Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

9 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

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

appurusakura's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Murder, Torture, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

Minor: Stalking, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

fictionaladventures's review

slow-paced

2.0

This just felt super dry to me. It got a little more interesting as it went on and as I started to remember who some of the characters were, but overall it definitely wasn’t memorable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Kidnapping, and Torture

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

Moderate: Rape

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

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

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Alcoholism

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, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, and Torture

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

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

◦ Animal death = Dismemberment

deezy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

pylviaslath's review

adventurous 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

4.5

super solid book tbh very captivating and easy to fly through, tbh i’d normally give it like a 4.3 but 4.5 is good enough:-) gooood good book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Pedophilia, and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Rape