A review by jesscoast
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I picked this up a few days ago and can't believe it's already done. Though I did find the beginning quite jarring and didn't think I'd like it, I really warmed up to the story and mostly the characters. The confusing and dark beginning does do a good job of conveying the disorientation of being kidnapped, I'm sure. The CSI detective talk was a bit hard to get used to, but Maya is a captivating storyteller and I found it easy to sink into the book when the passages were of her recounting this harrowing survival story. I found the victim's point of view to be a great way to narrate, and I appreciated knowing that somehow someone was getting out alive, and I couldn't wait to find out how.

The premise, though deeply disturbing, felt a little deja vu until I realized that this reminded me of Perfume, which I read years ago.

For a book that lives safely in the Horror genre and in which the central themes are rape, kidnapping, captivity, and control, I wouldn't say that this book kept me up at night. It's certainly a nightmare but it's not haunting in psychological thriller way, which was a relief to me. It's just creepy, morose, and an elaborate sick fantasy playing out it's course.

I wasn't expecting any major twists at the end and was caught off guard by one of them, which I thought was very clever. 

Overall, for a deeply horrific book that I may not actually ever recommend to anyone, I did enjoy it and couldn't put it down for long. I wish there was a little less copaganda and a little more playing with Maya's fragility and reliability, I think the trope that we can rely on the police and we can rely on victim's accounts were both taken for granted a little.
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