• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Michele Pariza Wacek

Bestselling Novelist

  • Home
  • Freebies
    • A Grave Error
    • The Secret Diary of Helen Blackstone
    • Today I’ll See Her
  • Books
    • Secrets of Redemption
    • The Riverview Mysteries
    • Charlie Kingsley Mysteries
  • Blog
  • About
    • FAQ
    • News
  • Contact

Book Review: “The Butterfly Garden” by Dot Hutchison

November 2, 2018 by Michele Pariza Wacek 2 Comments

Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.

In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees … and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

“The Butterfly Garden” by Dot Hutchison was a fascinating book. It’s the first book in a series (The Collector Book 1), although the rest of the series seemed a bit less successful (more on that in my next review). But, in terms of the serial killer/crime fiction genre, this was a very creative approach.

The story is told through a series of flashbacks from one of the victims, who is in the hospital and is telling her story to FBI agents. It’s not clear why she’s in the hospital or what precisely happened to her, so there’s almost two simultaneous mysteries going on: who is this girl, what happened to the Gardner, and what IS the whole garden and butterflies thing?

I think part of the reason why I found the book so interesting is because it’s actually a story about a community of young women who have to find a way to survive and keep their sanity in a world that is both beautiful and horrifying, where they are both pampered and tortured.

I also enjoyed not being in the serial killer’s head. You know, since beginning to write these reviews, I’m realizing how much I’m just not a fan of that. I think there was a time when I liked it (especially during my Dean Kootnz phase), but the older I get, the less I enjoy it.

The Butterfly Garden, a truly unique serial killer story. Check out my full book review here. Click To Tweet

Two things I didn’t like about this one: for a few months after I finished the book, I found myself associating butterflies with the negative, which I hated. I love butterflies and I didn’t want to associate a psycho with them (eventually, that connection broke, thank goodness).

Second, for a good chunk of the book, Dot Hutchison tried to add this level of suspicion to Maya, the young woman narrating the tale of horrors in the Garden.

Honestly, I didn’t find it all that believable. Then, when there was a reveal around her at the end … well, it didn’t particularly work for me. I felt like the author was forcing a reason to distrust Maya, when quite honestly, her story was so fascinating that we didn’t even need that angle.

Anyway, all that aside, I’d still give this book five stars.

Grab your copy of “The Butterfly Garden” by Dot Hutchison on Amazon:

Free Novella! “The Secret Diary of Helen Blackstone”

 




Related Posts

  • Book Review: “The Housekeeper” by Natalie Barelli
  • Quarantine Reading Challenge
  • What Bookworms Can Teach Us About Surviving (Even Thriving) During Global Pandemics
  • Book Review: “The Wives” by Tarryn Fisher
  • You May Be a Bookworm If …

Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: book review, books, Dot Hutchison, The Butterfly Garden, The Collector Book 1

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Julie says

    November 2, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    I have to agree “The Butterfly Garden ” was the more successfull book in the series. However I did enjoy reading the entire series.
    I don’t think I would have chosen to put the suspicion on Maya the way she did, as Maya narrated the story. But to tell the story in its content and entirety there has to be someone under the light of suspicion.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Book Review: The Roses of May by Dot Hutchison says:
    November 16, 2018 at 6:25 am

    […] The Roses of May by Dot Hutchison is the second book in the The Collector series, and … well … I didn’t like it nearly as much as the first book, The Butterfly Garden. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Adventures of Riley: Ghost Hunter
  • Book Clubs
  • Book Reviews
  • Books
  • Character Posts
  • Games and Puzzles
  • Giveaways
  • Michele's Musings
  • Movies/TV/Podcast Reviews
  • MPW Book Club
  • News
  • Recipes
  • Redemption
  • Riverview
  • Short Stories & Fiction
  • Writing Journey

Recent Posts

  • Excerpt: “The Taking”
  • The Story Behind the Story: “Mysteries, Midsummer Sun and Murders”
  • June Monthly Giveaway!
  • Excerpt: “Mysteries, Midsummer Sun and Murders”
  • An Overview of the Towns of Redemption and Riverview

Recent Comments

  • Michele Pariza Wacek on An Overview of the Towns of Redemption and Riverview
  • Katy Morrison on An Overview of the Towns of Redemption and Riverview
  • Michele Pariza Wacek on “A Grave Error” — A Charlie Kingsley Short Story
  • Booksfan on “A Grave Error” — A Charlie Kingsley Short Story
  • KAT on The Story Behind the Story: “Mysteries, Midsummer Sun and Murders”

Archives

Now available for preorder! Twenty-four years ago, five-year-old Tori walked into her newborn brother’s room in the middle of the night and discovered a figure abducting him. Except his lifeless body was still in the crib. Or was it?

View Book

Available to preorder for an Aug. 18, 2022 release! Five friends went into the woods. Only four came back. Can Charlie get to the bottom of what happened and why?

View Book

A dead husband. A pregnant wife. A poisoned Christmas gift. Can Charlie discover the grinch who stole Christmas?

View Book

A fresh start. That’s what Becca had hoped for. But instead she’s thrust into a past she barely remembers, one that threatens her sanity and her life.

View Book

© 2022 · Michele Pariza Wacek and Love-Based Publishing — Privacy Policy