Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

15 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

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

ehunsy's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking

Minor: Child abuse and Kidnapping

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

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

brandon_the_beldam2993's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Blood and Sexual content

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

jessy_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.5

Let me preface this review by saying that this is one of the best detective thrillers that I've ever read. It is the book's poor fate, however, that it is a detective thriller, and I tend not to enjoy detective thrillers.

Yet, I still picked this book up, hoping that it would be different. The Chestnut Man follows several third-person perspectives, including several police officers and Rosa Hartung, a minister who makes a comeback to the political scene a year after her daughter disappeared. I was hoping that the latter perspective would counteract some of the issues I tend to have with detective thrillers. 

The reason that I don't pick up detective thrillers anymore is that I find some type of personal investment lacking. The main character, often a police officer, is given a case and simply does their job, but they are not personally attached to the crime that they are trying to solve. Additionally, detective thrillers follow many police characters, and those usually blend together for me. I find it hard to keep the characters apart and be involved with them. 

The Chestnut Man is like other detective thrillers in that way. It has a large cast of police characters who are simply doing their job by trying to solve this case. For some reason, I didn't have any trouble keeping those characters apart, though. They are given backstories, although those play a minor role in the story, which might explain the difference. I had hoped that Rosa Hartung's perspective would provide the personal attachment to the murders, but we didn't follow her perspective as much as I would've liked. 

Yet, I know that there are many people who do not have these issues with detective thrillers, and to them I'd like to say: pick up this book. Of all detective thrillers, this might be the best that I have ever read. It is put together cleverly, and the ending was surprising yet made sense. The story is fast-paced, making these 500-something pages fly by, and the writing is vivid, making you gruel at the murder scenes, cringe at the abuse scenes, and your heart will race during the action scenes. There is always something going on, yet the story remains easy to follow without straying too far from what it set out to do. I really enjoyed this book, as much as I could. 

(And a little sidenote: I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Danish cities and landscapes. Took me back to two summers ago, and it was a lovely trip down memory lane.) 

The Chestnut Man is a debut by Soren Sveistrup, who is also known as the author of the successful series The Killing. This book has also been made into a series and is available on Netflix. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

apersonfromflorida's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Trafficking, Stalking, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship