The Butterfly Garden

Overall thoughts The Butterfly Garden blew my mind, and it definitely left me wanting more. The combination of such a gripping and intriguing premise, profound and memorable characters and a fantastic use of language has caused this novel to become one of my favorite reads of the year, and one of my favorite mystery & thriller books. While there are some things that I dislike, such as the somewhat lackluster ending, as a whole, the book was nothing short of absolutely amazing. However, I understand that it won’t be for everyone and that many will turn away from the book, be it because of the plot or the brutality of some of the themes. For those that decide to read this, it will probably become a fast-paced and enjoyable ride that will prove itself hard to put down. In this case, the rating that I would give this book would be a solid 5 out of 5 without any hesitation. For a more detailed account of my thoughts, please read below, though there might be some minor spoilers (and I would most definitely recommend reading this book without not knowing much about it). Plot & Themes This book revolves around a very unique, dark and disturbing premise. A girl, known for the most part as Maya, recounts the tale of how she got herself kidnapped and woke up to what she, and others, referred to as the Garden, which is run by the Gardener, though his sons are also present at different points in the story. While the story starts with Maya being interrogated by a pair of FBI agents who are trying to find out more about the Garden, we are quickly exposed to the actual events that took place in this location. Despite being kidnapped by a male figure, Maya found herself being awoken by another young girl. This girl is later revealed also to have been kidnapped, and she’s not the only one. Little by little, we are exposed to the practices that take place in this garden. For starters, every girl is tattooed with a different butterfly on her back. Until then, the girls are mostly kept in isolation from the rest of the victims. As she starts being acclimated to the conditions of the Garden and as she gets her own tattoo, Maya starts discovering some harsh realities of her new existence. The harshest of all, perhaps, is that all of these girls are trapped in a dome. These girls are free to roam the Garden, though they do follow some strict schedules and rules. For example, they need to eat at certain times of the day, and they are only allowed to have select snacks and drinks outside of the designated meals. Furthermore, if any girl isn’t eating, for whatever reason, then they get a visit from the lunch lady, who also happens to be the nurse. This, however, doesn’t even begin to cover the realities that these girls face. As soon as the girls get their own tattoos, they are raped for the first time by the Gardener. This is, sadly, not the only time that this occurs. In fact, this is a very common occurrence, with the Gardener visiting these girls quite often. The Gardener is not the only person to take part in these activities either, as oldest son also does this. This son in particular though tends to be more brutal with these girls. While the Gardener seems to have some level of affection and seems to care about these girls to some degree, these sentiments are not shared by his son. His son, in fact, tortures and sodomizes the girls through some very sadistic behavior. He even ends up killing some by accident, which leads to another important of the book: death. Death is an important aspect of the novel. It is a reality that the girls have learned to accept and something that they are surrounded by and reminded of daily. This can be explained thanks to the deranged reasoning that the Gardener provides in order to have his butterfly garden. It is revealed throughout the book that the Gardener’s father used to have a collection of butterflies, which he eventually lost in an accident. Following his father’s footsteps, the Gardener decides to have his own collection, though in a much more disturbing way: by collecting girls with butterfly tattoos on their backs. Due to the relatively short lifespan of butterflies, the Gardener attempts to recreate this phenomenon on his own collection. The way he does this is by injecting them with formaldehyde, and later preserving their bodies on glass displays. These young, preserved girls are kept in the halls of the Garden, next to where the current residents sleep, hence the constant presence of death in the novel. Another incredibly strong aspect of the book is the characters themselves. The characters in the novel are extremely complex and have their own personality traits. These characters are presented in a way that it is easy to distinguish between them, due to their mannerism and behavior, and in a very convincing manner. The interactions between them also present some very memorable, enjoyable, and emotional moments. The girls throughout the story go through different events, from periods of celebration and happiness to mourning and despair. Even those characters that could be labeled as the villains have their own depth. In my opinion, these characters have certain traits and characteristics that make them easier to remember and to distinguish from past characters in similar genres. Narration & use of language The narration shifts throughout the book. The scenes where Maya is being interrogated are narrated from a third person perspective, while the events of the Garden are told in the first person. The interplay between both narrative styles is easy to follow and suits the story well. The language used throughout the book is phenomenal. The author has managed to write the novel in such a way that it hooks the reader, despite how messed up and disturbing some of the things are. The descriptions also make the book very vivid. Lastly, the language flows very well and is incredibly easy to follow, causing it to be a fantastic page turner. Recommendations for further reading I’d recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a solid thriller or, to some extent, a horror novel. I’d also recommend it to those that are looking for either something dark, memorable, or original. Due to the originality, there is very few books that I’d recommend that could capture the same amount of emotions, details, and creativity as The Butterfly Garden does. In the mystery and thriller area, I’d recommend Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. Leaning more towards horror, I’d recommend A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. Lastly, for those that want something between horror and thriller, I’d recommend Bird Box by Josh Malerman. Thanks for reading my review, and I hope that those of you that decide to read this book enjoy it. Happy reading!

