(I Read) The Girl with Ice in Her Veins, a Millennium novel by Karin Smirnoff
I hadn’t a clue that there’s a new Millennium novel out until I was about to exit Kino on my recent KL trip!
The joy of reading a long-running series like Millennium is how “familiar” certain characters are whilst the misery is realising there are details from previous novels long forgotten.
Typical of a Millennium novel to focus on a societal issue, this one revolves around environmental concerns over the reopening of a mine in the fictional Swedish region called Gasskas. Deers are in abundance, Sami folks still live in the area – that’s how Lisbeth Salander’s niece, Svala, plays a prominent role in the story.
The antagonist Marco Branco from the previous novel is back as well, this time trying to complete what he started which is access to Svala’s bitcoin stash. 😂 As his plans to build a wind farm in Gasskas were thwarted by the series beloved duo in the previous novel, he also sets out for revenge in unexpected ways.
I still don’t understand the relevance of Lisbeth’s old hacker friend, Plague, being kidnapped and involved in events happening in Gasskas. The thrilling ending gave me the impression he was to be used by Branco as ransom: his freedom for access to Svala’s bitcoin stash.
One thing of note from this novel is the subtlety of Lisbeth and Blomkvist getting on with age. It really feels like the end is near for the series. Lisbeth is getting lesser dopamine hits from her work and wanting to quit her job at Milton Security – whilst Blomkvist is battling health issues and Smirnoff’s portrayal of Blomkvist’s investigative journalism isn’t as prominent as Larsson’s. The prominence of investigative journalism in the series slowly decreased ever since the start of the Lagercrantz-penned trilogy which is a great pity – investigative journalism combined with Lisbeth’s complex character is why I love the Larsson-penned trilogy.
On to the next one AI x