I’ve read and loved books by this author in the past, but DNF’d The Kindess.
The language used to describe larger women was unnecessary for the plot or character development and was a real turn-off for me.

I love this author’s books. This was a brilliant play against reality and the supernatural. The way he writes the character dynamics within this story added to the unpredictable parts of the book.

A brilliant and well written book, John Ajvide Lindqvist is an extremely talented author and I have enjoyed all of his books

Lindquist has undeniable gift of writing books, books that are very different than other books. I loved The Kindness for the right balance between natural and supernatural, the lively characters where noone is perfect, the space where everyone can turn in own different way to the hero. The author tried to put into this big book all modern life problems, treating them the 'right' way: fat people, gays, migrants... That was too much in my opinion for one book.

I enjoyed it so much that I went and brought a physical copy. Of course that's a given with Lindqvist.

It’s weird reading a novel by an author who gave me one of my favourites (Let the Right One In), only to find it’s nothing that you expected it would be. I’ve read a few of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novels now and I guess I should be prepared that it’s not going to pull me in, the horror is virtually non-existent and is just too long…but, here we are. I requested this book from Goodreads as it was in the Horror section but I’m really not sure it should have been - it’s about human nature and what happens when people begin to stop being kind to each other. It was just okay. If you’re a fan of the past few novels by this author then you’ll probably find a lot to like here; for the rest of us, I’m not sure this one’s for you.

It's a thought provoking and chilly book. A book about a comtemporary issue, clandestine, and a story that made me think of Nosferatu and the plague.
My problem with Lindqvist is: an excellent writer, wrote Let The Right One In and it's still the best he wrote.
Chilly, dark and gripping
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a difficult review to write, predominantely because I have no idea how to categorise this novel. Ultimately that doesn't matter but as species we seem to want everything neatly tucked away in its place.
Regardless of that issue this was one hell of a book. I'll be honest, I was thinking maybe this would be a rip roaring action packed horror. It' isn't, although it does have those elements in places. What really drives this novel along is the tales of friendship, love and everything else human. Lindqvist delivers an amazingly detailed and beautifully written book, which shows us both the good and bad sides of human kind.
A sterling piece of work, that's what it is.

DNF at 40%

This book is far too slow. I liked a couple of the characters but not enough to read pages and pages about Nintendo games and shallow insecurities.

Lindqvist new novel does not disappoint. I am a huge fan and was very excited to read another skilful in-depth display of unsettling horror.

Lindqvist is very established at what he writes but he does with his own style and unique gift of providing an uneasy and mystery with ordinary people who end up involved in extraordinary circumstances.

The plot works at its own pace and is allowed to breath and grow. Dealing with some difficult subject matter such as racism, fat shaming, terrorism, society closing in on itself, etc may cause some to look at these and turn their back due to this which would be a shame. The book looks at our society and how we are living on angry times and all it takes is something simple to send us over the edge.

The characters are many and explored in a very realistic three-dimensional way and the book does feel like a lot of short stories bridged together by a story thread of two main characters which gives us a character study within the horror of this community.

This is an excellent thought provoking read that will stay with the reader long after the book is finished. Even two weeks after reading this book, I am still haunted by many of the aspects of this book. Very rewarding book and highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. I’m going to be honest I actually DNFed this at first but then I could t stop thinking about the characters and I just had to pick it up again.

This is marketed as a horror novel and it definitely has some supernatural elements but it is more of a character study. We follow six main characters and the odd side character and we see their lives unfold as their town basically starts to crumble metaphorically and physically. It all begins when a container with over twenty dead refugees is dumped in the harbour. When it is opened everything changes. Two of the characters can see/hear the future to some degree and everyone around them slowly devolves into madness, kindness is eradicated.

That’s the best way to explain it really. At the end of some sections you see random snippets of “kindness” until the container is opened and slowly people start to become more hostile and angry. Violent attacks are suddenly occurring all over the town, most of them racist and aimed at refugees. This is a very dark and graphic novel. There is a lot of descriptions of violence, there is racism, fatphobia and just general horridness. Definitely check trigger warnings before embarking on this tome.

This is one of those books where nothing much happens, you are following characters and their lives and how they relate to the town and each other. You see their histories and the stories that have developed who they are now. It almost follows a similar scheme to “A Little Life” in the sense that it is entirely character driven with a sliver of plot. I found this fascinating though because humans in general are complex creatures and everyone has had their own experiences both good and bad that in turn affect who they are as a person, also in either a good or a bad way.

I was not a fan of the fatphobia. I don’t think the author himself is fatphobic but every female character in this book was described by body type. One character has to picture another character “skinny” to find them attractive and this is apparently completely acceptable. There were also some really uncomfortable racist terms used in this as well so please beware of that. Again I didn’t get the impression that the author is in any way racist, it was part of the story but it still made me uncomfortable.

This is a book that certain audiences will love and other audiences will hate. It’s over 800 pages of life essentially and that won’t be for everyone. I think a lot of people have been disappointed by the lack of actual “horror” elements. The horror element in this is really the real life horror of violence towards others and although I personally find that terrifying, others probably expected more of the supernatural from this. If you are interested then it’s definitely worth a read and it was released on 3rd August.

First time read a book by John Ajvide Lindqvist and it didn’t disappoint, I found the book interesting though I found it was not as ‘horror’ as I thought it would be but a good time regardless.
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I've been a fan of John Ajvide Lindqvist for a long time and I was excited to read something new by this author. Harbor is one of my favourite books and this new book is just as good, if not better,
I'm very grateful to the publisher for allowing me to read this book early, as this book is superb. The plot is perfect, as it grows and evolves and few create characters like John Ajvide Lindqvist. The immaculately formed characters underpin the story and the plot builds from them all. The cast of characters are incredible, wildly unique and engaging and are unique and perfect in their own way.

