The Chestnut Man: A Novel

The Chestnut Man, first published in Denmark in 2018, is the debut novel from Søren Sveistrup, the internationally acclaimed screenwriter and creator of the seminal Nordic Noir television series The Killing. The story follows two mismatched Copenhagen detectives, the ambitious Naia Thulin and the disgraced Mark Hess, as they hunt a serial killer terrorizing the city, whose gruesome signature is a small doll made of chestnuts left at each crime scene. When forensic analysis reveals evidence connected to a closed case involving the daughter of a prominent politician, the original investigation is called into question. The novel uses the thriller genre to deliver a searing critique of institutional failures, exploring themes such as the Shortcomings of the Social Welfare System, The Facade of Suburban Safety, and The Ethics of Vigilante Justice.

Upon its release, The Chestnut Man became an international bestseller and received widespread critical acclaim, winning the 2020 Barry Award for Best First Mystery/Crime Novel. It was celebrated for successfully adapting Sveistrup’s trademark pacing and social commentary from screen to page, and for exemplifying the Scandinavian crime fiction genre. Sveistrup published a follow-up novel, Hide and Seek, in 2024. Netflix released a six-episode, Danish-language adaptation of the first novel in 2021 and a second season covering the sequel in 2026.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, child abuse, child sexual abuse, child death, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness, substance use, addiction, gender discrimination, sexual content, sexual violence, rape, cursing, death, animal death, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

In 1989, police officer Marius Larsen investigates a routine call at the remote Ørum farm on the island of Møn and discovers a horrific crime scene where two teenagers and their mother were brutally murdered. In the basement, among a disturbing collection of hundreds of chestnut dolls, Larsen finds a traumatized 10-year-old boy and his twin sister. Before Larsen can call for backup, the boy attacks and kills him with an axe. 

In the present day, Copenhagen detective Naia Thulin is disillusioned with the Major Crimes Division and eager to transfer to the National Cyber Crime Centre (NC3). She partners with Mark Hess, a disgraced Europol liaison officer temporarily reassigned to Copenhagen. They are called to a gruesome crime scene in a suburban playground where the body of a young mother, Laura Kjær, has been discovered. She has been brutally beaten, and her right hand has been amputated. Left dangling over the body is a “chestnut man,” a small doll made of two chestnuts and matchsticks. The case takes a shocking turn when Simon Genz, the head of the Forensics Department, finds a fingerprint on the doll belonging to Kristine Hartung, the 12-year-old daughter of the minister for social affairs, Rosa Hartung. The problem is that Kristine was declared murdered after having disappeared a year ago. A man named Linus Bekker confessed to the crime and is currently incarcerated in a secure psychiatric facility.

Thulin and Hess interview Rosa and her husband, Steen Hartung, who are struggling with their grief. The couple explains the origin of the chestnut dolls: Kristine used to make and sell chestnut dolls at a roadside stall, suggesting the doll’s presence at the crime scene is coincidental. Thulin initially focuses her investigation on Laura Kjær’s live-in boyfriend, Hans Henrik Hauge, who has a suspicious lack of a solid alibi. Hess, however, remains unconvinced of this theory. He interviews Laura’s young son, Magnus, who reveals that the chestnut doll was not at the playground the day before the murder, meaning it must have been placed there by the killer. Soon after, a second victim, Anne Sejer-Lassen, is found murdered in the woods near her home. She has been similarly tortured, both of her hands have been amputated, and another chestnut man bearing Kristine Hartung’s fingerprint is found at the scene. 

The media dubs the killer the Chestnut Man. Thulin and Hess find a link between the victims: both were mothers whose children were treated at the Rigshospital’s pediatric ward. An interview with the senior consultant reveals that Laura Kjær had recently been the subject of an anonymous tip to the city council, accusing her of child neglect, a claim the council dismissed. While Thulin pursues Hauge, Hess’s intuition leads him back to Laura Kjær’s house. In the garage, he discovers a hidden, soundproofed basement room where Hauge had been sexually abusing Magnus. Hauge, who had been hiding in the house, attacks Hess and escapes. Although this reveals a motive for Hauge’s potential involvement in Laura’s murder, it also provides him with a firm alibi for his whereabouts at the time of Anne Sejer-Lassen’s killing. 

Hess and Thulin pivot to the theory that the killer is targeting mothers who, in his eyes, are failing their children. They discover that Anne Sejer-Lassen was also the subject of an anonymous tip to the council, accusing her of abuse, just before her family moved. Working from the council’s records of dismissed anonymous tips, they identify a third potential victim, a young single mother named Jessie Kvium. They organize a sting operation at her apartment complex, with Thulin posing as Jessie. The plan goes awry when the killer sends a blackmail text to Jessie’s lover, luring him into the police trap as a diversion. While the police are occupied at the housing complex, the real killer ambushes and murders both Jessie Kvium and detective Martin Ricks at the supposed safe house where they were being held. At the scene, another chestnut man is found, and Jessie’s body is missing both hands and one foot.

The investigation is in chaos. Hess, convinced that Linus Bekker’s confession was false, discovers that Bekker was obsessed with the 1989 Møn crime-scene photos, particularly one showing the basement filled with chestnut dolls. Hess travels to Vordingborg to access the old case file, where he learns the identities of the twins from the farm: Toke and Astrid Bering. He also discovers that they were briefly fostered by a family who had an adopted daughter: a young Rosa Hartung. Meanwhile, Thulin learns from a botany expert that the chestnuts used for the dolls are an extremely rare hybrid, Castanea sativa x crenata, last sighted on Møn. She persuades Genz to drive her there to investigate. At the same time, Rosa, prompted by a wreath of chestnut men left at her home, investigates her own past and finds the same case file. She realizes with horror that as a child, she told a lie involving sexual abuse that resulted in the twins being sent to the abusive Ørum farm. Believing the wreath is a summons, she drives to the address of the old farm on Møn. Thulin and Genz also arrive at the farm, which Genz has purchased and renovated. There, Genz reveals his identity as Toke Bering and attacks Thulin, locking her in his car trunk.

Hess, after seeing Toke Bering’s old school photo, recognizes the boy’s eyes and realizes the killer is Simon Genz. He races to the farm, now called Chestnut Farm. Genz has captured Rosa and taken her to a hidden basement laboratory, where he explains his motive: to punish mothers who fail their children, just as Rosa failed him and his sister. He begins torturing Rosa with a custom-made saw. Hess finds the hidden entrance but is ambushed by Genz. Genz then sets the basement on fire, leaving Hess and Rosa to die. While Genz prepares to escape with Thulin as a hostage, Hess uses the amputation saw to cut through a basement window and escape with the badly injured Rosa. He cuts through the woods to intercept Genz’s car. On a snowy forest road, Hess confronts the car, and Genz attempts to run him down. In the backseat, Thulin lunges at Genz, causing the car to crash into a tree, which impales and kills Genz. 

A subsequent investigation leads police to a cottage in Germany where Genz’s sister, Astrid, has been holding Kristine Hartung captive for over a year. Kristine is rescued and tearfully reunited with her family. In the aftermath, Hess’s name is cleared at Europol, and he prepares to leave Copenhagen, sharing a final, promising farewell with Thulin. Linus Bekker is released. On the train, he exchanges a smile with a young mother and her child, leaving his future intentions ambiguous.