STOCKHOLM, September 7. /TASS/. "The Girl Who Takes Eye For an Eye", a new novel about the adventures of Lisbeth Salander hit bookshelves in Sweden and around the world on Thursday.
This is the fifth book of the Millennium series of crime novels and the second one written by David Lagercrantz.
In an interview with TASS, the author said this is not the last novel of the series.
"I’ve started to write the next one. It is very important to me to get over it (the publication of the fifth book - TASS). Instead of reflecting on what readers will think about the new novel I’d rather write. I have already found a good plot. Even this morning I have already worked on it a bit," he said.
Lagercrantz admitted that his first novel about Lisbeth Salander titled "The Girl In the Spider’s Web" was the most difficult for him.
"When I wrote the first book, I was horrified that I would not succeed, that I could not be a worthy successor to Stieg Larsson (the author of the original three novels of the Millennium series - TASS). But on the other hand that helped me too, fear makes you get focused," he stressed.
"Now I feel that I am on the right path. Perhaps there will be one more novel. But I also feel that after three novels (about Lisbeth - TASS) I should write something of my own. I left the door open for more novels but it is important to me to do something absolutely new after this novel," he said speaking about his plans for the future.
Main characters
Lagerkrantz speaks kindly about the main characters of the Millennium series journalist Mikael Blomkvist and girl-hacker Lisbeth Salander.
"Lisbeth is a very talented girl, who is always evolving, she is growing up. But at the same time darkness grows around her, she becomes more and more aloof to this world, has fewer friends. I slightly softened her "punk style," her need to attract attention with tattoos, piercing, hairdo, she does not need it. Mikael had his own crises, in my books he grows more concerned about the emotions of other people. In this respect, he also became more like an adult," the author explained.
"They both grew up, I grew up with the characters, they are now "in my blood." "I think the new book is better than the previous one," Lagerkrantz added.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
In the new novel, Lagerkrantz reveals the secret to Lisbeth’s famous tattoo.
"There was one question that I wanted to answer: why did Lisbeth Salander have a dragon tattoo on her back? I thought that such a girl would not inscribe such a big tattoo on her back without a good reason, so I wanted to give an explanation, which has a mythological foundation," the author said.
He found the answer in the cathedral.
"I was at the Dome Cathedral in Stockholm where there is a sculpture of St. George killing a dragon. Next to it is the Virgin Mary. She looks strangely cold, and the dragon screams in despair. So you can consider the dragon a sacrifice. And suddenly I looked at this plot differently. Lisbeth could also sympathize with the dragon," he explained.
The Millennium series
The original three crime novels about the girl hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist were written by Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson in the early 2000-s. Larsson died in 2004 shortly before the release of the first novel of his trilogy. All three books took off to become international bestsellers.
To date, about 80 million copies of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson have been sold in 50 countries. In Russia they were published in 2010.
In Sweden, all three books were screened in 2009. In 2011, the US version of the first part of the trilogy - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - was directed by David Fincher starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.
David Lagerkrantz is a Swedish journalist. He previously wrote a biography of footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic "I am Zlatan", which became a world bestseller.
In 2013, he was contracted to write the fourth novel in the Millennium series. "The Girl In the Spider’s Web" was released in 2015. To date 6 million copies were sold in 47 countries worldwide.