Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.
When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.
As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding..
The Review
Oh, this book...I had a love/hate relationship with it from almost the first few pages. I'm usually not a fan of detective stories despite being completely addicted to true crime TV and podcasts. I do occasionally make exceptions, and that's exactly what happened when I stumbled upon The Butterfly Garden. I mean, with a summary like that and its beautiful cover, there was just no way I wasn't going to read it. This story is ugly, there's the plain and simple truth of it. The writing, however, is anything but. I enjoyed the prose that was vivid almost to a fault, extraordinary in the minor details that weaved into an intricate web of enchantment and horror. At one particular scene early on I physically recoiled away from the book. (If you've already read it, I'm willing to bet you know exactly the moment I'm talking about. Then again, maybe not as there are just so many horrible things between these pages.) Dot Hutchison's characterization is much like her prose; both are just brimming with beauty and variety. No one character is the same but they all contribute to their hierarchy. Even when depicting the abuse the women experience at the hand's of the Gardener and his wretched son, Avery, the beauty still remains in a sick kind of way. Perhaps it's easiest to explain this way: I wanted to turn away, yet found the words pleasing, like poetry. Even the detective scenes had me utterly enthralled, and they usually strike me as being cringe-y. Maya (I'm going to call the MC by her butterfly name just to keep the confusion to a minimum.) is a damn interesting woman. She's hard and rough around the edges, but protects a soft core that she probably wished she didn't have at all. She is empathetic, but brutally honest and has a shrewd mind always seeking ways to manipulate the situations and people to her advantage. In short: she's just the kind of gal you want on your side when monsters abound.
But Maya isn't the only character or even the "best crafted" among them. This book is filled with personality extremes, and I couldn't help but wonder whom I would be, and who my sister would be. What happens to people who have their lives stolen and their identities removed? What happens when the monster is your father, brother? What do you do when you are the monster?
I thought about these questions for hours, it seemed. I pondered, wondered sitting in front of my fish tank and the truth scared me. The truth is that I don't know. None of us really can know, can we? We like to think that when faced with evil we become the valiant knight fighting for justice and honor. But are we all really equipped to be those heroes like in Greek epics? It's because I accept that I can't ever actually know how I would react that I'm refraining from swinging my hammer on Desmond, the youngest son. Desmond was almost responsible for me taking the book's mortal life. (Ironic, right?) I nearly threw it out of my window, kicked it into the street, flushed it down the toilet. I came so close to punching my boyfriend because fucking men, man. All thanks to Des. I like to think his character and his choices were unbelievable, unrealistic. But were they? Again, I don't know. I understand Maya's reasoning for getting close to him, but I can't accept it at the same time. Granted, I hold a grudge like an ornery elephant. (Whatever that means....)
My favorite aspect was the relationships between the girls. It was infinitely interesting to me how the hierarchy was established and the roles each individual played to keep the ecosystem healthy. Even the nasty girls served a purpose, even the weak fit in. It reminded be of that quote from Jurassic Park, "Life will find a way." We have to talk about the ending though. No spoilers, but I dropped one and a half teapots because of how unbelievable, anti-climactic, dull and abrupt it was. I decided that because the book made me ask some serious questions and face some very uncomfortable personal truths, it deserved three teapots. I am left with a very cynical attitude and a search history full of butterfly species, but I did mostly love the book. *I recommend that you not try to read this in one sitting. Yes, it's a short read but do not underestimate the dark things lurking between these pages. I made it to about the halfway point and had to force myself to take a break AND then take a day of not reading before I could finish it. Make sure you have a lighter book to read next because as Maya says, "A trauma doesn't stop just because you're rescued."
