Why does somebody who has no interest in the characters and the spirit of original trilogy continue to write these books? There is again no character development to speak of, all them actually feel like they never had arcs and remain static so buddy can think up contrived plot lines.

Salander is again toothless and relegated to a secondary plot thread for the most part, with Micke, who is actually never called that again I think?, is investigating everything and tying it all together. Who cares that she’s better than him about it because when she knows she just doesn’t feel like telling anybody anything except for little hints. Again, all the character progression from the original movies just being erased.

It’s tropey as hell again too. More twins. Of course there’s Muslim extremists demonstrating how shitty they are to women. It’s all just so contrived and not bolstered with a larger political stance yet again. The author clearly has nothing to say—whether through the characters or through the premise or plot. It’s a cash cow being milked. A standard arrangement for a thriller with a kind or mystery. Which, had it been arranged different, would have actually been far more compelling too. And on top of that, when it does flashbacks there is suddenly no formatting so it’s actually annoying to read it.

Had the end actually been a prologue—especially considering it’s uhhh the f*ing past—the mystery would have been planted right away. He could have teased a part of WHY Lisbeth is in prison at the start beyond the original excuse as well as planting a little seed of what the heck happened in those woods? And then each part just continued those stories until the woods come up again.

Instead it’s been arranged in as boring a way as is possible. We are neither allowed to hear the inner workings of most characters, nor do we get prose that actually explain anything. It’s completely sterile throughout. This guy hates similes. I guarantee you this is a “show, don’t tell” author, ironically who just doesn’t show very well at all.

The result is very, I don’t know, “meh”, thriller. At least it was shorter than the last one, though.