Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

48 reviews

edu_caldelas's review against another edition

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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia

tajosima's review against another edition

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? No

2.0

So after reading this book one would think that apparently all the men are pervs and can’t see a woman without thinking of cheating on his wife with that new woman..nope, this left a bad taste in my mouth. The mystery itself was cool, but not good overall imo. And the reasons why the women were being killed also didn’t convince me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

oddreads_nicolestins's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Really enjoyed this- when I couldn't read it I thought about reading it and genuinely felt sad. I was a little disappointed with who the culprit ended up being (maybe because I was so set on it being someone else). But that has no bearing on my overall rating; I loved the book and it has made my horror/thriller recommendations shortlist. Extremely well written- and really gives chilly, fall vibes (if you're looking for that kinda thing).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death, Physical abuse, and Car accident

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault

overbookedteacher's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

cosyskog's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I honestly thought I hated this book. After reading the first 125 pages, it felt like the story was crawling along even though I recognised this was to give a broader depth to the characters and their relationships. So I gave myself a break and put the book down for a month. 

When I picked it back up, I read the last 400 pages in 2 nights as I was invested in how the mystery unravelled itself. 

A few brief parts describing the women characters,especially as viewed by others, are written from the perspective of the male gaze and didn't seem to really add value to the characters. Unless the purpose was to call out one of the underlying themes of misogyny throughout the book. 

The story does remind me why I love a good mystery though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

brandon_the_beldam2993's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Blood

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Mental illness, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism and Forced institutionalization

horizonous'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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment

◦ Animal death = Dismemberment

jessy_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.5

Let me preface this review by saying that this is one of the best detective thrillers that I've ever read. It is the book's poor fate, however, that it is a detective thriller, and I tend not to enjoy detective thrillers.

Yet, I still picked this book up, hoping that it would be different. The Chestnut Man follows several third-person perspectives, including several police officers and Rosa Hartung, a minister who makes a comeback to the political scene a year after her daughter disappeared. I was hoping that the latter perspective would counteract some of the issues I tend to have with detective thrillers. 

The reason that I don't pick up detective thrillers anymore is that I find some type of personal investment lacking. The main character, often a police officer, is given a case and simply does their job, but they are not personally attached to the crime that they are trying to solve. Additionally, detective thrillers follow many police characters, and those usually blend together for me. I find it hard to keep the characters apart and be involved with them. 

The Chestnut Man is like other detective thrillers in that way. It has a large cast of police characters who are simply doing their job by trying to solve this case. For some reason, I didn't have any trouble keeping those characters apart, though. They are given backstories, although those play a minor role in the story, which might explain the difference. I had hoped that Rosa Hartung's perspective would provide the personal attachment to the murders, but we didn't follow her perspective as much as I would've liked. 

Yet, I know that there are many people who do not have these issues with detective thrillers, and to them I'd like to say: pick up this book. Of all detective thrillers, this might be the best that I have ever read. It is put together cleverly, and the ending was surprising yet made sense. The story is fast-paced, making these 500-something pages fly by, and the writing is vivid, making you gruel at the murder scenes, cringe at the abuse scenes, and your heart will race during the action scenes. There is always something going on, yet the story remains easy to follow without straying too far from what it set out to do. I really enjoyed this book, as much as I could. 

(And a little sidenote: I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Danish cities and landscapes. Took me back to two summers ago, and it was a lovely trip down memory lane.) 

The Chestnut Man is a debut by Soren Sveistrup, who is also known as the author of the successful series The Killing. This book has also been made into a series and is available on Netflix. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence