bout of passion-filled sex between Catrin and Mikael is interesting but just short of being believable.

The twist that Camilla was sexually abused by Zalachenko. Jesus, the guy's been dead for three books. Do we really need to keep shitting on his grave? He was evil, we get it!

Consistency of characters. We're treated to paragraph upon paragraph of how loyal Bogdanov is to Camilla in this book and the previous one... but it's also Bogdanov suddenly deciding that he's had enough of Camilla's shit, to betray her. This is such crap writing. The Deux Ex Machina is clumsy AF.

Conclusion

This review is short, way shorter than any other review I've ever written on the Millennium Series. There's a reason for that: this novel doesn't deserve better. It's a lackluster effort that feels like an insult to the memory of Stieg Larsson. Larsson's work could occasionally be one-dimensional in some places, and sometimes accused of being overly convoluted. But it was gripping stuff.

I'm sorry to say this, but the series has run its course. Lagercrantz is definitely running out of ideas at this point, and the book is pretty much a waste of paper. If he wants to retain reader interest (thankfully, it seems that this will be his final Millennium Series novel), he's going to have to do much better than this tripe.

My Rating

3 / 10

I ain't reading this book twice,
T___T