The Chestnut Man

by Soren Sveistrup

Overview

A Best Book of the Year: Kirkus, Library Journal, New York Times Book Review

A Book of the Month Club selection | An Indie Next Pick

FROM THE CREATOR OF THE HIT TELEVISION SHOW THE KILLING, “a full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson” (A.J. Finn)—SOON TO BE A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES.

IF YOU FIND ONE, HE’S ALREADY FOUND YOU

A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen.

His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene.

Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago.

A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted?

To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues.

Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over.

And no one is safe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062895363
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	154,290
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Søren Sveistrup is an internationally acclaimed script writer, creator and film producer of several TV series. From 2007 to 2012 he was the creator and writer of THE KILLING, which has won several international awards, been sold to more than a hundred countries all over the world and remade for AMC by Fox Television Studios in the US. He lives in Copenhagen.

Editorial Reviews

…cunningly plotted…

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

★ 07/01/2019

Sveistrup, creator and writer of the TV series The Killing, makes his stellar debut with this classy procedural, a revenge saga played out in present-day Copenhagen by characters—both police and villains—excruciatingly true to life. By-the-book detective Naia Thulin hopes for advancement to the national cybercrime center, but she currently works under the opportunistic head of Copenhagen’s Major Crimes Division. As a horrifying serial mutilation-murder wave begins, she’s saddled with seedy, authority-scorning Mark Hess as her temporary partner. Almost immediately, forensic evidence links the killer, who leaves a spooky doll made of chestnuts by each of his victims, to the year-old cold case of Minister of Social Affairs Rosa Hartung’s 12-year-old daughter, kidnapped and presumed dead. With rapid-fire cinematic cuts from one brutal scene after another, Sveistrup illuminates the complexities of urban police work amid abundant inefficiencies, a plethora of red herrings, and government corruption. This one cries out for a sequel—and a film adaptation. Agent: Sofie Voller, Politiken Literary Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

A complex procedural deepened by gut-wrenching social commentary.

Booklist

A tension-charged debut. . . . Incendiary.

Financial Times

Cunningly plotted  . . . . Although it’s hard to look away from Sveistrup’s fiendish villain, the good guys are also worthy of your attention.

New York Times Book Review

This might just be the thriller of the year. The Chestnut Man grips you from the opening page and never lets go, as we’re pulled into a haunting whirlwind of secrets, deception and the dark side of the soul. The policing is top-notch, of course, and the characters—good and bad—are so real we’re sure we’ve met them before. Brilliant!

Jeffery Deaver

A complex procedural deepened by gut-wrenching social commentary.

Booklist

★ 09/01/2019

DEBUT In Copenhagen, a woman is found murdered with a small token made of chestnuts next to her containing the fingerprint of a missing girl presumed dead. Detectives Naia Thulin and Marl Hess are thrown into a mystery that will make them question everything they know. As the two newly paired partners try to decipher the link between this new case and that of the missing girl, more women are targeted by the killer dubbed as the Chestnut Man by the media. Danish TV scriptwriter (The Killing) Sveistrup's debut is filled with imagery of Copenhagen, terrifying scenes, and strong characterization. The writing is superb; the author takes readers through a classic detective story of a closed case coming back to light. The switching of perspectives among the short chapters is a bit jarring at first, but readers will soon learn to appreciate entering the minds of both the detectives and the potential victims. Readers of Jo Nesbø's The Snowman and other noir fiction will want to read this one. VERDICT Sveistrup creates a plot so intricately woven that even a seasoned crime reader won't guess the ending. This book is the best kind of terrifying.—Natalie Browning, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA

Library Journal

★ 2019-07-15
In a debut novel by the creator of the television show The Killing, a serial killer in Copenhagen targets young mothers as part of a complex scheme that seems to have ties to the apparent murder of government minister Rosa Hartung's 12-year-old daughter, Kristine, a year ago.

The homicidal Chestnut Man, named after the chestnut and matchstick dolls he leaves behind, is a grisly operator who amputates the hands of the women he abducts while they're still alive. A pair of mismatched investigators are reluctantly on the case: Naia Thulin, a local cop who, tired of what she thinks of as "tedious" assignments with Major Crimes, eyes a promotion to the cybercrime unit, and Mark Hess, a disheveled Europol agent on temporary leave from the Hague to serve "penance for some blunder or other." The big complicating factor is the absence of proof that Kristine, who disappeared, is dead; when her fingerprints turn up on the chestnut dolls, hopes stir that she is, in fact, alive. It takes a little time for the novel to set itself apart from other such thrillers. What are the chestnut dolls if not an imitation of the diabolical snowmen in Jo Nesbø's The Snowman? But with its densely layered plot, chilling settings, and multiple suspects with murderous grudges, Sveistrup's epic rises above any such comparisons. This is a page-turner that will make you hesitate before turning the page, so unnerving is the violence. One of the best and scariest crime novels of the year, it adds to its rewards by promising us at least one sequel.

A tantalizing, un-put-down-able novel by an instant master of the form.

Kirkus Reviews

A full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson, drenched in atmosphere and charged with adrenaline. Buckle up. You’ll gulp down every word. I loved this book.

A.J. Finn

Cunningly plotted  . . . . Although it’s hard to look away from Sveistrup’s fiendish villain, the good guys are also worthy of your attention.

New York Times Book Review

A big, bold, spend-all-day-reading thriller.... In his debut crime novel, Søren Sveistrup instantly establishes himself as a must-read author for fans of Nordic Noir legends Jo Nesbø and Lars Kepler—and, for that matter, as a must-read for any reader who just wants a gripping thriller to sink their teeth into.

Crime by the Book

A tension-charged debut. . . . Incendiary.

Financial Times

A thrilling page-turning story with lots of twists and turns that will keep you reading right to the last page.

Red Carpet Crash

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