Roses of May, The (The Collector, 2)

Great book! A must read. The story is so compelling I could read it in one sitting. The Collector Series is one of the best series I have read in a very long time.

"The Roses of May" by Dot Hutchison is a haunting and gripping thriller that explores the aftermath of a serial killer's heinous crimes. The novel follows the survivors of the "Butterfly Garden" case, which was the subject of Hutchison's previous novel, "The Butterfly Garden." In this sequel, the reader is introduced to a new perspective as FBI agent Brandon Eddison investigates a new case that bears striking similarities to the previous one. The novel is divided into two parts. The first part is focused on the investigation of the new case, while the second part is dedicated to the psychological aftermath of the Butterfly Garden case on the survivors. Hutchison masterfully weaves the two parts together, creating a sense of suspense that keeps the reader engaged throughout. The characters in the novel are well-developed, and Hutchison does an excellent job of portraying the survivors' trauma and how it continues to affect them years after the events of the Butterfly Garden. The new characters, including the killer, are also intriguing and add to the story's complexity. Hutchison's writing style is engaging and evocative, and she has a talent for creating vivid and atmospheric scenes. The descriptions of the killer's twisted mind and his victims' suffering are disturbing, but necessary to the story's overall impact. "The Roses of May" is a thought-provoking novel that delves into the themes of trauma, survival, and the human psyche's complexity. Hutchison's exploration of the consequences of trauma is both powerful and sensitive, and she does an excellent job of conveying the complexities of the survivors' emotional journey. Overall, "The Roses of May" is a worthy successor to "The Butterfly Garden" and a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers. The novel is well-written, thought-provoking, and emotionally resonant, and will leave readers thinking about the characters and their experiences long after the final page has been turned.

As with "The Butterfly Garden" (the first book in this series), I won't regurgitate the story plot because that is the same as repeating the synopsis on the book jacket. Which is something I never read anyway because that just reveals too much of the story, and I like to be surprised as I go. But like "The Butterfly Garden" this book is so well written and the story so well put together that I could hardly put it down, often reading well into the night till I could see the faint glow of morning. Dot Hutchinson has a true gift. I could feel everything she meant me to feel, see the things she described so well, understand the characters and their personalities as if I'd known them personally. I'm off to start the next book in this series. I'm hoping it is equally as spellbinding.

After having read The Butterfly Garden, I’m saddened to say that I did not like this second installment of the Collector Series, as much as I loved the very first book. In fact, this book read like another author entirely wrote it and wasn’t quite sure as to what went on in the first book? So disappointing to say the least. Roses of May gave the reader a glimpse into what happened to the victims of the Gardener. Actually, when a book is that good, we often wonder what happened to victims, especially if the book is written in a series, and I felt that Hutchison did a great job in developing the characters more openly in this one. Suffice it to say, many of the Gardener’s victims didn’t fair too well after what they endured at his sick and twisted hand. However, there’s a new sicko in this novel going around murdering young women that do not fall under what he describes as being a “good girl.” This is where you’ll find Priya Sravasti enter our story. Her sister fell victim to this new killer. Priya was haunted by her sister’s death. Unfortunately, this was about as much excitement as I could get from this story. I can’t quite put my finger on the issue. The only word that comes to mind is boooring!!! I was bored out of my mind with this story. It didn’t have any excitement that made me want to invest in any of the victim’s stories. I felt Priya’s sister’s story didn’t help matters any. It felt as though it was an afterthought really. I was highly disappointed in this story, especially since the first book was a five-star read. I have no idea what happened with this story, but it was not nearly as good as the first. And knowing there’s a third book in the installment, makes me a little on the fence about reading. I don’t want to feel the way this story made me feel. There really wasn’t any appeal to it at all. The story just dragged on delving into the same issues throughout with the victims and Priya’s sister. There were some similarities, but none that really made me feel we needed to keep reading about. The bottom line is the story fell real flat and it seemed as though Hutchinson just threw this together to get to her third and final story in the Collectors series, or perhaps I’m completely off base? Not sure, but what I do know for sure, I did not like this story at all. It was boring and didn’t focus enough on the new killer. It’s a real shame because the first book was so good that I wished Hollywood would make a movie out of it. This installment we could have done away with. I pray the third book is a lot better than this one?

Love this series, this was another great read but unfortunately I knew who the killer was from the beginning. I am one of those true crime types that can easily predict outcomes though, so if your not you probably won’t guess it. Defiantly worth the read anyways!

The first in the series..The Butterfly Garden.. was powerful, getting. This book was a follow up...interwoven with the first but on its own..it lacked something.

Go read Butterfly Garden and then come back and read this. Thank me later! If you like strong female characters who are complex and moral all at once, you'll love these. These books are like nothing I've ever read before

... the Butterfly Girls thriller. Who hopes so will not get what they want. BuT there are a lot of correlations. This is a new case about a serial killer and I had at the beginning really some difficulty to understand the facts. Which were about a very devious serial murdeter, leaving behind every year in springtime a slayed and sometimes even abused girl, with a very special bouquet of flowers. He wants them to remain pure, so he kills them. He finds them impure, so he kills them, too. No choice for those poor teenage girls. Now someone is stalking and posing the flowers once dedicated to the murdered girls at the door of the Teen sister of a victim. But she has the FBI on her side. Sure, there are a lot of short stories about the Butterflies, but that is not in the centre of THIS Serial-Killer's story. An interesting crime story, with some personal threads to the first Collector thriller. But this time I knew about the possible culprit about a bit of the half of the book, so sorry. But is always a well written sequel and now I really want to read the ending of the story about this Collector. Who is still alive in a Hospital bed, waiting to be accused and trialed for the cruelties and deaths of numerous teenagers. A very special "hobby" he cultivated for more than 25 years...

In love!

A brilliant read. An excellent extension to the stories of Inara and the rest of the girls while tying in the second case for the Quintico Three.