Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

46 reviews

danaslitlist's review against another edition

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

1.0

Well, this book was sitting at a solid three stars for the majority of my reading. I found the slow burn pacing and build up rather effective and the way the writer described emotions and the terrifying situations clever, but I couldn't get past the rampant use of the slur P*ki (though used strictly in the POV of characters we're clearly not supposed to root for) that felt tossed around every other time a background character from "the rough part of town" was described. This was what was holding the book back from being a higher rating, until the reveal of who the Chestnut Man (who I'll call X to avoid spoilers) actually was and then I audibly groaned and knew this was going to drop lower. 

When I tell you at the beginning of the book I jokingly said to myself, "Watch it be X character" because that would be the most random yet predictable killer, I'm dead serious. And lo and behold, I was right. Not only did I find this reveal a complete let down because narratively it felt lazy, it was also a let down because while yes, it might be "shocking" that doesn't make it good. The reason it was shocking was because there was literally ZERO groundwork or clues leading to it being X. Of course it was going to shock the reader when you pull a villain out of thin air. 

Add on top of that issue the totally misogynistic and bizarre logic of X's motives, and you've got a mess of an ending. Do I understand that serial killers have a tendency to be a misogynistic and illogical? Oh absolutely! But that doesn't fit the picture that has been painted of this character. If X is trying to punish people in retaliation for their past, why is it that it falls solely on this one type of victim and not the other when it's proven on page that they blame both types of people for the trauma of their past? It just didn't make sense to me. And maybe that is on me for expecting this genius level serial killer to have morals or emotions (even though again, we're shown that they're acting out of a place of EMOTION AND MORALS). 

And, you're telling me that Rosa didn't realize WHO POTENTIALLY was involved when that event in the past was marked with a chestnut doll?!?! I cannot. I cannot. 

But what absolutely stings the most is that the final lesson in this book is: traumatized and abused children turn into bad adults who will the same to others, intentionally or not. There is a severe lack of nuance or empathy towards X’s sibling who most definitely was not mentally well and extremely traumatized. 

This was so beyond disappointing as the atmosphere and the build up was well crafted. 

PS: the minister lady deserves to rot in hell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Child death, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Child abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Gore, and Physical abuse

caylin_k's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Child abuse

dev921's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Animal death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

jennamalena's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Torture, Car accident, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Pedophilia

racheldallaire's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

 It took me awhile to get into this one. I think that maybe Nordic Noir is not for me. It was very dark, which I sometimes don't mind, but this was very dark with very little hope and so many disturbing content considerations. 2.5 stars because it was okay and the second half kept me guessing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Violence, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Confinement, Sexual violence, and Rape

theoceanrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Murder and Death

Minor: Child abuse and Kidnapping

kendrac_117's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Violence, Torture, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Mental illness, and Murder

azureye31's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I am always up for an intense, dark, Scandinavian thriller, so that is what attracted me to this book. I am also aware that this particular author is also a screen writer and has had several successful series on television, so I was very curious, and excited to read a piece of his work.  

 

What worked:  

 

The author made good use of atmosphere to draw the reader in. The book felt very dark, and the descriptions of the surroundings added to this feeling of sinister (snowy, cold, gray Copenhagen). I also enjoyed the plot, and it did keep me, at times, on the edge of my seat. This book is a mixture of plot driven, and an attempt to be character driven with a very dark tone. 

 

The translation from Danish was very good, and did not appear to lose anything in the process. Nothing felt awkward or out of place. 

 

 

What didn’t work: 

 

I felt confused with the characters because there were so many, and the author did not do a good job of developing them.  None of them had a distinct voice, and I did not feel a sense of empathy for any of them.  It was purely plot that kept me engaged in the book, and not an attachment to any particular character.  The reader is given very little insight into any of them.  The author’s attempt at creating a character driven story, in my humble opinion, failed.  Had it not been for the very strong plot, I would have not stayed engaged. 

 

The author chose to write in third person, limited and the constant shifting of characters got confusing.  At times, the chapter would start out without any sense of who we were talking about, and three pages later the another would drop a hint.  It felt disorienting, and detracted from the story. 

 

The plot itself was very intense, and did keep me on edge, however some of it was a little unbelievable and could have been edited out.  This book was very long, but needlessly so. 

 

I am giving it 3 out of five stars.  

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, and Kidnapping

clarabooksit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Kidnapping, Body horror, Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Torture, Alcoholism, Stalking, Mental illness, and Gore

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

kyra_joy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

When I first looked at the size of this book I was like that’s a lot of pages but I sat down and finished it in one sitting. It was gripping and I didn’t want to put it down, any thrillers or mysteries I read after this will have big boots to fill. 

The characters were all pretty typical of your classic CSI/ criminal minds show but more enjoyable as the length of it allowed for so much for detail. 

I always enjoy reading books set in other parts of the world so I really loved it for that aspect.

And the mystery in my opinion really caught me off guard! I am normally pretty good at figuring out endings but this one was a complete surprise. 

Definitely will be reading more from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Confinement, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Rape