The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons

ORIGINAL TITLE: Havsörnens skrik

AUTHOR: Karin Smirnoff, Stieg Larsson/Moggliden

GENRE: Crime, Current Books

Beyond the media spotlight predatory extraction is taking place in the Swedish Far North, a modern-day Wild West where multinational corporations stop at nothing to access land and natural resources. Attracted by the huge influx of capital, criminal gangs operate in the shadow lands.

Mikael Blomkvist boards a train to Älvsbyn to attend his daughter’s wedding, but soon gets drawn into events that lead him back to his investigative journalist roots. Lisbeth Salander has also journeyed North to repair a severed family bond, and once again their paths cross. Together they find themselves in the eye of the storm in the small community of Gasskas.

Reviews

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Men Who Hate Women was the starting point for Stieg Larsson's Millennium success. A feminist perspective and the theme of men's violence against women and women who strike back was strong throughout the trilogy. Not least through Lisbeth Salander and her background story. As Karin Smirnoff takes over The Millennium baton after David Lagercrantz she proves that she is exactly the right writer for this central theme.” (…)

Havsörnens skrik is a strong combination of her peculiarity as a writer, her own language, the darkness and the solidarity which works perfectly well together with what Millennium repreents. Not least because Smirnoff too has room for humor and a twinkle-in-the-eye drive with both our current time and Stieg Larsson's two old heroes.” (…)
Skånska Dagbladet

Havsörnens skrik is a really, really good crime novel. It is also a serious and successful attempt to keep Stieg Larsson's commitment alive and let entertainment literature speak heavy truths about our time.”  
Gefle Dagblad 

“The order is restored: Larsson’s sharp social criticism is back”
Arbetarbladet

“Letting Karin Smirnoff take over the baton after David Lagercrantz is astroke of genius. It is hard to believe anyone could have done it better than Smirnoff. Unless it would have been Stieg Larsson himself.”
Upsala Nya Tidning 
 

“Everything is, of course, connected as it turns out. The force of the plot carries over loose snow and through bombshelter doors. But what ultimately remains, and what is Smirnoff's great achievement, is how she time and again disrupts the narrative with the question of the children. The boys who get beaten and grow up to be men who beat women. The Lisbeth girls, with their chronic maternal grief. Those who know that it is always too late to have a happy childhood. There the connections to Smirnoff's previous books become clear. This is as it should be, as there is the feminist anger, the founding connection, that unites her with Stieg Larsson. The one that is, literally, carried through smoke and shell fire by Lisbeth and Svala together.”  
Västerbottenskuriren  “Overall, we more than approve of Smirnoff's debut a crime novelist (…) what impresses is the thrilling plot, the environmental depiction, and above all the unexpected and, yes, poignant relationship between Lisbeth and Svala.  Something tells me that the dark tale of the Millennium will continue for a long time
Svenska Dagbladet

“A breathlessly exciting debut”
Myles McSweeney, Irish Indy
 

“… a satisfying drama… plenty of hot topics provide the background to the plot… but it is the well-told personal stories that drive the novel.”
Natasha Cooper, Literary Review

“Lisbeth Salander is alive and well and embroiled in another thrilling adventure… Fans of the heroic hacker Salander and ageing hack Blomkvist will not be disappointed.”
The Independent 

"This seventh book featuring the iconoclastic, anarchic Lisbeth Salander is the first to be written by a woman, and it is all the better for it - not least because one of the principal themes of the series is violence towards women...this legendary crime series is, thankfully, back in safe hands."
The Daily Mail, Geoffrey Wansell

“… a thrilling adventure through a snowbound wilderness, with biting social commentary that Larsson would have been proud of.”
Jon Coates, Sunday Express

"Smirnoff writes more casually and sparingly than her predecessors. As an author she is concise and individual, in certain ways radical in her descriptions, something that fits with the black belt in karate that the author holds."
Meike Dannenberg, Bücher Magazin

