Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

6 reviews

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

katybugggg's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Torture

Moderate: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Stalking, Death, Gore, Islamophobia, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Rape, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

cosyskog's review

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

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

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.

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

thatsssorachael's review

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