The Summer Children is the 3rd and final installment of The Collector series. I have been waiting for it to come out, and I was not disappointed. This series has been fantastic from the beginning. Each book had a different story and was great from beginning to end. This one was no different. Great character development, and even included characters from The Butterfly Garden. Characters that seemed real, like you would meet in real life, both good and bad. The storyline, even though a sensitive subject, was very good and interesting. I love the way Dot Hutchison writes and the stories she has come up with. I am sorry to see this series end, but hopefully another one will begin soon. I highly recommend this book, along with the other 2 books in the series.

THIS BOOK!!!!

Look this book was all I expected it to be. I could not put it down and the phone last 3rd of the book my heart was racing as I devoured it piece by piece.

I did not read the second book in this series and I did not feel like I was missing anything.

Mercedes Ramirez was everything you needed in a main character. Most everything I want to share about this book would totally be a spoiler. If you read Butterfly Garden and loved it as I did you will not be disappointed.

Wow, I did not expect The Summer Children to be such a fabulous conclusion to The Collector Series trilogy! Dot Hutchison is an extremely talented author and she does a phenomenal job writing chilling, horror-filled thrillers that leave you on the edge of your seat. This book was most certainly a page-turner that kept me reading late into the night until the very end.

Just like Hutchison's 2nd book, The Roses of May, book three is not a direct sequel to either book one or two. It has a completely unrelated and horrifying case for the original FBI team that we met in The Butterfly Garden to solve (now with the addition of Agent Sterling who we met in book two and now has been promoted to lead the team in book three), and the novel's personal focus this time is on Agent Ramirez where in book one the focus was on Vic when dealing with the victims--the "Butterflies" and in book two, it was on Eddison and his relationship with Priya, the target of an insane serial killer.

This time, the story is much more personal as Agent Mercedes Ramirez comes home one night with her date to find a young boy, covered in blood, waiting for her on her front porch. He says an "angel" killed his parents while making him watch then told him Ramirez would keep him safe. This is just the beginning of abused children showing up at Ramirez's door after the "angel" slaughters their parents and tells them Ramirez will protect them.

Not only is the new case about looking for a vigilante in the guise of an angel killing abusive parents and delivering those children to Ramirez for protection, but it's about learning more about Ramirez and her past. Why is the angel so sure that Ramirez will keep the children safe? Is there some connection between the two woman and if so, what? These are questions that need to be answered, and Hutchison does a wonderful job keeping the reader engaged and captivated by her excellent characters and well-written story as the agents search for the answers to these questions and race to stop a killer.

While the book was a very difficult read at times with the topics of child abuse (physical and emotional), child molestation, rape, and child neglect, which of course are triggers for many, including myself, the way Hutchison focuses on the more personal and emotional side of Ramirez and how she relates to the crimes, explores her past (why she became an FBI agent and why saving children is her personal mission), and focuses on her relationship with the rest of the team, the book is not the overwhelmingly difficult read it could be.

This really is my favorite of the three books in The Collector Series, and I thought it was a perfect ending to the trilogy although I'd love to see a book four now that we have Agent Sterling in the team. I really loved her, and I want to see what happens with the storyline that Hutchison was writing for her in book three! Also, as a huge fan of The Butterfly Garden, I was so happy to see how Hutchison entwined some of those characters, along with Priya from book two, into this story. It was wonderful to see where they were today, and the ending scenes of the book with them made me cry since I felt like there was some closure there for all of them...finally.

I highly recommend The Summer Children if you enjoy a suspense-filled, fast-paced, twisted, thrill ride with fantastic characters! It more than delivers, and I can't wait to see what Hutchison writes next!

**Thank you Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Dot Hutchison for this ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review. **

The Summer Children is the third, and final, book of The Collector Series by Dot Hutchison. I can't tell you how sad I am to see this ride come to an end. These books can be read as stand alones but you will get a fuller experience reading all of them in order.

That being said, neither book two or three came close to fascinating me the way the first book did. The Butterfly Garden blew my mind and I couldn't tell enough people about it. Books 2 and 3 were both excellent, very enjoyable, but didn't affect me nearly as much.

This story, the series conclusion, tied up things nicely. It gave more background on the progress of previous characters that was lacking (for me) in the second story.

I am sad to see this series end. I will definitely be on the lookout for more by this author!

I would like to thank the author and NetGalley for a free arc in exchange for a review. This in no way affected my opinion.

The third book of The Collector series, which focuses on the Crimes Against Children (CAC) division of the FBI and the agents working the cases. The Summer Children centered around agent Mercedes Ramirez, herself the victim of a long ago trauma, who joined the FBI and the CAC to help rescue kids like herself. Mercedes comes home from a date to find a young boy, clutching an angel teddy bear and covered in his parents blood and the next case is born. An unknown person keeps delivery bloody children clutching teddy bears to Mercedes - and telling the children that Mercedes will make sure they are safe. Who is the "angel" murdering the children's parents and how can the team - Hanoverian, Eddison, Sterling, and Ramirez - catch the killer before they go too far?

The Collector series has been incredible - Dot Hutchison knows how to draw out her characters, make them flawed and human, give them depth and motivation. The Summer Children is probably my favorite of the 3 books (The Butterfly Garden, the Roses of May, The Summer Children) and each could easily be read as a stand alone novel, but I would strongly suggest reading them all in order so you can see the subtler progression of the characters.

I have really enjoyed this trilogy. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys Criminal Minds or Karin Slaughter.

