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essie__reads's review against another edition
- 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
Please be advised to look up content warnings!!!!!!
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Torture, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Stalking
jax00's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Pedophilia and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury
cheyraisin's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Pedophilia
fictionaladventures's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
pdelvalletorres's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Kidnapping
kaiyakaiyo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault
horizonous's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
◦ Animal death = Dismembermentjessy_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.5
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.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
alexhaydon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis