Why a Booktrail?
1989, 2018: A small doll made from Chestnuts is left at the scene of a brutal killing…
The Chestnut Man
What you need to know before your trail
One blustery October morning in a quiet suburb of Copenhagen, the police make a terrible discovery. A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is 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 is long since closed.
Soon afterwards, another woman is found murdered, along with another chestnut man. Thulin and Hess suspect that there’s a connection between the Hartung case, the murdered women and a killer who is spreading fear throughout the country. But what is it?
Thulin and Hess are racing against the clock, because it’s clear that the murderer is on a mission that is far from over . . .
Travel Guide
BookTrail Travel to Copenhagen
You’re not going to see Copenhagen in a very nice light! No real locations that you would want to go to either. Hospitals, Pysch units and the dingy area beside the docks (at least in the novel)
There are a few drives and chases from the city to suburbs and woods where the action really takes a dark tone and thank goodness these are vague or fictional.
Much of the action takes place in the forensic lab in the central police station. It’s a cold, clinical place where the most gruesome case unfolds and the work between forensics and the two main officers on the case takes one dark turn to another.
There are visits to several homes around the city – all dark, grim and with basements or dark corners.
Chestnut men
The figure of the chestnut doll is used in two ways in the novel. It’s a toy that children make at school in the autumn and sell at trade fairs or to their friends. Harmless in one way. But in the book, they’re used as calling cards of a serial killer, of a voodoo type doll where chestnuts make up the torso of the doll and sticks are used for arms and legs. Most of the time, they have no hands or feet..
There’s even a children’s song : “Chestnut man, Chestnut man please come in…”
They’re grim to say the least and one appears on the cover of the book. The cosy image of chestnuts roasting on an open fire is certainly absent from this novel!
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Gruesome read but it will keep those pages turning. Don’t read at night. Or whilst eating chestnuts.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Chestnut Man
Destination : Copenhagen Author/Guide: Søren Sveistrup Departure Time: 1989, 2018
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