The Butterfly Garden

The Collector, Book 1

By: Dot Hutchison

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo, Mel Foster

An Amazon Charts bestseller.

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...

©2016 Dot Hutchison (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Well written; great story

This book is amazingly written! The language used is descriptive without being overly so. The story is unique and fast paced. It isn't your typical mystery where a murder starts the story and then the reader goes along for the investigation. This book is written in such a way that you won't be able to wait to find out what happens. I cannot recommend this book more.

Really good book

What made the experience of listening to The Butterfly Garden the most enjoyable?

Good story, good narration, good book. No doubt this will eventually be made into a movie rated R.

Ok story...

interesting read, although maybe a little far fetched at times. also it kind of felt like a romance novel at points in the story... and I don'tewn that in a good way. not a fan of sappy romance novels.

A great story with a confusing narration approach

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the book, but can't exactly say I would recommend the audio. It's such a great plot, and Lauren Ezzo is SO GOOD. I liked her performance so much that I may listen to another book that she narrates because her performance was so nuanced. Mel Foster, however, I actively hated for this book. I didn't like his treatment of the female narrator.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Great plot. Finished it in one sitting. Compelling with interesting characters. I didn't mind the far-fetchedness of the plot. I think the whole thing was about a series of extreme situations that were improbable, and how complicated characters reacted to that situation. I appreciated the humor that the author used to deal with the improbability of the plot. The narrator was flawed but compelling. I loved her. I don't really mind that it "could never have happened in real life" because I don't think the author was trying to create some sociological study where she examined what humans might do. She was looking at a fictional story, and I was easily able to suspend disbelief and just enjoy myself.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Lauren Ezzo and Mel Foster ?

Lauren rocked. Super nuanced and a great pick for the character. Mel Foster didn't work for me. He has a voice which I can imagine would be great for a hard boiled detective story or pretty much anything else. It's very generic audiobook narrator. But I loathed the way he did female voices and it was so jarring to note the tone difference between the way that Lauren read the text versus the way Foster did it.When Lauren was reading, I forgot I was "listening" and just absorbed the story. When Foster was speaking, I was conscious every second that I was listening to an audiobook and it was very distracting. Foster made everything the protagonist said come out in exactly the same condescending, snarky tone, so it really added nothing and actively detracted from the experience.On that note, it was very jarring to have two narrators at all. I understand the difference between the two time frames and I didn't mind that, but I would have much rather had Lauren do ALL the voicing for the protagonist and have Foster only do the narration and the detectives' voice. I enjoyed Foster's performances of those characters. However, the two narrators seemed to have totally different interpretations of what the protagonist was feeling. Lauren did a more subtle portrayal and Foster's was downright mocking the whole time. If you're on the fence about buying the audiobook, I would still recommend that you do for the pleasure of Lauren's performance, but be prepared for some jarring transitions.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Very different

Shocking, unique story line... kept my interest right away. A bit graphic, not for me but maybe for others? Well used credit!

Couldn't wait for the ending.

Saw some of the negative reviews and hopefully no offense but they were from men. This book shows a very dark side to some of them. I really couldn't wait for the ending to see what happened to everyone.

You’ll be hooked

I got this on a whim and omg I finished it in one day, I couldn’t stop listening. I wasn’t thrilled about how it was preformed, but still it was soooo good

Amazing

I loved this audio book! I never got bored of listening to it and the story was so intriguing and heavy!

Please read

The story was amazing please give it a try you will not regret It I promise

This book was different

This book takes a serial killer subject to a different way of telling a story concerning the subject. It is because of this I loved it. It could be easily disliked if you do not like a different manner coming at you in a different direction for the book. It was not as exciting as many police procedural books covering most cases of this type are. In fact, I was off-put at first by the police procedures. But this also grew on me. And it was pretty creepy though at times it seemed it was not that bad. It could be rather dark for many, but you could give it a read for yourself if you like an of the above. I would read the next book by this author.