4.4 out of 5 stars! The Butterfly Garden is a heavy, heart-pounding read. I laughed, I cried, I yelled at the characters, my hands shook, and it hit almost all the right buttons for me. Before I get into the story aspects that I appreciated (and a couple I didn't), I want to say that the format was difficult for me to sink into right away. There are two parallel stories: a present tense third-person narrative in which the FBI are questioning Maya, and a first-person past tense narrative that acts as Maya's responses. The narrative that acts as dialogue didn't really work well initially because you knew she was speaking, yet it contained descriptive details that wouldn't have been conveyed in conversation (like how a character adjusted her bra). However, the story was able to engage me enough to draw me in and acclimate me to the format. Initially, Maya's responses bounce from the Garden to her life before the Garden. Sometimes these lapses killed the tension that had just been built up, but I pushed through, knowing that the lapse would be short and the story continued on just the other side. This ends when we read into Part II (it's a three-part novel), and it is smooth sailing from there. Although the narrative is rife with triggers (sexual assault, child abuse and neglect--mentioned, not witnessed, violence against women, drug addiction), Hutchison is delicate in her delivery. She doesn't get more descriptive until Part II, and even then she focuses more on effect than cause. Each character we meet has something unique about them that sets them apart from the others, even though we encounter about twenty Butterflies, three FBI agents, a few FBI techs, and a few parents. If this makes it sound overwhelming: it's not. They all one have something to make them stand out from one another. I love the rapport Hutchison gave each of these characters. They play off of each other differently and in a believable fashion. That also ramps up the stress and tension, for all the right reasons: We felt for the girls, even if we only met them briefly. They were engaging and unique, so when something horrible happened to them, we mourned. Some we mourned in passing, others we mourned... much longer. <blockquote>“Always. You never had to wait for someone [to die]. You mourned them every single day, as they mourned you, because every day we were dying.”</blockquote> My favorite scene of the entire novel is borne of the bond the Butterflies develop: <blockquote>That afternoon found me in Danelle’s room with a bowl of water in my lap so I could carefully rewet her hair each time I needed to run the brush through it. She sat in front of me on the bed twining ribbons through sections of Evita’s hair before she twisted them up into a mass on the back of her blonde head. For Danelle, I braided small sections of hair to drape between two high buns, and others to fall down her back. They were too thin to obscure the wings, but they were her small defiance. Hailee sat behind me doing something with brush and pins, while Simone stood behind her with ribbons and twists and oil.</blockquote> Hutchison successfully captures the fucked-up psychology that accompanies long-term trauma: dark humor, self-deprecation, and wry acceptance of what occurs and what might occur. These moments might seem unbelievable or surreal for someone who has never been in such a situation, but for someone who has they resonate strongly (speaking as a survivor of three years of domestic violence). <blockquote>It was sick. I don’t think there’s a person there who doubted that. It was sick and wrong and profoundly twisted, and yet somehow it made us feel a lot better.</blockquote> There were several allusions throughout the story that led me to believe Hutchison was foreshadowing something, and I thought I knew what would happen toward the end. I was wrong. I enjoyed being wrong very much. For some readers, The Butterfly Garden will test their suspension of disbelief, mostly concerning the setting: <blockquote>As far as I could tell, the greenhouse we called the Garden was actually one of two, one inside the other like nesting dolls. Ours was the one in the center, impossibly tall, with our hallways wrapped around it in a square.</blockquote> Living near the mountains, I understand very well how a compound like this can be... perhaps not hidden, but inconspicuous enough to overlook or pass by. The only detail of the story that tested my personal suspension of disbelief is at the tail end--and as far as the reader can determine, not an aspect of the conflict. Since I enjoyed the novel overall, and I don't know what the sequels will hold, I am more than willing to overlook what seems to me to be a plot-contrivance fairy. One gripe I have that I can easily overlook is that the Gardener seems a bit bland. We know he has self-control, he's intimidating in what he does and can do, but we don't see him ever doing it. He doesn't lose his temper and is almost always the doting, refined "gentleman," never the frightening, looming threat the Butterflies fear. I personally would love a brief foray into his mind as a short story or novella. But I may end up saying that about every serial killer we encounter on this blog. I enjoyed The Butterfly Garden very much, although in the beginning I sometimes felt the need to push through short sections. I was still desperate to see what would happen on the other side. The tension and emotional impact of the story more than compensate for any flaws with the story or format.

