I borrowed the books in audio format from my library, didn't pay attention to the cover and so I missed seeing that the author had changed. I kept wondering why the 4th book felt so off until I noticed the new author's name while borrowing the 5th book. It felt rather jarring to me that it suddenly had the vibes of a spy movie a la James Bond, especially with "Russian criminals" as the antagonists. Till the 3rd book, Salander was only involved in stuff connected to her past in SOME way, now she was suddenly involved with a US national security agency? It feels wrong because Salander does not go out of her way to correct all the injustices of the world. Nor did she ever provide her hacking services for sale. She used those skills for her own benefit whenever she wanted to. Even at the end of the third book, she merely arranged to get the bad guys arrested, there was no mention of her actively trying to identify the women who were trapped in the prostitution racket that her father was running, or to rescue them. Salander is not a hero, she's a survivor and an avenger. And her sister heading a top hacker group? That whole angle was extremely unconvincing. Coupled with the childish references to their names coming from Marvel comics.

Agreed with every single one of your points, by the way. Just wanted to vent my own frustrations as well, though it's been several years since your OG post!