Synopsis of The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison:
The Butterfly Garden is the first book of the Collector Trilogy. A young girl known as Inara, or Maya to some, is rescued along with several other kidnapped women from a beautiful garden. The women have been tattooed on their backs with intricate butterfly wings by their captor, known as The Collector. The novel alternates between the past, where Inara is still in captivity, to the present, where she is discussing their time in the Garden with the FBI. Inara is reticent due to her own past trauma, but the twists and turns throughout the story leaves the reader wondering- how deeply is Inara involved in the Garden?
Elements of Suspense:
- The author writes in a way that makes you feel worry for the characters because you do not immediately know their fate. The novel starts with The Collector being caught, but you do not know how many of the women survived. This leads to a lack of certainty with the reader.
- The tone of the book is full of anticipation- What happened to The Collector and who survived his wrath?
- Since the events of the novel occur sometimes in the past and sometimes in the present, the suspense builds until the end.
- There is a rising action to the plot- it goes through Inara's time in the Garden and the things that befall her and the other women. There is also glimpses into Inara's life before the Garden that come into play at the end.
- The story is weaved in a way that there are many paths that lead to the end. While you are reading, you can see several ways in which the story could end.
Read Alikes:
False Hearts by Laura Lam
Railhead by Philip Reeve
My Clockwork Muse by D.R. Erickson
The Girl Before: by Rena Olson
ReplyDeleteKelly,
I have never read a suspense or thriller book, but The Butterfly Garden sounds intriguing. I love that the book goes back and forth between the past and present to keep the reader on their toes and it adds pieces the story together without actually revealing too much. Saricks mentions that thrillers are page-turners and often hook readers from early on in the story, which this one seems to do when the captor is caught (73). I might just have to add this to my to be read list!
Hi Kelly! I couldn't help thinking of The Collector by John Fowles and the tv movie Cabin by the Lake with Judd Nelson. The Fowles book is about a woman and her obsessive captor who is fascinated with butterflies and Cabin by the Lake features a serial killer who is creating an underwater garden with the women he kills. I wonder if Hutchison was influenced by the Fowles book which is very well known. The book sounds interesting because of the mystery element. Did you enjoy it?
ReplyDeleteHi, Katie! Wow- I definitely see similarities between that book & movie with Hutchison's book! Perhaps she was influenced by Fowles' book. I quite enjoyed reading this book- it had the "I can't put it down" factor for me!
DeleteKelly, your annotation totally makes me want to read this book, which says a lot about your annotation because I'm 99.9% certain that I've passed this one by despite it being popular on the holds shelf. What I really enjoyed about your annotation was that you made it very short--as someone who tends to go on and on about stuff, and having prattled on for forever with my annotation, it was really refreshing to see a suggestion put forward very simply.
ReplyDeleteI certainly never knew that this was part of a series. While I'm obviously not getting much leisure reading done for the foreseeable future, this series is going on my to-read list. It might be time to start up a Goodreads account again?!
After reading your synopsis, I really want to read this book. I like a book that makes you think, and one with the sense of anticipation, always wondering what comes next. Sounds like a great read!
ReplyDeleteGreat annotation! You did an excellent job on your summary, elements, and readlikes! I've never heard of this one but I'm definitely intrigued by your annotation! Full points!
ReplyDeleteSo, an unreliable narrator! And this is interesting that it's the first part of a trilogy. That seems to leave a lot of room to develop the character of Inara/Maya and some of the large plot arcs indicated by the scope of the story. It sounds like this was kind of a slow burn and when I looked on NoveList it mentioned a Psychological factor which I think would be typical ... is that what you found?
ReplyDeleteHi! Yes, I am interested to see where the trilogy goes. There is definitely room to learn more about Maya/Inara- there is a definite psychological factor- they speak of her troubled past, which helps you to better understand her character in this book.
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