Book Review - The Girl in the Eagle's Talons by Karin Smirnoff

 The Girl in the Eagle's Talons by Karin Smirnoff 

My Rating ★★★☆☆

Goodreads: 3.39/5

Genre: Crime, Thriller and Mystery

This book is the seventh book in the Millennium series, The third author to take on Lisbeth Salander.

Published on 29th August 2023 as a hardback, now available in paperback, Kindle, Audio and I believe Large print.

Synopsis

Change is coming to Sweden's far north: its untapped natural resources are sparking a gold rush, with the criminal underworld leading the charge. But it's not the prospect of riches that brings Lisbeth Salander to the small town of Gasskas. She has been named guardian to her niece Svala, whose mother has disappeared. Two things soon become clear: Svala is a remarkably gifted teenager--and she's being watched.

Mikael Blomkvist is also heading north. He has seen better days. Millennium magazine is in its final print issue, and relations with his daughter are strained. Worse still, there are troubling rumors surrounding the man she's about to marry. When the truth behind the whispers explodes into violence, Salander emerges as Blomkvist's last hope.

My Review

I was excited but apprehensive about reading this book. My main thought was can another author do Lisbeth justice. It was a worry when David Largercrantz took on the story but can a third author be successful?  

This book was very slow to start. The first 12 or so chapters seemed to be full of names and places, nothing was really making sense and felt like it dragged on and on. I really wasn’t enjoying it and could easily have given up. Just as I was about to give up, I started a new chapter and the book got going. This Author doesn't seem to write with quite the same vibe as previous books in the series but once it got going it had me wanting to read more. For me the characters were a bit flat. Lisbeth needed a bit more fire, there needed to be more of Mikael and Lisbeth. Then as it just got going it all came to an end! This book needed more rounding off, stories needed finishing. I feel too much was left unanswered. What happened to Branco? Did Henry stay with his wife? Did his brother stay around or disappear?  What was the link to the biker gang?  

  As I am sat here writing this I’m wondering if I would read another if the author wrote it, and I cannot honestly say I would look out for it, request it or buy it but if I was offered a copy, I think curiosity would probably get the better of me.  

  Do I hope there is another book in the Millennium series? No, my overall feeling is that Karin Smirnoff should off left well alone and did not live up to the standard of writing from the two previous authors. 

 The question that comes to me after reading this is has anyone else read anything else by her, if so what’s it like? I did not enjoy this one as I hoped but would be interested to hear what her other books are like and if they are worth a read. 

Thank you Netgalley, Quercus Books and MacLehose Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.