And the plot thickens... According to the brother of deceased "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" author Stieg Larsson, a fifth "Millennium" series novel exists. And, yes, that's no typo. Joakim Larsson told CBS' Sunday Morning show (via BBC News) that Stieg skipped the fourth book in the series to pen the fifth. "This book number four, that's book number five, because he thought that was more fun to write than book number four," he said.
No word on the fifth novel's plot, though it can be assumed the work revolves around punk computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and the staff of Millennium magazine led by intrepid investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist. Stieg told his brother just 10 days before his death that the manuscript was "nearly finished." Fans of the series shouldn't get too excited, though. Joakim and his father told CBS the manuscript would never be published.
This latest development adds yet another wrinkle to the Stieg Larsson saga. Stieg's longtime partner, Eva Gabrielsson, has already claimed a fourth manuscript exists on a laptop in her possession. Whether that manuscript is actually another copy of the fifth book, or is an entirely different fourth volume, is unclear. Whatever the case, it looks like we won't be getting a new novel anytime soon, as both sides are locked in a legal dispute over the deceased author's works.
Ever the optimist, this got me wondering whether I would actually want to read a fifth novel without the benefit of a fourth. It didn't take me too long to throw up my hands and holler, "Heck, yeah!" This, coming from a girl who can't even miss the previews before a movie, is saying a lot—that I'd be willing to skip the set up and background of a fourth novel just to enjoy another adventure with Lisbeth and Blomkvist. But really, if Stieg was able to skip the fourth novel entirely to write a fifth, "more fun" volume, well, the unwritten tome couldn't hold that much info relevant to the fifth, right?
What do you think, Crushers? Would you read Stieg's fifth "Millennium" novel without the benefit of a fourth? Do you hope his family will decide to publish the novel?
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