The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup

 

 
Whoa...this book was so dark, brutal, gory...fantastic...

I have been wanting to get ahold of this book for a loooong time. I finally got lucky enough to get a copy. I must admit I was a bit intimidated when I discovered it was over 500 pages and that it was a police procedural. Trust me, none of that matters. The chapters were short and I flew through them. I found the tension building as I raced through them. I am not a fan of police procedurals but this had such a intriguing blurb that I had to dig in and yes it was addictive.

The crimes are not for the faint of heart. I found myself almost wanting to cover my eyes and peek at the pages, it was that gory. Yet what did I expect? This is a flipping serial killer that is into some weird games. He leaves his calling card at each scene...a handmade chestnut man. Yet the tiny chestnut dudes all have something in common. They all have the fingerprints of a victim that has been thought to be dead for a good year. Hmmm...is she alive or did she make these before she was brutally murdered?

I was all over the place with my suspicions as to whom might be "the chestnut man" as the killer was justly named by the media. We follow along with the team of detectives and they were just as much in the dark as I was as to who this twisted psychopath was.

I loved the ending and dare I say I predict there may be a sequel? Do I dare say the author left an opening for yet another twisted book? I really thought this was going to be just "too much for me" when I started it. Yet, it was like a bad accident, I just could not look away. I got caught up in the storyline and I had to know.........who is the chestnut man?

Thank you so much to Harper Collins for this gorgeous ARC.