The Butterfly Garden (The Collector) (origineel 2016; editie 2016)

This book is not for everyone. There are mentions of severely disturbing issues that can be considered very triggering.

Dot Hutchison does an amazing job of describing the cruel treatment of the kidnapped girls. The entire book had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for what would come next.

I listened to this book with my dad, who loves anything true crime and horror. I have never once seen him uncomfortable while watching nor listening to any case or movie. There were several times when he would look at me with the most confused, uncomfortable look I've ever seen in another person.

Overall, it was an amazing book. It really made me think about just how cruel the world can be, and it kept me interested from the very first page. I would 100% recommend this book to anyone who isn't squeamish. ( )

this was fucking nuts. good but gross but good but nuts? warnings for rape and terrible things happening to women, etc ( )

The Butterfly Garden is one of the most depraved, unique, and unsettling books I've ever read, and I loved every second of it. Dot Hutchison has given us a one-of-a-kind serial killer in The Gardener, and written something truly original. I read this book in one day (when I should have been doing other things) because I couldn't make myself stop. I had to find out Maya's story.

The format of the book was perfect; alternating between the present, with Maya and the FBI agents, and her past, both in the Garden and before, builds tension steadily and leaves you anxious to get to the next segment. You never quite know how much truth is being revealed and that makes the book even more unsettling overall.

There's also a strange, dark beauty in The Gardener himself. The ways his mind works are so far outside the realm of "normal" that you can't help getting drawn into it, to wonder what makes him tick, how he can see things the way he does. In his mind, he's doing a good thing, a great thing, and everything comes from a place of love. Skewed, terrible love, but still love as he understands it.

This is officially one of my favorite serial killer books now, and one that I will recommend to anyone who will listen to me. This book is the best kind of dark and twisty, with a terrible beauty all its own. ( )

While this book did grab my attention, I kept waiting for something to occur which hadn't been revealed in the first chapter. The Sophie twist was far fetched and unnecessary. ( )

I always feel weird saying I "liked" a book like this. It was compelling. Brutal, gruesome, but well-thought-out and with a plot that kept me hooked. I didn't particularly care for the twist regarding Sophia. I didn't feel like it added anything to the plot. And why didn't Sophia attempt to report the situation to the police after she escaped? It raises more questions than it answers. ( )