There's a NewGirl with the Dragon TattooBook Coming — See the Cover and Read an Early Excerpt! (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Thron Ullberg; Penguin Random House

A newGirl with the Dragon Tattoobook is hitting shelves soon!

The latest installment in the bestselling Millennium series,The Girl with Ice in Her Veins, is out Sept. 2, and PEOPLE can exclusively debut its cover — plus a first look at what’s inside.

The highly anticipated thriller marks the secondLisbeth Salandernovel from author Karin Smirnoff, who first took over the iconic heroine’s story from the late Stieg Larsson — and became the first female author to do so — with 2023’sThe Girl in the Eagle’s Talons.

Now, Smirnoff, 60, is at the helm of Lisbeth’s fate, and her follow-up toNew York TimesbestsellerThe Girl in the Eagle’s Talonsis “a twisty, vertiginous, hard-hitting thriller that breathes new life into Stieg Larsson’s epic series and unforgettable characters,” per an official synopsis.

Penguin Random House

“Sweden’s far north is growing colder; even in springtime, the town of Gasskas is buried under a relentless snow,” the synopsis teases. “As temperatures drop, tensions rise between a global corporation shamelessly exploiting the area’s natural resources and wary locals who have scores to settle. A bomb blasts apart a crucial bridge. Soon after, a young journalist is found murdered.”

Lisbeth’s story, meanwhile, picks up in Stockholm, as she looks “to fill the void her last lover left behind,” per the synopsis. “When she discovers that fellow hacker Plague has been kidnapped and taken up North, and finds her niece, Svala, on her doorstep, she has no choice but to return to Gasskas–with Mikael Blomkvist at her side.”

InThe Girl with Ice in Her Veins, Lisbeth’s “worst fears come to haunt her,” the synopsis says, teasing that she and Mikael will be “forced to face down their own troubling pasts and those of their loved ones” and “untangle a history of violence before it’s too late.”

Ready to dive back into the thrilling and dangerous world ofThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Read an exclusive excerpt below.

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Karin Smirnoff author portrait.Thron Ullberg

Thron Ullberg

“Hi Lisbeth, it’s me. It’s been a while.”

The voice is weak and croaky. His observation is correct: although they were in touch via digital platforms as recently as the autumn, it has been years since their last conversation. But she can hear instantly that it is Plague. Her hacker friend, if there is any such thing as friendship. Maybe the only one she has ever had.

“Sorry,” she says, quite some time later. “Are you still there?”

“You sound ill, not like you.” As if he knows what’s actually like Lisbeth and what’s not. Armour-plated exterior, a face almost devoid of expression. A shell that keeps the outside world at a distance in a robotic, barely human way.

The contents of that shell can be glimpsed only when a rare crack opens.

Through years of occasionally crossing paths, they understand more about each other than most. Still, he knows very little about Lisbeth as a person, the one she has become or chooses to be. It’s almost comforting to hear that she can catch a cold like any other human being.

“That’s what happens when you hang out with walking sources of viral infection.”

“I take it you’re thinking of someone specific,” he says, hoping for a way in. Her inaudible grunt gives way to another coughing fit.

“How about you?” she asks once she has recovered sufficiently. “Phone calls aren’t usually your thing, but then again it is nearly Christmas. Happy Christmas to you too.”

He can’t help laughing. Typical Lisbeth, always on the attack. Always one step ahead, a way of making sure she can keep the doors closed.

“Do you mean Svala?” he says. “The walking source of infection?”

“Could be. But Blomkvist’s down with it too. We must have picked up some foul thing on the train back from Gasskas.”

“So you two are still in touch?” he says.

“No.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Did you ring for a reason?” she says, heading back to bed. There’s something in his voice, a tone trying to make its way through her snot-clogged, fever-hazed brain.

“Just wanted to make sure you were alive.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?”

He’s e-mailed her. Several times but had no reply. The break in contact coincided with his own failed attempt to hack into Branco’s computer system. The silence made him anxious. But the momentary relief he felt when she answered his call is turning into something else. As she pointed out, he is not the type to ring his acquaintances for a chat. He is a creature of the darkness who stays in his cave. The kind who never pokes out his head to sample his surroundings. He can tell her suspicions have been aroused.

“Anyway, I’ve been thinking about you and I just wanted to check everything was alright,” he says, and immediately regrets it. His words ring as false as he feels: a traitor who has betrayed his best friend. She asked for help. But something – someone – got in the way. He could blame his own fear. Not particularly credible. His life has never been of much importance. Alive or dead, it’s all pretty much the same to him. The passing years are nothing but a distance to be covered. She knows that. Maybe he should come clean.

“Be in touch,” she breaks in, and ends the call. The audience is over.

The short December day turns to evening. Between spells of feverish sleep she lies awake in the darkness and tries to get her thoughts in order.

One part of her, the part which, against her will, has softened into a more conciliatory Lisbeth, tries hard to take the words for what they potentially are: a friend ringing up to ask how she is. Is that an utterly ridiculous proposition? No, or, well, yes, unless Plague has undergone a complete metamorphosis, which is possible but not likely. He was fishing for something. It takes her back to the experiences of the autumn, which she has done her best to forget.

Svala carrying her dying mother through a burning bunker.

Herself in the arms of a police officer.

And finally, Plague.

He has been at her side. She put her trust in his incorruptible integrity. They have eaten from the same pizza boxes. Solved problems that would make students of AI green with envy. She has so much to thank him for: her life, her freedom. But still, something isn’t right.

Once this crappy virus is out of her system, she’s going to find out what.

source: people.com