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A review by booking_along
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison
5.0
Re-Read after buying book - September '17:
I LOVE this book.
Don't get me wrong its not as if this book is especially unique for a thriller/horror/crime book.
But the writing is wonderful and i love how the story is told and even though some portions of the ending are a bit too.... neat? (yeah lets go with that word) overall this book is just fantastic!
This was the second time that i read it in one sitting because i was unable to put it down once i started it.
And i think that is saying something for this type of genre if you re-read it and can't stop reading it even though you know what is going to happen!
It is told in a way that we along with FBI agents get told the story from one of the victims - how she came to be in the garden, what happened in there and how it came to be that she is now sitting across the FBI.
So we go back and forth between the scenes where they are sitting in an Interrogation room in the FBI building and to the moments that the girl talks about. We switch between passive observer and active story teller in those "scene changes"and i think the author did a FANTASTIC job with those switches and how she build up the entire story.
She knows exactly when she has to give what kind of information and how to make it a bit mysterious and when to make everything absolutely clear.
I also love how different the "kept" women are from each other, and how different the two main FBI agents are from each other. You can clearly separate each character in this story from each other. And that is something not a huge amount of authors from this type of genre are capable of -at least in most books i read from it.
This story does have a lot of hard hitting topics!
Child abuse and neglects is mentioned and shown a good amount in this book.
Abuse and beatings both in physical and verbal format are mentioned and a handful of times features in not overly graphic scenes.
Rape (Lots of rape actually, we are talking about a book here where a guy goes around kidnapping girls and women so that he can add them to his "collection" so i think we all know that that was going to be part of the story!!) thankfully never graphic or actually described. But because its called rape (thank you Hutchison! for not writing abused women in a way that they talk about their stories of being raped and abused in other ways and than try to talk it down!) and we get moments like "he opened his pants" before the scenes "fades out" (or a new section starts in one way or another)
So if you are sensitive to any of those? DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!
That being said, normally i don't enjoy books that feature those topics either.
But this book actually manages to make it be the horrendously horrible and life changing horrors that those things are - BUT its also talked about in a way that shows that it is a horrible thing but sadly it does happen. And it happens a lot more often than anyone of us wants to think about and especially the victims have to deal with that. And they can!
And i think that makes this book special and worth a read.
Because how often does this type of book actually spin the horrors a surviving victim has to go through in a way that shows that they have enough will power to survive even if it will be hard and certainly not easy in any shape, way or format!
I just enjoy how this book is written, I enjoy how Hutchison tells a horrible story in a way that doesn't make it beautiful because of the horrors but because of how the people that have to do with it talk about it.
HIGHLY recommend this book!
_______
NetGalley Review book Review - August '16
Have you guys ever read a book that comple and utterly floored you in every way?
A book that you read because it sounded good from the first two sentences on the summary, which you stopped reading after those two sentences, and then you reread it and it is so completely different to what you expected?
So much better, so much more brutal, and horrendously thrilling!
This is a real mystery!
This is a thriller, and a horror psychological crime novel if there ever was one.
This book is magnificent in its brutality and unpredictability and unexpected turns and moments.
I loved the writing, which sucked you in because you start this story and have literary no clue where it is going or what you are about to read. And then when the story starts to unravel bit by bit, it still surprises you with little moments and quick snarky comments. It was brilliant! One of the best pieces of writing I have seen in a long while!
And the characters!
The butterflies, so unwise and individual and at the same time not trying to complete with the main character.
And her... I kind of fell in love with the main girl. She is so unbelievably strong, and while she really has this realistic seeing present to her, she also has this huge mystical almost fairytale and clearly fictional thing going on as well. Can you say extremely well develop character, especially considering the amount we actually know and learn about her?
I also liked the FBI guys. Victor was wondeful and I only hope that someone like him really does exist and is there for people that have to suffer through a real life kidnapping and what every horrible follows after that.
And his partner was the nice addition as well. He had a propose and character and at the same Time he was clearly mostly in the story to be a relieve of some kind, the guy who moves the story from on point to the next. But at the same time he had a bigger role...
And the ending...
It was great, but sad, and unexpected and jaunt what the heck was that ending? I want more! And the same time, it was kind of a perfect ending and expertly right to the story?
But I wasn't ready yet! I wasn't ready to let those character go. I need more. I need to know what happens to them all and with them all and how they all deal...
This book is a must read!
If you love thriller
crime
Mystery
Great twists
The unexpected story that will blow you far, far away!
It will give you chills and makes you want to lock yourself inside your home and never leave to not ever have to think about that psychos like that really exist in the real world in their own ways.
This book is magnificently awesome!
Go read it! Right now!
What are you still doing here? Didn't I say go read this book?
*i recieved the free ecopy of this book thanks to NetGalley,mother atuthor and the publishers in exchange for a free and honest review.*
I LOVE this book.
