The Chestnut Man: The chilling and suspenseful thriller now a Top 10 Netflix series by Søren Sveistrup

Product description

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. The man who confessed to her murder is 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?

Thulin and Hess are racing against the clock, because it's clear that the killer is on a mission that is far from over . . .

Review

Sveistrup's brilliant and brutal The Chestnut Man sets a new benchmark. The Steig Larsson comparisons seem unfair - on Sveistrup. He is quite simply in another league. Scandi noir is back with a bang with this sensational debut novel ***** (Metro)

Creepy, clever and packed with tension (The Sun)

***** The Chestnut Man has success written all over it. You will never want to play with conkers again (Daily Express)

If you're pining for a dose of Jo Nesbo-style Scandi noir, The Chestnut Man should hit the spot. The twisty, tricksy storyline, delivered in short, sharp chapters that don't let anyone catch their breath, gathers an unstoppable momentum so that 500 pages disappear in a trice - and the ending is satisfyingly grand guignol, with room left for a sequel (The Times)

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, author of The Woman in the Window)

As in The Killing television series, Sveistrup offers lessons to seasoned practitioners of the serial-killer whodunit in how to inject new energy into this near-exhausted sub-genre, and a reminder (via his portrayal of the families, homes and workplaces that his cops visit) that crime writing has the potential to be eye-opening, panoramic social realism (Sunday Times)

If you are one of the millions who enjoyed The Killing, you'll want to read the first novel by its creator. Sveistrup's ability at building tension is evident, and this will undoubtedly make for a compelling television adaptation (Guardian)

BBC Top Fiction Picks of 2019 (BBC.co.uk)

A debut thriller from the creator of The Killing opens with a gruesome discovery in a Copenhagen suburb (Guardian Books of 2019)

Superbly written and carries you along at breakneck speed. If you liked The Killing, you are going to love this (My Weekly)

About the Author

Søren Sveistrup (Author) 
Søren Sveistrup is an internationally acclaimed scriptwriter of the Danish television phenomenon The Killing which won various international awards and sold in more than a hundred countries.

More recently, Sveistrup wrote the screenplay for Jo Nesbø's The Snowman. Sveistrup obtained a Master in Literature and in History from the University of Copenhagen and studied at the Danish Film School. He has won countless prizes, including an Emmy for Nikolaj and Julie and a BAFTA for The Killing.