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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
I'm not sure if it was the story, the translation, or the fact that I listened to this on audiobook instead of actually reading the pages, but this just did not work for me. It felt slow and a lot of it felt unnecessary. I wanted it to be creepier and more of a mystery but I just felt like we didn't really get any clues until the very end when everything was revealed. I didn't have any connection to the characters, they were hard to keep separate, and at the end of the day, I just didn't really care what happened to any of them. The climax of the book was interesting and exciting and caught my attention but it quickly fizzled once it was over. I just couldn't give it more than a 1.5 just because the climax grabbed my attention, and the fact that it took that long to get there also really put me off.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
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
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
ScandiNoir isn't just Sweden or Norway, it's Denmark too. Hess and Thulin would be great partners in a future series, but if this is a one-off it's a very good one. There's a dead girl, the daughter of a Minister in the Danish government. And now, several murdered mothers with amputations start appearing - are the two related? And why was Hess sent back to Denmark from Europol? All Thulin wants is to get into another department, all Hess wants is back to his partner in Europol and yet... The ending is a little rushed, but otherwise it's a great read for anyone enjoying this genre.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This was fairly standard Nordic crime/mystery fare. I definitely appreciate that while the topic at hand was disturbing, it was less descriptive and horrific than other books I've read, so that was a positive change.
Overall, this book was decent. I found that it definitely went on for too long, and with all of the different characters, I found myself getting confused. Sometimes characters appeared once and then never appeared again, or characters were introduced and it seemed like we'd get more background on them later on and then never did.
The mystery itself was pretty good - definitely didn't see the ending coming, but I almost never do in these books. I liked the overall plot and the mystery of the chestnut men, but had the book been 150 pages shorter, I don't think anything would have been lost.
Overall, this book was decent. I found that it definitely went on for too long, and with all of the different characters, I found myself getting confused. Sometimes characters appeared once and then never appeared again, or characters were introduced and it seemed like we'd get more background on them later on and then never did.
The mystery itself was pretty good - definitely didn't see the ending coming, but I almost never do in these books. I liked the overall plot and the mystery of the chestnut men, but had the book been 150 pages shorter, I don't think anything would have been lost.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this story. I'll never look at chestnuts the same way again.