There is a lot to like in The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison. I first liked the simplicity yet expressiveness of the cover (at least in the Kindle selection I read.) There is a butterfly, the novel’s name, and the author’s name. There are no blaring font announcements that this is a thrilling psychological thriller (that will leave you gasping). No promises that it is a page-turner. Just a good presentation. But it is one of the best psychological thrillers I have read. There are surprises; it will leave a reader turning pages quickly and it will appeal to fans of a TV series “Lie to Me.” The setting of the novel is in an interrogation room, although the questioners would shy away from the term “interrogation.” But that was what was taking place and naming it as anything else would not fool Maya. Special Agent Brandon Eddison and Special Agent in Charge Victor Hanoverian were skilled investigators of crimes committed against children. Maya was a few years shy of twenty-one, but she was streetwise and somewhat amused by the questioning techniques employed by the two FBI agents. After all, they didn’t even know her name. At least they knew her name wasn’t Maya and she intended to play the game out until she decided she wanted to provide her real name. Maya is the central figure in a harem of butterflies created by The Gardener. A rich businessman, he was able to construct a private, fortified garden in which he could indulge his fantasies. Although they had a sexual component, his actual fantasy was that he was saving girls from the street and the hard lives they would have had to lead to survive. The Gardener and his son Avery would kidnap girls that The Gardener would think at risk. They would select girls no younger than sixteen and could be any age up to twenty-one. Older was not better because when a girl reached her twenty-first birthday, she was killed, embalmed, and displayed in containers filled with a resin that kept the body on display. There were many containers that attested to the success of The Gardener’s project. Why butterflies? The gardener liked butterflies; he studied them. After kidnapping a girl, The Gardener selected a butterfly and tattooed its likeness on the shoulders and back of the kidnap victim. Having sex after tattooing each girl finalized his possession ritual. The girls were then free to live in his garden, complete with waterfall, a library and an abundance of plants and trees, until they were twenty-one when they would be expected to join previous butterflies on display. Once a girl was killed, The Gardener would search for a replacement so that the living butterfly collection remained at about twenty-three. This size of the confined population gives the author lots of room for character development and Hutchison does this skillfully. Characters are developed well through their behaviors as near familial relationships are developed and broken. With these many characters, it would be easy for an author to give each one a one or two-line description and move on. Hutchison does not do this as characters appear, seem to go away, and then reappear with a valuable contribution to the story. There are inferences and implications seemingly made by characters, but all done through the filter of Maya’s memories. She exposes each character as much or as little as she wants. Characters “speak” through her. And she has an agenda; she will protect the identity of Maya. Opposing Maya are two FBI agents. Eddison comes off as the heavy, the bad cop, the unintelligent one that Maya has fun manipulating. Maya has realized that Victor Hanoverian might be her equal. She needs to protect her identity until a certain event comes to pass. And she is the only one who knows what the event is. The dialogue between the agents and Maya comes across as very cerebral. The agents had training, but Maya grew up with street survival skills. I do not believe that anyone can predict this ending. What happened to specific girls? Who is The Gardener? What life does he have outside the Garden? Is there any way to escape? The answers to a lot of these questions are answered throughout the novel. But for the big questions, Maya’s identity and Maya’s agenda, you must read the entire novel. The novel’s subject will be difficult for some readers. This is about young girls in captivity being tortured and sexually abused by one or more pedophiles. Knowing the subject, is a warning necessary? This is a good psychological thriller. I gave this five Amazon stars and look forward to reading more Dot Hutchison books.

