charlottekaas's review against another edition
1.0
First of all, if you enjoy Scandinavian crime fiction in the vein of the trite drivel people like Jussi and Jo seem to be releasing every other day, you will probably enjoy this book. If you don't, you're my kind of person and should also steer clear of Kastanjemanden.
The story is a very straight-forward; a serial-killer is mutilating and killing (mainly) women and it may be connected to the disappearance of the daugther of a prominent politician. The murdered women are generally unlikeable, pathetic, weak and very bad mothers. So I honestly didn't really care why they were being killed. But fret not, because someone DOES care! Our hero detectives, and what a pair their are. First we have the female detective and lead. She's a strong, sexy, independent badass, who's tech-savvy and sexually assertive. She's single and refuses to settle down - she's just too cool for that. Enter hero #2. A new and original detective character... no, wait, a walking cliche - once a top investigator, now disgraced and temporarily dismissed from Interpol, our male lead is an attractive, smart, taciturn badass who lives alone in a sparsely furnished apartment and gives you 0 info about his past.
Apart from being very, VERY similar to other leading characters from "classic" Scandi crime fiction, they have another thing in common: both really want meetings with their bosses in order to get transfered to some place better. This is also true for a 3rd character, and none of it seems to matter at all to the story. It takes up quite a bit of time, but doesn't factor into the plot, as far as I could see. Such a weird thing to put into THREE characters' story-lines.
Ah, but our male protagonist isn't all hardass. It takes a childish incarcerated pedo only a few seconds during an interview to make him lose all self-control. How, do you ask? By mockly repeating everything he says like a friggin' child. But I suppose even hard-boiled Interpol investigators get annoyed when someone teases them.
Yes, a pedo, because like every Scandinavian detective story with respect for itself, mutilating women isn't horrific enough - we need a healthy dose of child molestation to actually feel something. If your characters are flat and dull, just make the reader think of kids being raped and beaten by psychos - that HAS to elicit some emotion, right?
Who is the killer? Why are these women being targeted? Who has it in for the nondescript female politician it all seems to revolve around? Why are there chestnut figures at the crime scenes? (One guess could be that Denmark doesn't get enough snow for snowmen very often). Will all the characters finally get transfered to other departments? I won't spoil it ahead of the hopefully superior Netflix show, but I will say that very few interesting things happen and you are likely to be as far back in your seat as you possibly can be until the very end.
The story is a very straight-forward; a serial-killer is mutilating and killing (mainly) women and it may be connected to the disappearance of the daugther of a prominent politician. The murdered women are generally unlikeable, pathetic, weak and very bad mothers. So I honestly didn't really care why they were being killed. But fret not, because someone DOES care! Our hero detectives, and what a pair their are. First we have the female detective and lead. She's a strong, sexy, independent badass, who's tech-savvy and sexually assertive. She's single and refuses to settle down - she's just too cool for that. Enter hero #2. A new and original detective character... no, wait, a walking cliche - once a top investigator, now disgraced and temporarily dismissed from Interpol, our male lead is an attractive, smart, taciturn badass who lives alone in a sparsely furnished apartment and gives you 0 info about his past.
Apart from being very, VERY similar to other leading characters from "classic" Scandi crime fiction, they have another thing in common: both really want meetings with their bosses in order to get transfered to some place better. This is also true for a 3rd character, and none of it seems to matter at all to the story. It takes up quite a bit of time, but doesn't factor into the plot, as far as I could see. Such a weird thing to put into THREE characters' story-lines.
Ah, but our male protagonist isn't all hardass. It takes a childish incarcerated pedo only a few seconds during an interview to make him lose all self-control. How, do you ask? By mockly repeating everything he says like a friggin' child. But I suppose even hard-boiled Interpol investigators get annoyed when someone teases them.
Yes, a pedo, because like every Scandinavian detective story with respect for itself, mutilating women isn't horrific enough - we need a healthy dose of child molestation to actually feel something. If your characters are flat and dull, just make the reader think of kids being raped and beaten by psychos - that HAS to elicit some emotion, right?
Who is the killer? Why are these women being targeted? Who has it in for the nondescript female politician it all seems to revolve around? Why are there chestnut figures at the crime scenes? (One guess could be that Denmark doesn't get enough snow for snowmen very often). Will all the characters finally get transfered to other departments? I won't spoil it ahead of the hopefully superior Netflix show, but I will say that very few interesting things happen and you are likely to be as far back in your seat as you possibly can be until the very end.
shugentobler's review
5.0
Those looking for a gripping mystery will not bre disappointed-I was enthralled to the last page. This book lived up to all my deep desires to be entrenched in a good murder book.
lifewithmisskate's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
gen28's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
_aj_'s review against another edition
dark
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
4.75
knit_and_purl's review
4.0
The book started off with a bang and not for the faint of heart. I then found, as I so often do, with Scandinavian novels, that a bunch of characters get thrown at you and it can take some time to figure out who everyone is. Sometimes I find this horribly frustrating, and other times I try to continue and see if it's worth it. I continued, and was glad I did. The mystery was good and kept me on my toes. I quite liked Hess, and think that made a big difference in my opinion of the book. The murders are horrific, so I don't recommend this to anyone who doesn't want to read some descriptive passages. I thought for sure I might have a nightmare last night when I finished it (I didn't).