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The best Nordic noir books

The chilling and suspenseful thriller now a Top 10 Netflix series

The Chestnut Man

NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES 
 
 'A full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson, drenched in atmosphere and charged with adrenaline. I loved this book' A. J. Finn, author of The Woman In The Window 
 
'A cracking ending that left me STUNNED' 5***** Reader Review 
 
 THE CHILLING DEBUT NOVEL FROM THE CREATOR AND WRITER OF HIT TV SHOW THE KILLING 
________ 
 
 As the leaves fall, he's coming for you . . . 
 
 One October morning in a quiet 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. 
 
 Examining the doll, Forensics are shocked to find a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, kidnapped and murdered a year ago. 
 
 Can a new killer be the key to an old crime? 
 
 And will his spree be over when winter arrives - or is he only just getting started? . . . 
 ________ 
 
 'The Stieg Larsson comparisons seem unfair - on Sveistrup. He is quite simply in another league' Metro 
 
 'If you're pining for a dose of Jo Nesbo-style Scandi noir, The Chestnut Man should hit the spot' The Times 
 
 'Has success written all over it' Daily Express 
 
 'Creepy, clever and packed with tension' Sun 
 
 'If you are one of the millions who enjoyed The Killing, you'll want to read the first novel by its creator' Guardian 
 
 The Times Best Paperbacks of the Month 
 ___________ 
 
 Praise for The Killing 
 
 'TV of the absolute finest quality . . . the writing shines' Guardian 
 
 'Excellent . . . A shrewd mix of police procedural, political thriller and domestic drama' New York Times

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 *****

Creepy, clever and packed with tension

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

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

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

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

A debut thriller from the creator of The Killing opens with a gruesome discovery in a Copenhagen suburb

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

This might just be the thriller of the year. The Chestnut Man grips you from the opening page and never lets go, as we're pulled into a haunting whirlwind of secrets, deception and the dark side of the soul. The policing is top-notch, of course, and the characters - good and bad - are so real we're sure we've met them before. Brilliant!

A nail-biting, atmospheric thriller

Sviestrup shows off his Scandi-noir know-how in this Stieg Larsson-worthy mystery featuring blood-curdling murders and a couple of ill-assorted investigators

A taut, high-octane thriller. Sveistrup snares his reader with his house-of-horrors opening and keeps us gripped. . . suffice to say that he leads and wrongfoots us through numerous twists, turns, cliff-hangers and red herrings to an outcome which is as bold as it is explosive. He makes every page count - it's a joy to be so immersed on the edge of a seat

The action surges along in swinging the spotlight of suspicion around without ever letting the reader feel confident they have the right culprit, and the denouement is intense and very gory

Søren Sveistrup's page-turning thriller is a tale of crime and passion

If you are one of the millions who enjoyed the Scandinavian crime series The Killing, you'll want to read the first novel by its creator. . . this will undoubtedly make for a compelling television adaptation

The books everyone's devouring right now - and you should add to your spring reading list

A tension-charged debut, sharing elements of his signature TV writing with incendiary twists

Søren Sveistrup, is clearly a master craftsman

Crime lovers, rejoice. This is a thrilling, fast-paced page-turner that promises to hook readers from the first page

A superb debut novel from the writer behind hit TV series The Killing. This book grips you from the out and boils and boils to an almost sickening conclusion. It just does not let up

This one will have your heart in your mouth

Sveistrup keeps the reader gripped until the very end

I was completely blown away by this debut novel

Nerve-racking, you're sitting on the edge of your seat, and by the time you've finished the book you've got no nails left

Absolutely fantastic crime novel. The plot keeps you gripped, and you always end up wanting to read just one more page. Nerve-racking. Nail-biting. Thrilling. Hair-raising

Not all good scriptwriters can produce a detective story designed to be read rather than watched on TV. But Søren Sveistrup, the man responsible for The Killing, proves . . . that it can be done . . . The characters, the plot with its deep, eerie undercurrent of the unknown, and the intense, compelling manipulation of suspense are qualities reminiscent of The Killing

This nerve-racking debut novel has a brilliant plot . . .

A powerful portrait of two intriguing detectives who are here to stay . . .

Simply so well written, well constructed and suspenseful. I've read a lot of fantastic crime novels, but this is far and away the best I've read in a long time. . . . insanely suspenseful and gripping

Crime fiction of the highest quality - fascinating characters, great storytelling, and unbearable suspense. I absolutely loved it

Sveistrup is a skilled weaver of plot, able to surprise the reader and maintain a well-developed sense of pacing, tension and action. He keeps the reader hooked until the final page

The ingredients in this stew are familiar to everyone who reads crime novels. Sveistrup's great skill becomes apparent in the solid, complex plot, as well as in the pacing and impact that drives the reader onward page after page. The Chestnut Man is a demonstration of how a novel of this type should be sewn together. The result is incredibly thrilling!