Don't get me wrong its not as if this book is especially unique for a thriller/horror/crime book.
But the writing is wonderful and i love how the story is told and even though some portions of the ending are a bit too.... neat? (yeah lets go with that word) overall this book is just fantastic!
This was the second time that i read it in one sitting because i was unable to put it down once i started it.
And i think that is saying something for this type of genre if you re-read it and can't stop reading it even though you know what is going to happen!
It is told in a way that we along with FBI agents get told the story from one of the victims - how she came to be in the garden, what happened in there and how it came to be that she is now sitting across the FBI.
So we go back and forth between the scenes where they are sitting in an Interrogation room in the FBI building and to the moments that the girl talks about. We switch between passive observer and active story teller in those "scene changes"and i think the author did a FANTASTIC job with those switches and how she build up the entire story.
She knows exactly when she has to give what kind of information and how to make it a bit mysterious and when to make everything absolutely clear.
I also love how different the "kept" women are from each other, and how different the two main FBI agents are from each other. You can clearly separate each character in this story from each other. And that is something not a huge amount of authors from this type of genre are capable of -at least in most books i read from it.
This story does have a lot of hard hitting topics!
Child abuse and neglects is mentioned and shown a good amount in this book.
Abuse and beatings both in physical and verbal format are mentioned and a handful of times features in not overly graphic scenes.
Rape (Lots of rape actually, we are talking about a book here where a guy goes around kidnapping girls and women so that he can add them to his "collection" so i think we all know that that was going to be part of the story!!) thankfully never graphic or actually described. But because its called rape (thank you Hutchison! for not writing abused women in a way that they talk about their stories of being raped and abused in other ways and than try to talk it down!) and we get moments like "he opened his pants" before the scenes "fades out" (or a new section starts in one way or another)
So if you are sensitive to any of those? DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!
That being said, normally i don't enjoy books that feature those topics either.
But this book actually manages to make it be the horrendously horrible and life changing horrors that those things are - BUT its also talked about in a way that shows that it is a horrible thing but sadly it does happen. And it happens a lot more often than anyone of us wants to think about and especially the victims have to deal with that. And they can!
And i think that makes this book special and worth a read.
Because how often does this type of book actually spin the horrors a surviving victim has to go through in a way that shows that they have enough will power to survive even if it will be hard and certainly not easy in any shape, way or format!
I just enjoy how this book is written, I enjoy how Hutchison tells a horrible story in a way that doesn't make it beautiful because of the horrors but because of how the people that have to do with it talk about it.
HIGHLY recommend this book!
_______
NetGalley Review book Review - August '16
Have you guys ever read a book that comple and utterly floored you in every way?
A book that you read because it sounded good from the first two sentences on the summary, which you stopped reading after those two sentences, and then you reread it and it is so completely different to what you expected?
So much better, so much more brutal, and horrendously thrilling!
This is a real mystery!
This is a thriller, and a horror psychological crime novel if there ever was one.
This book is magnificent in its brutality and unpredictability and unexpected turns and moments.
I loved the writing, which sucked you in because you start this story and have literary no clue where it is going or what you are about to read. And then when the story starts to unravel bit by bit, it still surprises you with little moments and quick snarky comments. It was brilliant! One of the best pieces of writing I have seen in a long while!
And the characters!
The butterflies, so unwise and individual and at the same time not trying to complete with the main character.
And her... I kind of fell in love with the main girl. She is so unbelievably strong, and while she really has this realistic seeing present to her, she also has this huge mystical almost fairytale and clearly fictional thing going on as well. Can you say extremely well develop character, especially considering the amount we actually know and learn about her?
I also liked the FBI guys. Victor was wondeful and I only hope that someone like him really does exist and is there for people that have to suffer through a real life kidnapping and what every horrible follows after that.
And his partner was the nice addition as well. He had a propose and character and at the same Time he was clearly mostly in the story to be a relieve of some kind, the guy who moves the story from on point to the next. But at the same time he had a bigger role...
And the ending...
It was great, but sad, and unexpected and jaunt what the heck was that ending? I want more! And the same time, it was kind of a perfect ending and expertly right to the story?
But I wasn't ready yet! I wasn't ready to let those character go. I need more. I need to know what happens to them all and with them all and how they all deal...
This book is a must read!
If you love thriller
crime
Mystery
Great twists
The unexpected story that will blow you far, far away!
It will give you chills and makes you want to lock yourself inside your home and never leave to not ever have to think about that psychos like that really exist in the real world in their own ways.
This book is magnificently awesome!
Go read it! Right now!
What are you still doing here? Didn't I say go read this book?
*i recieved the free ecopy of this book thanks to NetGalley,mother atuthor and the publishers in exchange for a free and honest review.*