David Lagercrantz: The Girl in the Spider's Web

I carried on delving into Lisbeth Salander’s thoughts and memories, testing the limits. It’s no exaggeration to say that was the process that enabled me to suss her out and then one evening, a brilliantly clear, marvellous evening, to discover her big secret.

After that day it was as if she wrote herself. I started to comprehend why she had to strike back once again — hard, without pity. I realised how the story had to continue, and I miss it already. I hope you enjoy reading it!

David Lagercrantz, Stockholm, 15 May, 2015

Translated from the Swedish by Ruth Urbom

My sincere thanks to my agent Magdalena Hedlund, Stieg Larsson’s father and brother Erland and Joakim Larsson, my Swedish publishers Eva Gedin and Susanna Romanus, my editor Ingemar Karlsson, and Linda Altrov Berg and Catherine Mörk at Norstedt’s Agency.

I also owe thanks to David Jacoby, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, and Andreas Strömbergsson, Professor of Mathematics at Uppsala University, as well as to Fredrik Laurin, digger-in-chief at Ekot, Mikael Lagström, V.P. services at Outpost 24, the authors Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson, and Menachem Harari.

And of course to my Anne.