The Chestnut Man By Soren Sveistrup

Author : Soren Sveistrup
Title : The Chestnut Man
Published : 2019
Publisher : Penguin
Pages : 512
Genre : Crime Thriller

     One blustery October morning in a quiet Copenhagen suburb, the police make a terrible discovery. A young woman is found brutally murdered with one of her hands missing. Above her hangs a small doll made of chestnuts. Ambitious young detective Naia Thulin is assigned the case. Her partner, Mark Hess, is a burned-out investigator who's just been kicked out of Europol. They soon discover a mysterious piece of evidence on the chestnut man - evidence connecting it to a girl who went missing a year earlier and is presumed dead; the daughter of politician Rosa Hartung. But the man who confessed to her murder is already behind bars and the case long since closed. Soon afterwards, a second woman is found murdered, along with another chestnut man. Thulin and Hess suspect that there's a connection between the Hartung case and the murdered women. But what is it? 

     At one point Scandinavian Noir books were pretty much all I read. I would devour them with great ease and then be on to the next, but at some point, I burnt my self out on them. That old adage of too much of a good thing I guess. It wasn't until I picked up The Chestnut Man that I realized I had been missing this style of a novel so much. In all honesty, I think if it had not been for this having been written by the creator of the killing I don't think I would have picked it up. Which I now realize would have been a great shame. There is also something to be said for reading such books at this time of year. With the nights drawing in and to many rainy days to count, the setting matches the world once again. For me at least this is not the sort of book I can read on a hot lazy day at the beach. 

     I suppose it would come as no surprise that someone who created such an amazingly detailed and thought out T.V series would devote any less time to a written novel. He gave me the two archetypal leads I have come to expect from such books. A fresh-faced and eager detective and then one who has been there and seen it all. And yes you might say to your self on no not again, can't we have something new. And yes there is a place for that and I'm sure there are plenty of writers out there doing just that. But some times it's good to have a little of the familiar, Like an old knitted jumper that you slip on the first really cold day of winter. To be completely honest Sveistrup does it so well you can't fault him for it. With Thulin and Hess I was given yet another great team to dig into. The author brings them to life and to me they feel like if you walked into a police station in Denmark you might just run into them. It is also a case of having a great dialogue between them. This may in part come from the author's background in T.V. Where the conversation pushes everything forward. 

     As for the plot, it is one that kept me glued to the pages from the get-go. As with Forbrydelsen the story is expertly thought out and executed. I got to see the little clues scatted across the pages each giving me a hint as to what was truly going on. I must confess this author kept me guessing for a great long while.  I feel this is a good feet in a book of this length. To me, it did not feel like he had to add words just for filler to make up the pages. The Chestnut Man to me felt like it was the perfect length to tell the story he wants to show me. There is plenty of intrigues swept up in these pages that gave mew a mystery novel that I didn't know I was longing for. I think there is also an easy opt-out for critters in the Noir genre. Throw as many cliches as you can at the page and see what sticks. And while I did see a few carried over from Forbrydelsen he manages to tread enough fresh ground to make me want more of this world and characters. 

     For me, this book was defiantly like going to see an old friend. You laugh and cry about the old times the things you both remember if only a little differently. But also seeing what they've been up to while you were gone. It's the joy in being happy to know that they are still there. And for both of these reasons you remember why you love it so much. If you somehow missed the wave of Scandinavia crime books the last time around, for me at least this would be a good place to start before going deeper. Sveistrup continues this fine tradition and showed me that he is equal to the other authors in his field. A brilliantly written and complex crime novel that will keep you up on those long winter nights.