"All in the spirit of Stieg Larsson, Karin Smirnoff succeeds….a glowing Climate-Thriller, that takes on highly topical themes…The fast pace excuses some of the few loose threads. All together, „Verderben“ holds a thrilling grip to the rather open ending. To be continued.“
Ulrike Borowczyk, Berliner Morgenpost

"With "Verderben“, Smirnoff proves to be a worthy literary heir, as she in the spirit of the inventor writes about unscrupulous, criminal companies and corrupt employees being supported by right wing motercycle gangsters. Just as Larsson, she shows how rage can grow out of powerlessness  – rage that turns oppressed victims into equals who fight back."
Peter Huber & Doris Kraus, Die Presse am Sonntag

"(Karin Smirnoff’s) continuation of Stieg Larsson’s Millenniumseries is a hit! Pure thrill!“
TV Hören und Sehen

"Like Lagercrantz, Smirnoff keeps the DNA of the series and breathes new life into it“
Nils Heuner, Kulturnews

"Goosebumps factor: initially less, but getting stronger and stronger“
Freundin

"Quick ruptures and changes in perspective, fast-paced dialogues and above all highly topical political issues ensure suspense right to the end – continuation guaranteed.“
Marianne Fischer, Kleine Zeitun 

"The Northern Sweden depicted in this novel is far from being „Astrid Lindgren land“, the area is described as harsch, cold, brutal and poor ... Smirnoff doesn’t try hard to tie-in with the previous stories, she rather makes differences when continuing the work. She writes in present tense, which reads more directly, and describes the violent scenes harder than the previous volumes did,…and this brutality, above all towards women – there are scenes including rape and war memories- are hard to bear, but they are always described in a matter of fact manner, not voyeuristic ... Smirnoff is very convincing when gradually letting us get to know the character of Svala, Lisbeth’s niece, and the story’s new female heroine that we are allowed to come very close ... There are some really tough parts in the book, one needs to know that, but I still want to read on. I will keep on reading the fothcoming books as well, especially because of my curiosity in the new character Svala. I want to follow the relationship of these two women, I want to be there when they nail the most evil men of Sweden.“
Lina Kokaly, Radio Bremen Zwei, Morningshow

“Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are successfully back in their working clothes” 
Jyllands Posten

I devoured it. Smirnoff is herself in Stieg Larsson’s shoes” 
Weekendavisen

“The story is full of surprises and it is impossible to let go of the book once you’ve taken the book train to Lapland” 
Nordjyske

 

 

 

Endorsements

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"Fresh, fearless, faithful and original. Karin Smirnoff takes on a heady challenge and makes a stylish, exciting and truly worthy statement. One of the great crime series of our time could not be in safer, more capable hands. I loved it."
Chris Whitaker 

“Lisbeth Salander is back—and maybe better than ever.  Karin Smirnoff’s take is both respectful of the past and ready for the future—altogether remarkable.” 
Lee Child

Rights sold

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Bulgarian rights sold to Colibri

Croatian rights sold to Fraktura

Czech rights sold to Albatros

Danish rights sold to Modtryk

Dutch rights sold to Signatuur

Estonian rights sold to Varrak

Finnish rights sold to WSOY

French rights sold to Actes Sud

German rights sold to Penguin Random House/Heyne

Hungarian rights sold to Animus

Icelandic rights sold to Ugla Útgáfa

Italian rights sold Marsilio Editore

Japanese rights sold to Hayakawa

Korean rights sold to Munhakdongne

Latvian rights sold to Zvaigzne

Norwegian rights sold to Kagge

Polish rights sold to Czarna Owca

Portuguese rights sold to Publicações Dom Quixote/Leya

Romanian rights sold to Editura Trei

Slovak rights sold IKAR

Spanish and Catalan rights sold Editorial Planeta

Swedish rights sold to Polaris

UK rights sold to Quercus

US rights sold to Knopf

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