5 stars out of 5
So much did I love the first two books in this series - "The Butterfly Garden" and "The Roses of May" - that I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. And I thoroughly enjoyed it as well, although for a somewhat different reason. It doesn't have the emotionally charged, edge-of-your-seat thrills like the others, but the writing is superb and I loved the character development and their interactions with one another.
And to that end, I'll offer a word of advice: Read the series from the beginning. The books can stand alone, yes, but the full understanding and impact from each, IMHO, will only come to those who've read them all in order.
This one begins as Mercedes Ramirez, an agent with the Crimes Against Children unit and survivor of horrific abuse as a child, comes home after a romantic evening with her lover, Siobhan, to find a bloodied child in her porch swing. An "angel," the youngster haltingly explains, forced him to watch while she murdered his parents. Then, she gave him a white teddy bear and dropped him off at Mercedes' house, telling him Mercedes would make sure he's taken care of.
I shall digress for a moment to say it's refreshing to see an openly gay woman (Mercedes) portrayed with such, well, normalcy. She's a competent agent who is both admired and totally accepted by her co-workers for who she is (that she gets hugs from her straight female team members unaccompanied by an "OMG, if I touch her it's gonna rub off on me" attitude is truly amazing considering the way gay females all too often are portrayed).
The killer may be reprehensible, but she's right; Mercedes is the perfect person to make sure the young boy gets the right kind of attention and care. Immediately, she gets down to the business of identifying the killer, with help from her partner Brandon Eddison and boss, Victor Hanoverian - the two who, years ago, rescued Mercedes from her hellish life and are the reason she's making a career out of protecting abused children.
The trail leads nowhere, and then three more blood-covered kids show up on Mercedes' porch telling the same story. And then come even more, prompting Mercedes to wonder why she's been chosen to be the children's savior. Could it be because of something, or someone, from her storied past? Whatever the reason, it's clear that the murders aren't going to stop anytime soon; if anything, they're escalating. In the end, it's a race to save lives - and the killer from herself.
Honestly, I'm a bit confused as to whether this is the last in the series - some places I've read that it is while others call it the third of four books. This one wraps things up in fine fettle; but that said, almost any of the characters are strong and intriguing enough to have starring roles in future editions, including Mercedes and her quirky but very capable team. In any event, many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this one.
The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison (Thomas & Mercer, May 2018); 300 pp.
5 stars out of 5
Right up front, I will say this: Before you read this book - the second in the author's Collector Trilogy - read the first (The Butterfly Garden). It's probably possible to read this one as a standalone, but I'm quite sure I would not have enjoyed it half as much without being privy to the background and characters from its predecessor.
And boy, did I ever enjoy it! While it's not quite as dark and grisly as the first, perhaps, it's not all that far off; the prologue, written years ago, hints that a serial killer has been born. Fast forward to about four months after an explosion that destroyed the above-mentioned Butterfly Garden, where many beautiful young women were held captive (in more ways than one). A few survived, but all are struggling to readjust to a normal life - if that's even possible given the horrors they experienced. Now, some of the FBI agents from Book I - Victor Hanoverian, Brandon Eddison and Mercedes Ramirez, to be specific - are tackling paperwork. Enter Priya Sravasti, whose sister was murdered several years ago. Someone, it seems, is tracking them wherever they go, leaving flowers at their doorstep. As a result, she and her uber-professional mother move frequently, each time hoping they won't be found. Problem is, the flowers appear to represent the flowers left on the young female victims of an apparent serial killer - a person presumed to have killed 16 girls including Priya's sister.
Now they've been found again; and as all this is happening, Priya gets a letter from Inara, one of the surviving Butterfly girls from the garden (the one who seems to have been the "leader" of the others). The two girls correspond and eventually meet, thus connecting the cases from the two books. They also connect with Eddison, whose sister Faith was kidnapped at age 8 about 20 years easier. She's never been found, a fact that continues to haunt him - and both he and Hanovarian feel a special, though somewhat strange, affinity with both girls. As the FBI team investigates with the hope of nailing the serial killer, they get with help from Priya, who just may be one of the killer's targets - perhaps even the most important one.
As with the first book, there's plenty of tension, even though I correctly guessed who the serial killer was fairly early on. Sections shift perspectives from characters - most notably the killer and Priya - but it's very easy to follow who's who. Especially noteworthy to me is the in-depth development of the main characters; although I'm not sure we'd ever be friends, I really felt I "knew" each of them quite well by the end. I suppose my favorite is Hanovarian, although I also enjoyed the heck out of Eddison (at one point, he's described as being "twitchier than a long-tailed cat on the front porch of a Cracker Barrel.")
How great is that?
The Roses of May by Dot Hutchison (Thomas & Mercer, May 2017); 302 pp.
5 stars out of 5
Way back in 1965, I saw the movie "The Collector," based on John Fowles' book of the same name. That story has haunted me to this day, when out of the blue will come a flashback to one of the disturbing scenes. I have no doubt that mental images from this book, the first in a trilogy, will stick with me as well.
It's definitely not for everyone, though. If violence (particularly involving young women), profanity and exceptional gruesomeness bother you, stay away. The writing really isn't all that graphic, but trust me, the pictures will come through loud and clear.
In effect, the story begins at the end. Some kind of secret garden in which, apparently, kidnapped young women had been held captive was uncovered following a disaster that included an explosion and fire. A few survived, including one young woman who appears to be a sort of group leader; none of the others will say a word without her approval. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are charged with interviewing the reluctant witness - who at first won't even reveal her name - to try and piece together what turn out to be almost unthinkable circumstances under which the women lived and died.
Interview scenes are interspersed with recollections of the witness, who finally reveals her name as Maya. Slowly, other details emerge; young girls about the age of 16 have been kidnapped for years by a man they know only as the Gardener. He brings them to live in his beautiful, self-contained (and escape-proof) garden; but first, he tattoos intricate butterfly designs on their backs. Thereafter, they're fed, watered and expected to comply with his every whim, no matter how kinky. Add a couple of grown sons to the mix, and Maya's stories become a no-longer-secret recipe for unspeakable horror. But is she telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
For the record, I've got the second book in the trilogy, The Roses of May, and my first instinct was to move it to the top of my reading list. Now that the dust has settled for a day on this one, though, I'm rethinking; it might be better to tackle something a bit lighter and give my creeped-out brain a rest. Whew!
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison (Thomas & Mercer, June 2016); 288 pp.
