Chestnut Man is so dark, and disturbing.

I must say it was difficult to read from time to time, as there is a lot of upsetting content in it, but it's not done in a vulgar way and put together very powerfully.

I loved Hess, and Thurin, both strong characters with their flaws. Hess specifically fits quickly into the very likeable anti-hero space in the eyes of the reader. I wish there wasn't the classic 'encounter with the villain and action' section in the end, this book really didn't needed it. But the ending was beautiful. I can't say too much about the plot to not to reveal but I can say Chestnut Mans will haunt you forever after reading this book.

Gritty, disturbing, dark Scandi-crime, there are trigger warnings but pick it up if you have the stomach, you won't be disappointed.

A fantastic atmospheric thriller,that takes your breath away. It is typically Nordic Noir,full of cruelty and graphic descriptions of torture that may be hard for some to read,but absolutely necessary in this case.
A young girl is found murdered in a playground,with one of her hands cut off. The mutilation appears to have been done whilst she was conscious,and near her body is found a chestnut doll. Later on, other victims are discovered,also with missing body parts. Is the killer trying to make a complete person in order to send a message and who is he trying to reach? What is the significance of chestnut dolls,and indeed,what the heck is a chestnut doll?
This is an edge-of-the- seat thriller,and do remember to breathe, at times you will be holding your breath!! There are murders,blood and gore aplenty. There are also the usual suspects, Hess the troubled detective, Thulin ,the young keen and eager to impress newbie and this time,politicians who have secrets to hide. A good story is when you have empathy with people involved and you are silently cheering them on,and this novel did that for me. I didn't guess the identity of the killer or the motive, so that is a win-win situation in my book.
An excellent first novel,which I find hard to believe this book is. The story is compelling,the characters are well rounded and I absolutely recommend this book. I hope there will be more books to follow. They deserve the chance to become more developed.
I have rated this as a five star read,and have posted this review to Goodreads today.

Soren Sveistrup, better known as creator and writer of Danish drama The Killing, is clearly a master at his craft, This is a superb thriller in the great Nordic Noir tradition where no holds are barred in terms of examination of the characters involved or the malignity of the crimes perpetrated, with a fine mix of heroic qualities in flawed characters, visitation of personal grief and a soupcon of political intrigue. And yet ... the author seems to manage to avoid the trap of the the so-called 'gritty' novels that fill many shop bookshelves with just plain nastiness and unpleasant, unlikeable characters - criminals and detectives alike being anti-everything except swear words - and instead engenders in us sympathy for those flawed characters and imbues us with hope they will overcome the evil and even find enrichment of their own lives - a sure sign we have identified with them.

Briefly, a young woman is found murdered in a playground In Copenhagen with one hand sawn off, and nearby hands a small chestnut doll. An unlikely pair of detectives - Naia Thulin, a young women in the Copenhagen force and the Mark Hess, a burned-out investigator sent to join her from Europol, where he is under a cloud - are at complete odds with each other but each in their own way doing their best to find the killer. The plot is complicated by a connection to the disappearance a year earlier of the young daughter of political minister Rosa Hartung, then complicated further still by another murder, and another chestnut doll left by the body.. Thulin and Hess are now racing against time as they fear the murderer may not be finished with his task and they try to stay a step ahead of the killer.

Absolutely edge-of-your-seat stuff, the best of thrillers and the best of writing. I understand this is the author's first novel. All I can say is this doesn't read like a first novel. It is up there with the best of them. Highly recommended for thriller-lovers everywhere who enjoy meaningful and empathic characters and good back stories. A slight warning in that some of the descriptions of bodies/murderer's methods can be quite graphic, but if you can cope with just a page or two of that, it's well worth it.

This is basically a police procedural novel, but with great characters and a detailed plot. The main detectives have the usual personal problems, but they are fleshed out as 3D people who we get to know as individuals. Some of the descriptions of violence are quite gruesome, especially near the end of the book, but not gratuitously so. I really enjoyed this gripping read, and can't wait for the next book from Soren Sveistrup.

The information I had gleaned about this book made me want to read it. A lover of crime novels the chestnut man had a eeriness that pulls you in. The story starts with a slaying several decades previous including a cop called to the scene. Years later the deaths of women start to happen and chestnut men left at the scene. Relegated Europol Hess is called to partner up with Thulin of major crimes division to investigate. The story had me guessing until the end about everything the background of the main protagonists to who the chestnut man really was. This book has become one of my favourites of this year and o hope the author continues to develop these to brilliant characters. The story was brilliantly thought out from beginning to end.

