I could say this is a story of how FBI Special Agent Victor Hanoverian works a case, but it’s not. Hanoverian provides a frame work in which this story is told. The doctors have told him his victim is between 16 and 22. She calls herself Maya, although he is certain that is not her real name. Although her fingers are badly injured, she doesn’t need to stay in the hospital as the other victims do. Already there are a lot of questions with more to come. However, this is part of the intrigue in this book. Fortunately, all will be answered.
Maya hasn’t had an easy life. At six, her parents put her on a carousel and walked away. Actually, that may have been the first of many tough steps that eventually give her the strength to survive living in the Butterfly Garden. Being kidnapped when one is sure there is nothing to fear blows a huge hole in feeling secure ever again. She awakens very frightened and surprised she’s in the care of a very pretty young woman by the name of Lyonette. She explains to Maya how the Garden operates and the general expectations for the first week. She is given a little something in her dinner to keep her docile. After the first week she awakens and meets the man called the Gardener. Each new girl receives a special tattoo by the Gardener which takes quite some time and at the finish he provides her with a new name. And she begins her new life in the Butterfly Garden.
This is a fascinating story of Maya and the many girls she comes to know who all live in the Garden. How Maya comes to be chosen for kidnapping is such a circumstance of wrong place, wrong time. Anyone could have been chosen but they were not and she was. Her new home is full of women who are damaged physically and psychologically. During her life in the Garden she develops as a leader for the women and sometimes can influence the Gardener in a way that benefits everyone. Maya is not a woman who gives up, although many of the women do succumb to their torturous lifestyle.
This is a story that I read in just a few days and it’s not a little book. The author wraps her story around the characters in such an engrossing manner that I was anxious to find the salvation that I hoped would be at the ending. This story has stayed with me for some time and I expect it to endure.
The Ratings:
- Genre and general reading age – Truthfully, I suspect this could fall under more than one genre, however, I have chosen Suspense, because that is how it affected me. As for reading age, I believe it will take an adult to catch and understand many of the nuances.
- Level of sexuality – High
- Is there graphic language? Yes.
- Did I cry? No
- Did I laugh? No
- Is this part of a series? No.
- Level of character development: Excellent development.
As you can already tell, I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
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