Author of controversial ‘Millennium’ sequel says he wrote in ‘manic depressive’ state

The eagerly-awaited and controversial sequel to Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Millennium crime trilogy has hit store shelves in 25 countries, as the new author admitted he wrote the book in a manic depressive state.

Speaking to reporters just hours ahead of the launch, David Lagercrantz said he was “terrified” as he wrote The Girl in the Spider’s Web.

“I used to say that I was bipolar, manic depressive all the time, and I think it was kind of a good thing to write” in this condition, he said of the 500-page thriller which picks up the trail of tattooed computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist.

Larsson died suddenly of a heart attack in 2004 at age 50, before the series gained global fame.

Larsson’s three books, published in 2005-2007, have sold 80 million copies worldwide and inspired a series of films in Swedish as well as a Hollywood version.

Lagercrantz’s sequel went on sale in 25 countries on Thursday, including Sweden where a Stockholm bookstore opened at midnight to sell the first copies to around 50 fans who showed up to get their books signed by the author.

“I came on the subway, that way I can start reading on my way home,” said Millennium fan Rickard de Boussard, 57.

Lagercrantz meanwhile said in an interview that he was “obsessive” during the writing process, poring over Larsson’s trilogy, reading and re-reading it, doing endless hours of research, questioning his ability the whole time.

“The writing process was a combination of an enormous desire and total fear,” he says with a laugh. “The fear of not doing Stieg Larsson justice kept me going.

“I was not the easiest person to live with because I was thinking about it all the time,” he said, adding that he was “scared to death” that his book would not live up to the trilogy.

“This was the passion of my life and now you can judge if I succeeded,” said Lagercrantz, who gesticulates wildly while speaking and is fond of superlatives.

Despite the overwhelming fear of failure, Lagercrantz says that being given the opportunity to write the book was “an incredible privilege, an enormous joy”.

While many fans craved a fourth instalment, some are not happy - among them Eva Gabrielsson, Larsson’s partner for 32 years until his death.

The couple were not married and Larsson left no will, so his estate went to his brother and father. Gabrielsson, 61, lost a bitter battle with them to manage his work.

She has criticised both the decision to continue the trilogy and to pick Lagercrantz as author, calling him “a totally idiotic choice” in an interview in March.

Larsson had no plans for a continuation of Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s adventures, and Lagercrantz lacked his left-wing activist background, knowing nothing of the milieu described in the books, she said.

“They say heroes are supposed to live forever. That’s a load of crap, this is about money,” Gabrielsson said.

The writing was shrouded in secrecy with the author, editors and translators all working on computers disconnected from the Internet to prevent hackers from leaking the plot.

Despite the precautions, a newspaper kiosk at Stockholm’s central station put the book on sale on Wednesday, a day early, before being ordered by publishing house Norstedts to remove it.

A total of 2.7 million copies have been printed, including 500,000 in the US.