The Girl in the Spider's Web

The Girl in the Spider's Web (2015) is a novel by the Swedish author and journalist David Lagercrantz. In Sweden, the book's title is Det som inte dodar oss, which translated into English means, "That which does not kill us." The fourth book in the Millennium series, it is the first to be written by someone other than Stieg Larsson, who died in 2004. Like previous installments, the book focuses on the exploits of world-class computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. In 2018, the book was adapted into a film directed by Fede Alvarez and starring Claire Foy as Salander.

The story introduces Frans Balder, a computer scientist and top artificial intelligence expert who quits his lucrative job in Silicon Valley to return to Sweden to care for his son, August. Autistic, August exhibits savant-like behavior, possessing the ability to draw incredibly detailed pictures from memory. He also possesses an incredible capacity for mathematics. Various law enforcement agencies warn Balder that he is being targeted by "The Spider Society," a dangerous and mysterious criminal organization. Balder, however, pays little attention to the warnings, focusing instead on August whom he suspects has been long neglected by his estranged mother.

Meanwhile, the story checks in on the staff of Millennium, the investigative journalism magazine that drove much of the action in the previous three books. Despite past successes, it has been a year since the magazine's last major scoop. As a result, the magazine is in danger of losing its editorial independence to outside investors. Journalist and Millennium co-owner Mikael Blomkvist learns from Linus Brandell that Balder has some connection to Blomkvist's old cohort and sometime sexual partner Lisbeth Salander, the world-renowned computer hacker.



Salander, too, is presently investigating the Spider Society. To do so, she enlists the help of a hacker organization to infiltrate the servers of the National Security Agency. This infuriates the agency's top cybersecurity specialist, Edwin Needham. He assigns a joint Swedish-American task force led by Alona Casales and Gabrielle Grane to pursue both Salander and the Spider Society. At this point, the reader learns more about the Spider Society, a Russian criminal organization named for a secret society of super villains from Marvel Comics. Its leader uses the nickname "Thanos," also named for a super villain character in the Marvel universe.

After receiving a call from Grane, Balder finally heeds the warnings about the Spider Society, hiring Milton Security to protect him. Balder then arranges a meeting with Blomkvist to reveal what he knows about the Spider Society to the journalist. However, on the day of their meeting, Balder is assassinated by Jan Holster, a former Soviet special forces operative and current Spider Society mercenary. Realizing he is in over his head, Blomkvist enlists the help of Salander in his investigation of the Spider Society and Balder's murder.

Unable to care for her son, August's mother sends him to a care facility. When Blomkvist visits August in the facility, he sees the boy drawing a picture of a man, sensing that it is meant to be an image of Balder's killer. Holster learns of this and is ordered by his boss, Kira, to assassinate the child. At the last moment, Salander rescues August who is placed in a safe house on the beach owned by Grane.



Through his investigation, Blomkvist learns that Balder had hired Salander to implicate his employer Solifon in a robbery of quantum computing technology developed by Balder. Balder had also learned that Solifon is working with both the Spider Society and the NSA in the groups' surveillance and espionage efforts. This is why Balder is murdered, implicating all three groups in his death. Eager to limit blowback from the scandal, the NSA removes Needham from the Salander investigation, but Needham continues to investigate on his own. He uncovers references to a hacker known as the "Wasp," named for Janet Van Dyne, the founding Avengers member who helps fight Thanos in the Marvel Comics universe.

Meanwhile, Blomkvist is seduced by Rebecka Mattson. Blomkvist later learns from Salander's former guardian, Holger Palmgren, that Mattson is really Camilla, Salander's long-lost twin sister. Their father, the Russian criminal mastermind Alexander Zalachenko, was killed in the previous book, and Camilla has taken over much of his business, operating under the aliases "Kira" and "Thanos" as head of the Spider Society. The "Wasp" referred to in secret files as the group's nemesis is, in fact, Lisbeth Salander. Under Camilla's orders, Holster and other Spider Society operatives attack Salander and August at the safe house. Lisbeth fends them off, and a wounded Holster is arrested. Camilla, however, escapes the authorities.

With the help of August, Lisbeth decrypts many of the NSA's secret files regarding its criminal conspiracy with Solifon and the Spider Society. With Needham as his primary source, Blomkvist publishes an expose of the conspiracy, leading to the ousting of many top NSA officials and returning Millennium to its former glory. Grane quits espionage to work for the United Nations on human rights initiatives. Finally, Salander uses part of the fortune she has amassed to give Millennium a much-needed cash infusion, renewing her friendship with Blomkvist.



According to the Swedish newspaper UNT, The Girl in the Spider's Web returns the series to its more human roots, abandoning the "exaggerated and cartoonish features" of some of its predecessors.