Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

17 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

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

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

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

sarakuba's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Animal death, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Murder, Violence, Blood, Grief, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Car accident, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Islamophobia

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

jettaparadis's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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, Murder, Gore, Blood, Torture, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Car accident, Stalking, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

essie__reads's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book kept me hooked from the beginning. I tend not to enjoy thrillers because I often find them too predictable, but that was not the case with this book. I genuinely had no idea who the killer was or what their motive was, until it was revealed in the book. This book is over 500 pages but the chapters are short and fly by. There were several different characters introduced in the beginning which made the beginning a bit slow but they are easy to differentiate between and the rest of the book flowed very seamlessly. If you enjoy detective/police thrillers, I would highly recommend this one. I felt like the ending was left open enough for the possibility of a sequel, while still wrapping up the main plot very well. I am looking forward to watching the Netflix series adaptation!!

Please be advised to look up content warnings!!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Confinement, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Stalking, Violence, Torture, Trafficking, and Vomit

fbzcab's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence