Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

40 reviews

racheldallaire's review against another edition

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. 

---

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

daybreakreads's review against another edition

This book is awful. It's repeatedly and unnecessarily greusome, graphic, and violent. Essentially all male characters have violent sex fantasies to the point where I googled the author. He’s a self/described sadist and masochist according to his interview with a UK news agency and gets a thrill “playing God” by writing his characters. This is disgusting given the repeated mutilation, torture, and r*pe mentions. I’ve read 20+ thrillers this year, but this was just downright distasteful.

There were also a large number of negative references made against Arabs and Muslims. At first I thought it was to give context to the characters’ terrible personalities, but there was another time that was just pure narration. One person asked another a question, and the question was described being, “as riddled with mines as a supply road in the Middle East.”

Honestly, as a Muslim, I don’t care if this author doesn’t like us (I certainly would not feel comfortable being alone with him or having him around any children I know) but it didn’t affect the plot in the slightest, so it seemed strange to be constantly added.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Murder, Physical abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Confinement, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

sheap99'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape

clarabooksit'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

---

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

katybugggg's review against another edition

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

---

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

kim_ng's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

At first, It took me some time to grasp all the characters and storylines. I was also thinking about not reading any further because I didn't quite warm up to the female main character and the story dragged on a bit. However, it got better and the story on its own was good. 
Nevertheless, it is extremely (sometimes unnecessarily) graphic, dark, brutal and gory. 

-----------

Die Story an sich war gut. Leider fand ich die deutsche Übersetzung manchmal sehr eigenartig. Mit Thulin (weiblicher Hauptcharakter) wurde ich nicht warm, Hesse mochte ich dafür recht gerne. Die Story war ganz gut, zog sich aber an manchen Stellen. Für meinen Geschmack ist das Buch teilweise aber sehr grausam und brutal. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Murder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Alcoholism and Kidnapping

jettaparadis's review against another edition

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

---

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

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

---

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

victoriakuo13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

***CHECK TWs!!!***

I would agree with a lot of the other reviews saying this book was slow to start. The varying POVs are interesting once you get a hold of the characters. Before that, it’s like a swamp in your brain where you’re constantly trying to think back and remember whose life you’re reading about. 

While most other thrillers I’ve read have been undeniably fast paced, this is the first one I’ve felt has been a slow burn. I’m not sure how I liked it— it was definitely a fridge at times, but I do feel like it made the payoff that much better. I liked feeling like the puzzle pieces were slowly coming together in my head. 

I really enjoyed the partnership between Thulin and Hess even though I wish they actually worked together more. I thought they had good chemistry and would love to read another mystery with them in it. There’s so much room for relationship development there and I’m sad it has to end here. 

I’m usually absolutely awful at guessing who the murderer is, so I’m kinda shocked that I actually did guess this one. This person was my main suspect from the beginning, and again, I SUCK at piecing these things together so if you’re the type of person who wants to be surprised, you may not be in this case? Or it’s possible I just had very good luck this time around. 

There are also a few questions that I still have that I don’t feel were answered in the book but the way the chapters are structured so that something is revealed and then the author explains it fully many chapters later may be the reason why. I may have just missed it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Gore, Domestic abuse, and Confinement

essie__reads's review against another edition

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!!!!!!

---

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