Sometimes, you know exactly what you are going to get from a book. This first foray into novel writing from Soren Sveistrup, creator of the TV mega-hit The Killing, is very much along the lines of what we have been accustomed to from Nordic Noir crime fiction. Two cops – Thulin, a single mother, ambitious and wanting to move up; and Hess, a disgraced outsider and a loner hiding a haunted past – set to solve the murder and mutilation of a mother. Pretty soon the corpses pile up and the whole department is in upheaval. Throw in some politics, some child abuse, a missing child and, in Hess, the cop who continues to search for the truth when everyone else thinks the case has been solved…Yes, this is us firmly and securely in Scandi territory.

Don’t get me wrong – this is a rollicking read and Sveistrup creates sympathetic characters and builds enough tension and twists to keep the reader going. But it is a slog; the book is about 100 pages too long (why doesn’t an editor actually ‘edit’??). And because it is written in the present tense it can’t help but read almost as a TV or film script at times (‘a gold wedding ring indicates that he is married’, ‘the garage is spacious and high-ceilinged’) which, after a while, started to wear a little thin even as it clearly illustrated the difference between a great novelist and a great script writer. The plot – well, it is a bit gruesome at times and delves into some seriously murky aspects of the human psyche. Again, this is what you expect from the genre and the ending is as realistic as you might expect – that is to say, not very and a bit cliched (isolated cottage, basement, cops in peril trying to save a potential next victim....).

For what it is this is a well-written and enjoyable (if that’s the right word for what the book contains!) crime novel. I’m sure there will be more to come in the series, and I’m equally sure there will be a TV series or movie, but for me Sveistrup brings nothing spectacular or new to the genre. 3 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest and unbiased review.)

The daughter of a prominent politician goes missing without a trace. A year later and a serial killer is terrorising Copenhagan. Thulin and Hess are in a race against time to put an end to his spree. Even following the clues, they appear to be getting nowhere. Who is the killer, why is he leaving little chestnut men at each crime scene, and what is the connection to Denmark's minister of children?

Despite a tense opening, this book gets off to a slow start, but after about 20% it picked up considerably. The story is very tense and exciting in parts and I didn't guess the perpetrator, so that was an unexpected surprise. Very enjoyable, if a little long drawn out, read,

What a fantastic book!

I love scandi crime despite the language barrier and was very excited to start this novel.

At first I found it fairly tedious and slow but decided to read on to give it time to develop. I’m so pleased I did! The female character is fairly unlikable and it’s only when the male protagonist arrives that the book really comes into its own.

Part political thriller, part serial killer this book ticks all the boxes. Well developed characters, excellent translation, and a thumping good story.

I can’t wait for the next installment!

3.75 stars


This book certainly started with a bang.... creepy and a little bit scary... so the next 200 or so pages didn't seem too bad.
I know,I've obviously read too many police books if chopping off a hand and mutilating someone is no big deal.
I guessed who the killer was,I'm not sure I was ever considering anyone else,but it was good to read the story unfold,and there was real tension as I sped through the last hundred or so pages.
I'm sure this won't be the last we hear of Thulin and Hess. Quite looking forward to the next one.

Wow, this had my heart thumping, brilliant twists and turns, certainly kept me guessing as well, would highly recommend it

This was an OK read, not something I would read again, which is a shame as it held so much promise for me, being a police procedural /thriller.

Thurin was a good character, she is young, ambitious, respected and good at her job. Her character is well written. Siren Sveistrup writes the police team well and creates suspense and tension. There just seemed to be something missing to me.

Unfortunately the bad guy /gal was guessed early on, as there could be few others it could be with the info we are given.

Not a bad read, just slightly underwhelming.

I just couldn't get on with this book. Felt like it was going on for ever. The % never seemed to change. Got 47%in and was struggling.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It had a similar feel to Jo Nesbo's The Snowman and I found it just as gripping and chilling. The story moved at a great pace and I kept wanting to go back and read more to try to get to the bottom of it. Like everyone else I was hooked on The Killing so I was so thrilled to see Søren Sveistrup was able to pull his skills in that arena through to this debut novel and I hope to read lots more by him! Would absolutely recommend.

