daniesteves'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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
azureye31'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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, and Kidnapping
kyra_joy's review against another edition
- 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
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!
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Confinement, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Rape
kim_ng's review against another edition
- 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
Nevertheless, it is extremely (sometimes unnecessarily) graphic, dark, brutal and gory.
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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.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Murder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, and Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism and Kidnapping
victoriakuo13's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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: 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
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence
oddreads_nicolestins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Blood
Minor: Physical abuse, Death, and Car accident
crossonc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, and Sexual harassment
jessy_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, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence