'The Butterfly Garden'

Author:  Dot Hutchison
Published:  O6/01/16
Thomas & Mercer
Date Read:  02/05/17

“In terror she spoke, letting sink her wings till they trailed in the dust—in agony sobbed, letting sink her plumes till they trailed in the dust—till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust. But my wings couldn’t move and I couldn’t fly, and I couldn’t even cry. All that was left to me was the terror and the agony and the sorrow.”

The Butterfly Garden was one of those books that immediately sucked me in to it's dark and stormy plot. The suspenseful and calculating characteristics of the story's narrative made it chilling and unique. It's the kind of story that makes you feel such pity and remorse for the victim, while still maintaining an unhealthy dose of suspicion that the victim is possibly a snake in a habitat of beautiful, fragile butterflies.

This was actually probably the most intriguing book I've ever read about a serial killer. The butterfly garden created by the sociopathic "Gardener" was unlike any other I've encountered in literature. It may sound strange, but there was some beautiful imagery mixed in between the layers of kidnapping, rape, mutilation, murder, and the preservation of broken bodies (like the quote at the beginning of this review).

“At night, the creature that was the Garden peeled back its synthetic skin to show the skeleton beneath.”

What I'm trying to say is that while this is a horror novel that will make your skin crawl, the writing was not Dean Koontz or Stephen King-ish... It was more eloquent and sophisticated than your typical "bloody" horror novel. The Butterfly Garden actually reminded me a lot of Stieg Larson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I think mostly because Myah's strength, intelligence, and cold detachment kind of channeled Lisbeth Salander to me. Myah is definitely a captivating character whose secrets kept me awake until I read the very last page, and haunted me even after the last page was turned.

Dot Hutchison's writing is p h e n o m e n a l!