Earlier this year, it was announced Swedish author David Lagercrantz was working on a fourth Millennium novel. Today the title and cover have been revealed:
The originally trilogy has sold over 75 million copies worldwide, with 15 million sold in the UK alone.
The Girl in the Spider's Web is the fourth in the series, and the first not to be written by Stieg Larsson, who died in 2004, before the original trilogy was published.
Though sanctioned by the Larsson estate, the book has proved controversial, and Larsson's long-time partner Eva Gabrielsson opposes the release.
Gabrielsson allegedly holds a draft of a fourth Millennium book written by Larsson, but has vowed not to release it. She told Agence France-Presse:
I wouldn't have continued Stieg's work. It was his language, his unique narrative. The worst thing is how saddened Stieg would have been. He never let anyone work on his literary texts. He would have been furious. Who knows, maybe he'll send a lightning bolt at the book launch.
UK publisher Christopher MacLehose told The Guardian that Larsson outlined 10 books before he died:
I haven't seen it, and I haven't met anybody who has read it, but he knew he was going to go on. I have the strongest sense that if he was unable to give his creations Salander and Blomkvist fresh life, I think he would have wanted above everything for them to be let loose on the stage.
Whether you choose to believe Gabrielsson or MacLehose, one thing is certain.
