Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

4 reviews

overbookedteacher's review

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

kaidoz's review

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

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

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