The chestnut man : a novel /

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NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

If you find one, he's already found you ....

From the creator of The Killing, "a full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson" (A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window).

Winner of the Barry Award for Best First Mystery/Crime Novel * A New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year

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.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

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

Publishers Weekly Review

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.)

Booklist Review

Detective Naia Thulin's request to transfer out of Major Crimes is met with orders to take on a new partner. It's not an ideal match for career-focused Thulin; her new partner, Mark Hess, has just returned to the Copenhagen force after being booted from Europol. Thulin and Hess are still sizing each other up when they're assigned to investigate a killer who has struck twice in rapid succession, leaving tiny chestnut figurines with his victims' carefully arranged bodies. Forensic techs identify a perplexing clue: the chestnut men bear the fingerprints of the murdered daughter of popular government minister Rosa Hartung. Ignoring Thulin, Hess follows his gut and discovers that the victims had been investigated recently by child-protection authorities because of similarly worded anonymous tips. But what's the connection to Hartung? As the investigation becomes hampered by police politics, Thulin and Hess' acrimony shifts into a loyal partnership. Sveistrup, creator of the acclaimed television series The Killing, adeptly weaves together the stories of Thulin and Hess' relationship, their hunt for a wily serial killer, and the disastrous legacy of a childhood mistake. A complex procedural deepened by gut-wrenching social commentary.--Christine Tran Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

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 Nesb'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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.