When a series of women are found murdered in Copenhagen, with a small figurine made out of chestnuts beside them, ambitious detective Naia Thulin is keen to find the killer before they strike again. Unfortunately, she has been lumbered with a new partner, Mark Hess - a burnt out Europol detective who's back at his old squad under dubious circumstances. Yet, when a fingerprint is found on the chestnut men of a girl who has been missing for a year, the daughter of a politician, they suddenly realise how vital it is that they find a way to work together.

Eeeek - scary, grim stuff. I'm not very good at reading grisly details, especially at night for obvious reasons, but I couldn't resist reading the new book by the creator of The Killing. It's really good - very atmospheric and well-paced. Hess' backstory and the development of Thulin and Hess' friendship felt a little underdeveloped and just slotted in at times - this definitely could have been done better. But otherwise, I really enjoyed this and would definitely watch a tv series based on it (has to happen, right?).

I loved this book, full of twists and turns just like the killing tv series and I spent the whole book changing my mind about who was responsible at every turn. This is dark and disturbing but a book you can’t put down and with two lead cops who I really brought into and liked and wanted them to catch the bad guy.

It's one of those ideal early October days; the sun is shining but there's a crisp chill in the air. It's a Sunday too so I have the luxury of time, I can do whatever I like on this day of great possibility. With the shifting seasons, I am surrounded by events and opportunities. So I spent my morning lost in this book. I ignored the hunger creeping over me. I dismissed the Low Battery warning on my Kindle. I was not putting this down!

The Chestnut Man is one of those books that finds a special balance. Even in the opening chapter, and the chapters here are brief, Sveistrup manages to offer up a pretty warm and cosy cliche and then slam it into your face like a snowball laced with shards of ice. And until you finally finish this book you are basically going to be thrown around between comfortable, easy reading, and dark, brutal passages. It's like riding a rollercoaster with a blindfold on at times because you're never entirely sure when the next turn is coming and you certainly don't know whether you'll quietly climb or suddenly dive into the depths.

As impressive as this navigation through the story is, there's a subtlety that takes it even further. Despite being a third person narrative Sveistrup manages to bring the individual characters perspectives in with the careful use of language, a small shift in tone to highlight racism or immaturity. It makes for some slightly unsettling sentences and adds so much texture to the story.

It's probably no surprise to learn that the ensemble of characters are all pretty broken, the extent and reasoning for most taking such a long time to come out you barely remember you have no idea why they're the way they are, but these reveals are presented at key moments, there's no need for oversharing exposition, just a small line here and there to remind you there are layers to everything you're reading.

When you combine it all... You get something powerful. It won't be easy reading for some people. It touches on difficult subjects and although it doesn't bask these areas it can't avoid them or pull the punches. But, if you feel brave enough, clear your calendar and pick this up. It's worth your time.

A book I have been unable to put down but not a read for the squeamish. It is really important and necessary to review this book whilst giving nothing away in order that the reader enjoys or should I say suffers the suspense and uncertainty of every page with no accidental indicators. Go in blind and enjoy the ride. A female detective desperate to change departments. A male detective transferred to the same department while under threat of suspension. Both charged to work together to solve one horrendous crime, quickly followed by a similar brutal murder indicating same perpetrator. Neither like or initially respect each others capabilities yet forced to track down and apprehend a serial killer against a ticking clock. Running in parallel a senior politician returning to work after a sabbatical of 12 months recovering from the kidnap and disappearance of her young daughter. The tightly constructed plot lines, callous and brutal in every respect require the two police officers to work together, usually in horrific circumstances to resolve a series of events indicating links with the child abduction. From beginning to end I was unable to figure out any answers and when given an answer by the author the story immediately introduced a more complex scenario, leaving the reader in awe of the authors ability to keep the reader guessing. This book weaves an intricate thriller using characters from every strata of society. No person is obviously guilty but neither can any character be considered innocent or blameless. The quick pace of this book has not allowed any breathing space until the very last chapter when the relentless speed of events threatens all involved. Every accolade to the writer for ensuring the book lived up to every expectation and does not disappoint.

Interesting story but having read several Scandinavian police investigative murder stories, I find the procedures very ponderous and slow to be resolved. This one is on the same lines. Some good characters and an interesting storyline. The action sped up rapidly towards the conclusion. Good ending.

As you might expect from the writer behind 'The Killing', this is an excellent thriller – a real page-turner with a couple of red herrings thrown in, great characterisation and two detectives who I would hope to read about again. Deserves to be a huge hit.

A real page turner from first page, couldn't put the book down until I'd finished. Well written with superb story, many twists and turns keeps you engrossed right to the end.