*Warning – this book contains scenes of rape & violence. The Butterfly Garden is a tale of abduction, abuse and secrecy that will certainly work well for some and should be avoided by others due to the graphic nature of the content. While I did not find it to be too overwhelming, it is fair to say it has the potential to be very unsettling. “Three butterflies for a broken girl: one for personality, one for possession, and one for pettiness.” Abducted and branded with lavish butterfly tattoos, young girls are forced to live out their allotted time within a garden their abductor has created for them. His “butterflies”. Stripped of their true identities with the only real escape being death, the girls have learned to live within the confines of their prison. That is until a twist of events will expose the truth and reveal this dark secret. We are introduced to Maya as she is being questioned by two FBI agents after a harrowing escape from The Garden. It is through Maya’s account of events that we are told the grisly story of The Gardener and his Garden. One man who harbors a monstrous obsession with beauty and the “home” he has built for his victims. But Maya’s story leaves even more to question. What is it that she is not sharing? I am slightly divided on my feelings for The Butterfly Garden. There are a multitude of elements that work so well within this twisted tale, yet there are also a couple that depreciated my experience. Our protagonist Maya is complex. She consists of many layers that are slowly peeled away, revealing a young woman who has suffered greatly. Yet she hasn’t in the traditional sense. She has hardened. Refusing to be defined by the past she has run from. It was easy to establish an instant connection with a real respect and concern for Maya that only grows as the story progresses. But as she continues with her recollection with the two FBI agents, we realize there is also an air of uncertainty surrounding her. She is hiding personal details and aspects of her life. We are left to decipher whether this is due to her desire to separate herself from her dark history or something even more. I thoroughly enjoyed her. The plot is not entirely new. Many thrillers and mysteries revolve around abductions. But the concept of the Garden is original. And it is terrifying in its own right. I do not want to elaborate much further on this because the revelation is a large portion of the experience, but the butterflies and their fate are one that resonates and lingers. The Gardner is the epitome of nightmares. “The trouble with sociopaths, really, is that you never know where they draw their boundaries.” The Butterfly Garden brilliantly touches on many facets of the human mind and psych. It delves deep into what happens when living is the only option and escaping has been removed from the equation. I found my brain running through a barrage of possible effects on the victims that included shock, hypervigilance, denial, and total submission. How does one learn to survive? Can one learn to survive? “It was a strange kind of pain, choosing to lie there under the needles and let him write his ownership into my skin.” The narration transitions seamlessly from past recollections up to the present events, cleverly divulging a fascinating story at a consistent pace. The Butterfly Garden offers up a somewhat unique and compelling perspective through Maya’s interrogation. So what was it that ultimately subtracted from my experience? Two things: There was never a sense of urgency or panic. The ending completely fell apart for me. I am willing to attribute the lack of tension and suspense largely to the fact that the story is being told from in hindsight from a survivor. It is evident that Maya sees matters for exactly what they are and has learned to adapt to each situation as necessary. She is in part desensitized due to all she has encountered in life. But it was monotone at times. It felt almost awkward to read about such heinous crimes and never truly experiencing a full range of heightened emotions and tension. This is a thriller? Maybe a mystery? I am not sure at this point. The ending was where it derailed for me. It angered me and left me frustrated and questioning the credibility of it all. It was liking watching everything unravel in a rushed and clunky manner that was demeaning and detrimental. I have tried to come to terms with the decision the author has made here and I simply cannot. For this reason I am cautious to recommend what was almost a brilliant read and will be knocking off a full star. ⋆⋆⋆

I'm extremely stingy with my stars & this one was a solid 4+! I devoured it! I loved the back and forth in the time line, and the writing style. It was about surviving captivity, sisterhood, hope, despair and a background of depressing childhood... I had a really hard time picturing the layout of the garden and the walls, etc. So that is why it isn't getting a better rating. At first it didn't bother me but the more the story developed, the harder it got to fathom in my head. I wish there was a picture, honestly. I'd love to read more like this book.

Read in 6 hours! Couldn't put this down. Creepy girl collector has a private human butterfly garden. Rapist son, socially awkward younger son, girls that have an expiration date. Gave it to my friend to read, 6.5 hours non-stop reading. Buy this book!!