Everyone associates this author with that book, but there is so much to him. This book is a perfect example of the author's imagination, creativity and sheer and complete brilliance. This is the best book I have read in 2023 and I really hope it is read by as many people as possible and is a massive success for the author.
Please read this book.

Anyone who actually finishes this 800-page tome, cannot but realize that very few words can express the brilliance of this novel: epic? masterful? marvellous? In any case, it's an extraordinary achievement. Lindqvist's sensitive descriptions of the most difficult matters, ranging from body image issues to mental illness and suicide to racism and unrequited love, has no parallel in recent fiction and is totally one that should set an example for years to come. The characters in this novel are so realistically drawn, sometimes their actions actually hurt the reader due to their utter believability. Some reviewers either didn't finish the novel or chose to close their eyes to reality and pick what fits their beliefs: the two women with body issues, Anna and Swi, are portrayed soberly and astutely, and the same goes for the behavior of people towards them; there's no body shaming or any such intention on the author's part. In fact, their narratives drive the story and show in shining colors that nothing is set in stone - neither society, nor, even, the future. The male figures of the story, Max, Marco, and Johan, usually stand for rather contradictory frames of perception, awesome successes and utter failures of language: they symbolize the struggling part of human comprehension, asking questions rather than providing answers. No character stands alone, and it takes a child, Alva, to show this, considering how the evil feeding on fear throughout most of the book is dealt with in the end. Taking into account how the author employs pop culture references and the entertainment industry in the book, integrating technology and contemporary digital practices (e.g., Pokemon Go) into human relationships, it wouldn't be far-fetched, I believe, to take this engaging important read as a modern day masterpiece, showing how real people actually live and think in the 2020s, instead of the ideological caricatures one finds on social media. The book is absolutely representative of our society now, a complex, ambitious novel, outstanding in execution.

That said, it has to be admitted that the horror elements are very few and far between, they read like weak allegories for social evil and the threat of widespread fear in Europe, and are not scary at all. The fantasy elements are a bit absurd (like those chapters where the wind speaks). Still, those same horror elements do play a major role in the story, at times making this book feel like a blend of social commentary and mythology.

The book's title should be taken literally: it is, indeed, about human kindness. I can only thank John Ajvide Lindqvist for his skill at capturing this almost invisible world of thoughtful, kind actions - a world very much under threat today.

Absolutely 5 stars! And highly recommended.

This is a brilliant story about human nature and how we treat one another, with a bit of a supernatural twist. I loved the characters and the way a lot of them were brought together through a mutual love (or perhaps a tolerance for some) of Pokemon Go was brilliantly done. The book is maybe a little too long and the rampant fat phobia/body shaming particularly in the first half may put some people off early on, but this is a fantastic story that will stay with me for some time.

An excellent combination of the everyday, human lives of the main characters and a background, brooding horror that is slowly unravelling the fabric of things in the town in which they live. The characters are very real, with many deeply unlikable thoughts and aspects, and the way in which each of the lives intersect and are affected by each other (as well as the background horror) is phenomenal.

I really very much enjoyed it. Definitely not a generic horror novel in any sense.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review. 4.5 stars.

I was so disappointed how Ajvide has chosen to describe the two female characters. Siw and Anna are fat. That's all they are. Their personality is also that they are thick. When anyone else thinks of these characters, they just think they're fat. They so much punch above their weight! Coming from someone who is plus-size like me, it hurts to read that that's all they are, because they really are more than just fat.

The rest of the story was well done, but this issue mentioned before was very shocking

For some reason I thought "The Kindness" by John Ajvide Lindqvist was going to be a Scandi-noir. Apart from the grim part where 20+ rotting corpses are discovered in a washed up shipping container, this is definitely not Scandi-noir. However neither is it the Horror genre either. It is a bit of a mash up of genres. Characters are likeable (my favourite were the 4 generations of women with special listening powers), plot keeps you interested but the book did feel quite long.

I thought there would be a bit more of a creepy/horror aspect to this than what I got, I thought it was ok but its not typically something I would choose, I think maybe the blurb is slightly misleading, however the writing was beautiful and very descriptive

First of all I want to start with what I absolutely love and adore about this book. It’s Ajvide Lindqvist writing. It’s extremely detailed and captivating and it does suck you into the story. At all times did I know what was happening and were the characters were because the author could capture the moments very well.

The only reasons why I gave it two stars was because it was just simply not my thing.

First of all I want to start of with a small yet important thing. The book followed multiple people including two fat women. And there is no problem with including fat people in your book it makes it diverse. But in this case that was their only personality trait. I never see this happen to thin people but when a character is fat it has to be described every two seconds. This kind of feeds in the societal fat phobia and I didn’t like to read about it

Its not a typical horror book which I don’t have a problem with and it’s not why I gave it two stars but it’s something I want to mention. I liked the fact that it was a book mainly about relation between humans with horror elements. It is a book that makes you think about life and the people in it.

I also personally don’t often like to read larger books because the buildup is often longer and I don’t have the attention span for that. That’s just my personal opinion and that doesn’t mean Lindqvist should’ve made the book shorter because many people will enjoy the thickness of it especially since the author is extremely good at writing.

Would I recommend this book? Probably yes, I saw from reading other reviews that a lot of people who are in the late twenties/thirties were enjoying this book. Maybe this book is more catered to millennials instead of me (gen z) I think my mom for instance would probably enjoy it as well.
Also I would definitely pick up another book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, if read a few synopsis’s of his other books and they sounded extremely interesting and more up my alley.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to the author and netgalley for this opportunity!