Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

31 reviews

cromen12's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, and Sexual violence

bipolarblue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

deezy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

n_asyikin_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

CW: blood & gore; some ableist language; mentions of rape (as fantasy); mentions of racist & misogynist views

A mystery/thriller at its best! The cast of characters were far from perfect, but they were compelling, pushing the storyline at a steady speed, perfectly absorbing. I thought that having told through various perspectives, Sveistrup added depth to the element of mystery by leaving the readers guessing whether the truth/observation was sound or biased in some ways. There were also scenes that have left me with goosebumps; the atmospheric writing built up the suspence, an eerieness brought about by the knowledge that someone or something evil was at present. I just loved the balance of intellectual deduction involving the case with the evocative, blockbuster-like descriptions involving the atmosphere.

The book also highlighted some systemic issues & individual flaws without trying to solve, or overcomplicate them. But the almost matter-of-fact way they were imbued into the plot added a touch of realness to me.

I'd love to read more of Sveistrup's work! Would love to see more of Thulin & Hess, if possible. Regardless, definitely a must read for any fan of a good old detective story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Racism, Misogyny, Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape

kaidoz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The main plot of the book surrounds a serial killer, and I find the idea of it very interesting. The murders and the way the plot thickens isn’t too slow. The main characters are pretty cliche. The main woman is a headstrong/independent type and the main man is a carbon copy of the rugged detective with a mysterious past who was kicked off the force. The story itself made it readable but because of the characters’ cliche-ness I wasn’t too much of a fan of the <slight romance toward the end>. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Murder, Kidnapping, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Stalking, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Medical content

This book contains mentions of graphic child abuse, physical and sexual. Many people are murdered and it is mentioned in detail due to the main characters being detectives.

corinnab's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 stars! What a fantastic intricately woven thriller!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is by the same author who wrote the novel that was turned into the amazing TV series, "The Killing", which was picked up by Netflix mid-way through. This book was graphic, dark, and gritty (similar to Pretty Girls but a very different storyline). It is long but it is worth it. I read it slow and the pages took awhile to get through (not sure if it was that they were big pages or something to do with the translation). This is not your typical thriller, but moreso a cinematic slow build. There are so many key players and you never really know who is responsible for what until the end. Although there are so many characters, I did not find myself confused. The characters are flawed, but real, and there are so many sick people in this story, but they all have a story. I loved this so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Sexual assault

tomato_bisque's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I'm kinda tired of reading modern day thrillers where the killer is always someone close to the protagonist. I'll start the book and predict who it is going to be. I'll keep reading them anyways though so maybe that says more about me.

 
Overall, I thought the book was fun and fast-paced. It does get into over-the-top territory on occasion though. The two detectives were not that interesting but the book is more about the plot than anything, so it does not take away from the story all that much. I will probably be reading the next thing this author writes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Torture, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Xenophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

hazelgirl21's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

While I'm aware this is a translated work, I still have to add a couple criticism's about the writing style. I found it VERY hard to understand who was talking, as 3 people would be talking but for an entire paragraph of dialogue it wouldn't clarify who was speaking. This led to some confusion. I also wasn't familiar with most of the names, didn't realize a couple were not the gender I thought until we were well under way, and I had to keep looking up how to pronounce names. I think both of these problems would be avoidable with an audiobook. 

That being said, I really enjoyed the crime aspect. It was very fucked up, a lot going on for sure. But I found it compelling, and while I did figure out who did it about halfway through, it didn't take (much) away from the ending. If there were to be a book 2, I'd absolutely read it. 

This book is very heavy, so read this only if you're in a good place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Gun violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Child death

prcarswell's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Domestic abuse