The Butterfly Garden had been on my “to read” list for a while, and I don’t know why I waited so long to read it! This was the first time I’d read anything by Dot Hutchison, but it certainly won’t be the last—I can’t wait to start reading book 2 in the series, The Roses of May! I was unable to put down this magnificent thriller that was filled with chilling suspense and horror until I’d learned everything that had happened to the “butterflies” in "The Garden” so stayed up all night until I was done—which as creepy as the book was made it really hard to sleep afterward! I’d suggest with the subject material probably not reading it and then trying to sleep… On one hand, it was so engrossing because the story left you feeling very sick and disturbed by the gruesome and twisted story about what happened in “The Garden”, yet at the same time feeling drawn to the attachments, friendships, and love that grew between the girls in the garden. Every single one of the victims is portrayed so intricately and given a unique personality that it is hard to get them out of your mind. Even if they only played a small part in the book, it will be hard to forget these girls who developed relationships and friendships under the most horrific of circumstances. The story is told from the POV of Maya, one of the girls who was kept as a prisoner in “The Garden”. She’s being interrogated by the FBI about what exactly happened and what she has to say is not only sickening and disturbing but enthralling. She tells her story not only by relaying her past memories of her life as a "butterfly" but speaks in the present tense during her talks with the FBI agents, yet these jumps back and forth in time blend seamlessly together and skillfully tells the story. As Maya talks, we learn all about her and the other girl’s tormentor “The Gardener”. He’s a psychopath who has been kidnapping girls for three decades. When he takes them, he marks them as his own personal “butterflies” by tattooing butterfly wings on their backs and changing their names. Then he repeatedly rapes them and imprisons them until they reach their “expiration date” at age 21. Not only that, but he allows his equally psycho son to torment and abuse them. It’s pretty apparent that Maya has some secret as she tells of the horrors of life as a "butterfly". You really hope the FBI agents are wrong to think she is somehow in cahoots with “The Gardener” since you really, really can’t help but liking her. She’s a wonderfully sympathetic character. The ending of the book reveals an unexpected twist—and Maya’s secret. It wasn’t the twist that I thought it would be, and it was the only part of the book that I felt wasn’t necessary. It felt like a weird ending to me, but it didn’t make me like the book any less. This is still a 5-star book in my opinion; it’s addicting, chilling, suspenseful, and beautifully written. Dot Hutchinson has a new fan!

From the moment I started reading The Butterfly Garden I was intrigued, hooked, and wanted more. This book left me with just enough information to make me feel satisfied that I was getting somewhere in the story but not enough that I got bored. I took my Kindle with me EVERYWHERE and I mean everywhere there were a few times that my husband remarked that he thought I died in the bathroom! This was such a unique story one that I had never read before and made me start to look at things in my own life differently. I have to say that this is one grotesquely beautiful novel that centers around what it means to truly go through hell and back but still retain hope and still be there for each other when it seems like all is lost. The Butterfly Garden dealt with some very brutal and unsettling topics, but Dot Hutchison deals with discussing these topics in a way that make you feel for this person and understand what they are going through just enough to keep you wanting more but not too much that you don't want to continue reading. Dot Hutchison has a beautiful writing style that made this novel flow effortlessly but also gave you things to stop and think about. I have read a variety of books and have seen quite a few different writing styles and Dots has to be one of my favorites so far. Now comes the part of the post that I hate writing but I still need to write it that is what I didn't like about the book. I only found one part of the story that just didn't do it for me and that unfortunately was the ending. It wasn't a huge glaring problem that completely ruined the book for me but it was the greatest either. To me it just felt a little choppy and thrown together like there could have been a little more thought into it and a little more planning in the execution of the ending. All in all I loved this book so much but I don't think I will ever look at another butterfly the same again. I recommend this book to everybody who likes psychological thrillers and mystery books. This review was originally posted on my blog at bookwormmommyofthree.blogspot.com

I wasn't sure about this title but once I started reading , I really didn't feel like keeping my kindle down for a moment. The storyline is not very complex but the depiction and thrill is kept throughout the story which is really worth appreciating.

Different interesting couldnt put it down.

Google trigger warnings before you read it if you’re not used to dark themed books!

I really enjoyed this book!!! A very interesting and disturbing story.

This book did everything absolutely right: it managed to have lots of interesting characters without being confusing; fantastic creative plot; breathtaking ending. This is the story of a beautiful garden, where the Gardener is the ruler and collects butterflies. The problem is that his butterflies are actually kidnapped teenage girls, who get very detailed wing tattoos. The book starts with Maya, one of the butterflies, telling the FBI about her time in the Garden and the mystery lies in how everybody managed to escape. I just couldn't believe how perfect this book was. The story was so disturbing, but told in such a delicate way that it matched the setting perfectly. The Gardener is now my favorite villain: he created a metaphor that he believe in so thoroughly that he thought he was doing the right thing. Also, I highlighted a lot, because there were so many enchanting quotes. I can't recommend this book enough, it really managed to blow me away.