Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

15 reviews

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.

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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

kendrac_117's review against another edition

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

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

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

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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

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

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!!!!!!

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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

sorcery_and_stories's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Child abuse, Torture, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness

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

cosyskog's review against another edition

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

brandon_the_beldam2993's review against another edition

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