THE GIRL IN THE EAGLE’S TALONS by Karin Smirnoff

THE GIRL IN THE EAGLE’S TALONS

Karin Smirnoff

Translated by Sarah Death

MacLehose Press (maclehosepress.com)

£22

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A woman’s disappearance is the catalyst for Lisbeth Salander’s trip to the small town of Gasskas, in Sweden’s wild north. This isn’t business, it’s personal as the woman has left behind a fourteen-year-old girl by the name of Svala Hirak, who just so happens to be Lisbeth’s neice, daughter of the albino giant Ronald Niedermann. As her closest living kin, Lisbeth has decided to visit the godforsaken Gasskas to watch over Svala until her mother turns up or she can sort alternative living arrangements. Mikael Blomqvist also finds himself in Gasskas. He’s here for his daughter Pernilla’s wedding, trying to mend fences with both daughter and grandson in the process. Pernilla is to be married to Henry Salo, a local bigwig whose main focus is selecting the successful tender to build and manage a windfarm in the open land surrounding the small town. To Blomqvist’s dismay, Henry may not be completely aboveboard and his associates, the members of Svavelsjö MC, have caused trouble for Mikael and Lisbeth in the past. When a local businessman threatens Henry’s new family in an effort to influence the councilman’s decision, Mikael and Lisbeth find themselves thrown together once again to save Mikael’s grandson and Lisbeth’s niece, and restore some kind of normality to the once-quiet town at the top of the world.

It has been four years since David Lagercrantz gave us the final instalment of his Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Lived Twice. Now it’s the turn of Swedish thriller writer Karin Smirnoff to take the reins and present for us, for the first time, Lisbeth Salander from a woman’s perspective. If you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get over the massive coincidence that Lisbeth, Mikael and Svavelsjö MS should all end up in the same small northern town at the same time, then you’re in for a treat. But be warned: this is Lisbeth Salander as you have never seen her before.

Salander’s trip north is driven by a sense of obligation; a young girl is in trouble, a young girl who just happens to be related to her. The girl’s mother has disappeared, and the grandmother who was looking after her has just died. Driven by memories of her own childhood in the foster care system, Lisbeth heads to Gasskas to see what she can do. She has mellowed considerably since our last meeting with her, settling into her job as a partner in Milton Security, the security firm where she has worked for several years now. She still seems to be an active member of the hacker community, maintaining connections with Plague, who she uses as a de facto researcher throughout the course of the novel. Still instantly recognisable as the angry young woman we first met in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, we definitely get a different vibe from this new incarnation. There’s an element of mellowing with age, though much of it seems to be down to the fact that we’re now getting a female-penned view of this most iconic of feminist warriors; there’s less anger, less resentment of men, a more balanced outlook on the world, which seems, at least partly, to be down to the fact that Smirnoff finds her way into the character through a completely different route than her male predecessors.

Mikael Blomqvist feels like a dinosaur. He has just helped put the final issue of Millennium magazine together, and is now assessing his options as the magazine’s editor – and sometime lover of Blomqvist – Erika Berger guides Millennium into its new incarnation as a podcast. Taking his daughter’s wedding as a good excuse to get out of Stockholm and assess his own future, he finds himself embroiled in a mystery involving his future son-in-law, Henry Salo, who has something of a shady reputation. Blomqvist has a complicated relationship with his daughter – as he seems to have with all of the women in his life, not least Salander and Berger – and has found that his relationship with his grandson is the route to mending those bridges. When his grandson is kidnapped by a man aiming to put pressure on Salo, Blomqvist’s relationship with his daughter is strained to breaking point, and he finds himself once again reaching out to Lisbeth Salander in his hour of need.

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons picks up sometime not too long after David Lagercrantz’s The Girl Who Lived Twice. Smirnoff has a lot of history to pick up on, a lot of loose ends left lying around to give her any possible number of “ins” into this third trilogy. It is interesting to see Salander out of her usual comfort zone, out of the city she knows so well, despite the clunky scenario concocted to make sure all of the key players end up in the same place. The return of Svavelsjö MC is something of a surprise, though not an entirely unwelcome one. They do find themselves somewhat underused in this first outing, but this reader suspects they’re being set up for future adventures. Smirnoff introduces us to Marcus Branco, perhaps the most evil bad guy Salander and Blomqvist have ever faced. His deformity and off-the-wall sexual predilections make him an unpleasant character and the time we spend with him during the novel is enough to leave us feeling somehow unclean, our skin crawling. Expect to see much more of him as the series progresses, though it will be interesting to see where Smirnoff plans to take us for the remainder of the trilogy.

This is an excellent addition to the Millennium series, and Karin Smirnoff a wise choice by Larsson’s Swedish publisher to continue on the series. Like Lagercrantz before her, Smirnoff has obviously immersed herself in the world of Millennium and the result is an engaging and intense read that feels like a true continuation of the stories of Salander and Blomqvist. It’s interesting to see the female perspective on these characters; while misogyny and abuse are still woven throughout the tale, we find ourselves in the presence of a very different, a much more mature, Lisbeth Salander, who still has her awkward moments and who can still, thankfully, kick ass when required. This isn’t the novel to just jump straight into; there’s a whole world to understand through reading the first six books, and I would urge anyone who hasn’t yet met Lisbeth to do just that. This is a world, and these are characters, to be savoured and experienced from the very beginning. For those who have already done so, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons is well worth the wait. Karin Smirnoff is a worthy successor to Stieg Larsson and David Lagercrantz, and I’m excited to see where she takes the characters from here. One thing’s for sure: it’s going to be an interesting ride!