Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

6 reviews

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I found a copy of this book at a Little Free Library and was intrigued to read it.
"The Chestnut Man" follows a cast of characters as they try to figure out who this elusive serial killer is that is terrorizing Copenhagen. At each of the crime scenes, the killer leaves his calling card: a tiny doll made of chestnuts. The police are shocked to discover that the dolls actually have the fingerprints of a young girl, a government minister's daughter, who was kidnapped and murdered years ago. Could this be a coincidence? Or does the Chestnut Man have even more secrets?
First and foremost, this book is graphic. I am normally not too shocked or appalled to read about most crimes in books, but this book was visceral in its descriptions and left me feeling uneasy. I think it is a great testament to the author that he can write such gore, but still have a really strong narrative and interesting story that continues to progress. One example of this is that the serial killer amputates hands, and the police explain it in great detail.
I am normally not a huge fan of crime novels, especially ones that follow police, but this one was so well done, and I am happy to report that I did not feel like I was reading an episode of Law and Order. There is something about those types of crime stories that really take me out of the narrative, but this book read more like a thriller with some characters who happen to be the police.
The story starts off a little slowly, and it took me some time to get into it. It is a lengthy story, and the author took the time to really build up the big reveals, so it takes a while to get into the story. However, once the murders start happening more frequently, I do think the story picks up in pace and it was easy to devour the second half of the novel.
I loved all of the twists and layers to this story. I did not see the killer coming. I also have not been able to stop thinking about what occurred in the house during those final few scenes of the book.
I definitely recommend this novel to anyone with a strong stomach who likes violent novels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

dev921's review against another edition

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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fictionaladventures's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

This just felt super dry to me. It got a little more interesting as it went on and as I started to remember who some of the characters were, but overall it definitely wasn’t memorable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

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: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

kaidoz's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.0

The main plot of the book surrounds a serial killer, and I find the idea of it very interesting. The murders and the way the plot thickens isn’t too slow. The main characters are pretty cliche. The main woman is a headstrong/independent type and the main man is a carbon copy of the rugged detective with a mysterious past who was kicked off the force. The story itself made it readable but because of the characters’ cliche-ness I wasn’t too much of a fan of the <slight romance toward the end>. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexism, Medical content, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

This book contains mentions of graphic child abuse, physical and sexual. Many people are murdered and it is mentioned in detail due to the main characters being detectives.

corinnab's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

5 stars! What a fantastic intricately woven thriller!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is by the same author who wrote the novel that was turned into the amazing TV series, "The Killing", which was picked up by Netflix mid-way through. This book was graphic, dark, and gritty (similar to Pretty Girls but a very different storyline). It is long but it is worth it. I read it slow and the pages took awhile to get through (not sure if it was that they were big pages or something to do with the translation). This is not your typical thriller, but moreso a cinematic slow build. There are so many key players and you never really know who is responsible for what until the end. Although there are so many characters, I did not find myself confused. The characters are flawed, but real, and there are so many sick people in this story, but they all have a story. I loved this so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Stalking