While other writers come across as formulaic, Sveistrup's plot develops naturally, and he finds space amid the child abuse and harassment for enough injections of humanity that The Chestnut Man never turns into violence porn, a stumbling block for several of his Danish colleagues. The key is Thulin and Hess, the most promising pair of investigators in Nordic crime since Saga and Martin first met over a corpse on a bridge in 2011

Individual scenes in the narrative stand out knife-sharp in all their calculated evil. Their encounter with brutal reality nearly overwhelms those involved, and the reader is profoundly challenged by the novel's material. But you survive because you retain a clear sense that there must be a deep well of sorrow behind the crimes, and because the author depicts his cast of characters in such a nuanced way that you sympathise with the hard-pressed investigative team, the victims, and the person behind the terrible murders. Sveistrup keeps the reader gripped until the very end. This is professional writing in the very best sense, and I'm looking forward to more.

The Chestnut Man is an intensely gripping first novel that feels anything but debut-like. Seasoned crime fans with feel as though they're in very safe hands ... [Sveistrup] throws his hat into the ring with extreme professionalism and a talent for deploying his special tricks in precisely calibrated doses.

Excellent . . . A shrewd mix of police procedural, political thriller and domestic drama

TV of the absolute finest quality . . . the writing shines

Selected as one of the BBC Top Fiction Picks of 2019, Guardian Books of 2019 and Evening Standard Best Books of 2019 
 
'Has success written all over it' Daily Express 
 
 'A full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson, drenched in atmosphere and charged with adrenaline' A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window 
 
'If you are one of the millions who enjoyed the Scandinavian crime series The Killing, you'll want to read the first novel by its creator' The Observer 
 
'***** Brilliant. Scandi noir is back with a bang with this sensational novel. The Stieg Larsson comparisons seem unfair - on Sveistrup. He's quite simply in another league' Metro 
 
 'Sveistrup offers lessons to seasoned practitioners of the serial-killer whodunit' Sunday Times 
 
'Creepy, clever and packed with tension' Sun 
 
'If you're pining for a dose of Jo Nesbo-style Scandi noir, this should hit the spot. The twisty, tricksy storyline gathers an unstoppable momentum so that the pages disappear in a trice' The Times 
 
'Wrong-foots us through numerous twists, turns, cliff-hangers and red herrings to an outcome which is as bold as it is explosive . . . a joy' The Herald 
 
'A tension-charged debut, sharing elements of his signature TV writing with incendiary twists' Barry Forshaw, Financial Times 
 
'Sveistrup has all the ingredients to write novels just as gripping as his TV work' BBC Top Fiction Picks of 2019 
'Superbly written and carries you along at breakneck speed. If you liked The Killing, you are going to love this' My Weekly 
 
'Sviestrup shows off his Scandi-noir know-how in this Stieg Larsson-worthy mystery featuring blood-curdling murders and a couple of ill-assorted investigators' Foyles 
 
'Sveistrup's ability at building tension is evident' Guardian

The police make a terrible discovery in a suburb of Copenhagen. A young woman has been killed and dumped at a playground. One of her hands has been cut off, and above her hangs a small doll made of chestnuts. 
 Young detective Naia Thulin is assigned the case. Her partner is Mark Hess, 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. A man confessed to her murder, and the case is long since solved. 
 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 . . .

Søren Sveistrup

Ian Giles

Hide and Seek is Scandi noir at its finest

An enthralling novelist...[a] prodigious crime epic

This is a terrific book, compelling and beautifully written by a true master of the genre

This is a breathless read and most certainly unputdownable

Praise for Søren Sveistrup

Excellent . . . A shrewd mix of police procedural, political thriller and domestic drama

This might just be the thriller of the year...grips you from the opening page and never lets go, as we're pulled into a haunting whirlwind of secrets, deception and the dark side of the soul. The policing is top-notch, of course, and the characters - good and bad - are so real we're sure we've met them before. Brilliant!

The Stieg Larsson comparisons seem unfair - on Sveistrup. He is quite simply in another league

Count to one, count to two… 
On a cold night in Copenhagen, Silje is on her way home when strange messages start appearing on her phone. 
Count to three, count to four… 
It starts as an innocent nursery rhyme – but when the texts turn sinister, Silje fears she’s in terrible danger. 
Count to six, right after five. Will little Silje make it home alive? 
When Silje disappears, Detectives Naia Thulin and Mark Hess are tasked with finding her. Thulin and Hess quickly uncover links to a decades-old case – one that started with that same rhyme, and ended in murder… 
Count to seven, count to eight. Will you find me, before it’s too late?

Søren Sveistrup

Books by Søren Sveistrup

Articles featuring Søren Sveistrup

The best Nordic noir books

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