The second novel in The Collector Series by Dot Hutchison is The Roses of May and it is just as enthralling as the first book in the series, The Butterfly Garden. The four book series follows three FBI agents: Eddison, Vic, and Ramirez through different gruesome and unforgettable crimes while also tying in their own personal lives. In The Roses of May, the reader follows Priya Sravasti, a stubborn, bright, and mouthy girl whose sister was murdered and the killer was never found. The FBI believe that Priya’s sister was murdered by a serial killer who kills young girls in churches and leaves hundreds of flowers behind surrounding the victim, each one different for every girl. Hutchison uses the same police procedural vibes along with crime and thriller elements that makes The Collector Series so unique and unlike anything else in the genre.
Hutchison’s voice for Priya and Inara (the main character in The Butterfly Garden) are very similar so it is clear that Hutchison likes to create strong female characters who like to do things their way. The reader also gets to meet Priya’s mother Deshani who is just as stubborn as Priya and is incredibly protective of her daughter. Priya’s character is very unique and what is so neat about her is that Hutchison lays her flaws out for the reader to see, and Priya isn’t ashamed to discuss those flaws. Priya has a binge eating disorder where she will eat anything and everything until she is sick and will continue to do so even after she’s become sick. Deshani does her best to help Priya when these episodes happen and is a loving and supportive mother when they do. Priya talks about how the kind of pain she feels from gorging herself makes sense so she does this when she is upset about her sister’s death. Hutchison intertwines the characters from the first and second book so well, bringing in elements from The Butterfly Garden while also keeping The Roses of May its own story. Inara and Priya become friends and the relationship between everyone is beginning to develop. It will be interesting to watch these relationships flourish over the next two books.
The Roses of May was more of a slow burn than its predecessor The Butterfly Garden, which at times can make it feel like things are dragging on. The story overall felt more drawn out in The Roses of May whereas The Butterfly Garden was compact and fast paced. Even though the story moved along with a lot of different things happening, it felt very slow until the last section in the book. What is so neat about Hutchison’s writing is that she chooses such lovely imagery to describe such heinous crimes. In The Butterfly Garden, she used butterflies as the main image, which is normally so beautiful and innocent. In The Roses of May, there are flowers, yet another innocent and lovely image and turned it into something brutal. This paradox is so lovely yet so chilling, and Hutchison does a wonderful job at making something incredibly terrible have this hint of beauty to it. The Collector Series so far is a very unique story in a genre that can feel overdone. Hutchison’s prose and use of imagery has created a hauntingly beautiful world that you want to both escape to and escape from.
The Roses of May is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore!
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Four months after the explosion at the Garden, a place where young women known as the Butterflies were kept captive, FBI agents Brandon Eddison, Victor Hanoverian, and Mercedes Ramirez are still entrenched in the aftermath, helping survivors in the process of adjusting to life on the outside. With winter coming to an end, the Butterflies have longer, warmer days of healing ahead. But for the agents, the impending thaw means one gruesome thing: a chilling guarantee that somewhere in the country, another young woman will turn up dead in a church with her throat slit and her body surrounded by flowers.
Priya Sravasti’s sister fell victim to the killer years ago. Now she and her mother move every few months, hoping for a new beginning. But when she ends up in the madman’s crosshairs, the hunt takes on new urgency. Only with Priya’s help can the killer be found—but will her desperate hope for closure compel her to put her very life on the line?
