Book three in this series by Dot Hutchinson was absolutely intense and I should have been prepared for the roller coaster it took me on but I wasn’t.

When Agent Mercedes Ramirez finds an abused young boy on her porch, covered in blood and clutching a teddy bear, she has no idea that this is just the beginning. He tells her a chilling tale: an angel killed his parents and then brought him here so Mercedes could keep him safe.

His parents weren’t just murdered. It was a slaughter—a rage kill like no one on the Crimes Against Children team had seen before. But they’re going to see it again. An avenging angel is meting out savage justice, and she’s far from through.

Book two in this dark and twisted series wasn’t quite what I expected. When I learned there were more books in the series I thought we’d get to see more about the victims from book one as they move through their court case. Instead, we are sticking with agents Brandon Eddison, Victor Hanoverian, and Mercedes Ramirez which, I’m not complaining about. We learn about another young woman, Priya Sravasti and the challenges she and her mother are facing years after the murder of her sister.

I know what you’re all thinking-Another thriller? Yes, of course. Why? I couldn’t resist the synopsis or the draw of the series.

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…

Holy crap. And yes, there should be a GIGANTIC trigger warning across this book, if you haven’t already caught on to that by way of the synopsis.

I admit it was a bit of a tough read, given the subject matter but the mystery behind the Gardner, the women in the garden and the survivor Maya kept me turning the pages quickly.

The story was a bit weird at times, given that the information about the Garden was told in flashbacks and that the story was broken up by Maya’s interrogation. I will not say this book was perfect and I know there were parts that were difficult to believe but at the same time I was so deep in the story that I couldn’t find my way out. When I finished book one I bought the rest of the books in the series and dove right in. Probably not the best sign of mental stability to read about crime as much as I do, but oh well!

If you like crime, thrillers and mysteries and can stomach some harsh details you will enjoy this book and series.