Andy Kramer

No one will ever be Larson and I can't imagine the angst of trying to follow in his footsteps. So with realistic expectations, I picked up the book. I devoured all six of the "Girl" books. This one took me two weeks. Sometimes I stopped in the middle of a ridiculous page and played WORDLE instead! I couldn't understand half of what was happening or whose "inner thoughts" I was reading or why they were important (they weren't). But I finished it. And that's when the true ridiculousness hit me. SPOILER ALERT: After finishing the book I literally started to laugh. All by myself. My husband asked if I was ok, but I couldn't answer. Given all the stupid coincidences that lead to the characters being in the same God-forsaken wilderness at the same time, the author tops it all off by literally pulling a grenade out of a monkey's butt. Why wouldn't a 13 year old have a grenade-stuffed toy monkey with her on a dangerous night raid to save her mother? Given the amount of things in this particular monkey (a diary, a notebook, a hard drive, a lot of money, a grenade), it must have been enormous. I am not kidding folks. And the two most beloved characters in the series are acting a bit brain dead. Seriously, Mikhael's grandson is kidnapped at gunpoint and he decides his days should be spent teaching a bunch of local journalists how to dig for stories. He's enjoying the local pizzeria while Lukas is held captive. He's barely involved or concerned at all and leaves the investigation to one of the most inept policemen he knows. Who is this guy? Lisbeth doesn't even perform one single computer hack. She is trying to keep Svala safe, but brings her back to the city where the bad guys are looking for her, and then lets her go to school! There's no Mission Impossible-like finale. If this wasn't a "Girl" Sequel, I wouldn't be so harsh. I was thinking that this might be an introduction of Svala to a young adult audience, but the sexual violence says no. This entire book made no sense, but did keep me awake at night laughing.