Good suspense, good characters and this villain you understand the motivation. This is definitely a series for those that want to be immersed in the cat and mouse game of a serial killer.

I was a bit disappointed with this, too much emphasis on the personal lives for me, could have been more on the actual crimes, only my opinion

Well. All I have to say about Dot Hutchison's Collector series is: nothing gold can stay.

Dark, twisted, and gripping, I thought The Butterfly Garden was altogether pretty brilliant. But Hutchison's followup novel, Roses of May, provided a starling (and in my opinion, utterly grating) tonal shift, abandoning a lot of the creepiness of the first novel and coming across as ultimately rather juvenile. I was hoping The Summer Children might bounce back and show a hint of The Butterfly Garden's greatness, but I'm afraid this had nothing to offer but more of that obnoxious fan-servicing cutesy humor that plagued Roses of May. I mean, in theory, The Summer Children should be dark. It follows FBI agent Mercedes Ramirez as she investigates a series of murders by someone who's attempting to 'rescue' children from abusive households by killing their parents. The last thing I should be thinking is 'why does this have to be so goddamn twee,' but here we are.

This kind of goes hand in hand with my criticism of the book's tone, but what's so insufferable about Roses of May and The Summer Children is how obsessed Hutchison is with her own protagonists. Sure, they're all flawed (in super palatable ways), but they're also the most competent and considerate people in the universe, and we need to be reminded of it again. and. again. There are entire scenes that serve no narrative purpose but to self-congratulate. Is it not bad enough that we have to revisit Mercedes's proclivity toward being honest with the children she works with on about twenty separate occasions, do we really have to laud it each time?

Maybe it's just me, but I like stories that dig into human imperfections - characters who say the wrong thing and can't take it back, characters who react inappropriately in dire situations, characters hurt the people they love by mistake. There is none of that here. Mercedes and her team can do no wrong, and we need to pat them on the backs every time they know exactly what someone needs at exactly the right time. And that's another thing - the found family trope is usually one of my favorites, but the way Hutchison writes it is so heavy-handed I spent most of this book cringing with secondhand embarrassment.

Speaking of cringing - this is a passage I highlighted not only because of the corny writing, but because it was probably the fourteenth or fifteenth time the word 'scar' had jumped out at me in this book. "Scars mean we survived something, even when the wounds still hurt." Anyway, so I did a search on my Kindle, and do you know how many times the word 'scar' is used? Twenty-seven. Talk about being bashed over the head.

Bottom line is that I was not the target audience here, and I ordinarily don't hold this kind of thing against the book as much as I am doing right now, but I can't help but to find it irritating that all the maturity of the first book sort of evaporated in the second two. I guess this can't technically be classified as YA as the protagonist is in her thirties, but trust me, if you do not enjoy YA, read The Butterfly Garden as a standalone and move on.

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Dot Hutchison for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

An absolutely stellar conclusion to The Collector trilogy. I quite enjoyed the return to the darkness and gore of the first book. Mercedes was a genuinely interesting character and her back story played in quite nicely. Just very properly well done.

I have positively adored this entire trilogy so much, and this was the perfect conclusion, even if I am sad to see it draw to a close. While the books do not follow the exact same plot line and probably could be read as stand-alones if you so desired, I do strongly recommend reading them in their publication order!

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was afraid of change. She went out bravely into the world anyway.

If you’ve read these books before, you may remember that book 1 centered on Vic, and book 2 centered on Eddison; in book 3, we finally get to see things through the eyes of Mercedes Ramirez, the 3rd FBI agent in the original trio. Not only do we get to spend more time with the gang, we also get to know Agent Sterling much better, as the events in book 2 led to her being promoted to join the team in book 3. With that backstory out of the way, let me say that—while I love Vic and Eddison to no end—Ramirez had my single favorite perspective of each of the books.

If you were afraid of something in the light, wasn’t it just good sense to be more afraid of it in the dark?

Mercedes Ramirez has been an FBI agent for nearly a decade, but we didn’t learn much about her in the first two installments, aside from the fact that she is Latinx, a lesbian, and has a very personal stake in the business of saving children from their assailants and abductors. In this book, we slowly get to piece together why Ramirez’s job means so much to her—aside from just the comfort of knowing she saved these poor kids—and it’s a rough ride, but a worthwhile one.

It’s one of his gifts: let me distract you, let me fill the silence for you, until you decide there’s something you need to say.

We also get to see a brand new side of Eddison, which I loved; through Vic’s POV, he’s the team clown, and through his own POV, he’s a very serious, older-brother type, but through Ramirez’s eyes, we find the true Eddison, which is something right in the middle. He’s so caring and a total teddy bear, but he’s also fiercely protective, and I loved getting to know him more.

I suppose if you’re the guardian at the gates for a dragon, you can’t help but be pleased when she roars.

I also was delighted to see Sterling come into her own as a character, though it made me a little bit sad that, so far, this is confirmed to be the final book, because now I can’t help but want Sterling to get a POV in a 4th book, too! She’s such a delight and is absolutely brilliant while subverting a tremendous number of gender roles and expectations, and I thought she was a stellar addition to the team.

“I honestly don’t know if you’ve seen Vic when he’s about to rain down fire and destruction.”

Of course, last but not least is Vic, who has taken on a management role but is still incredibly hands-on and more than capable of taking care of his agents, who are practically his kids in every sense but the biological one. He’s always been my favorite because I’m a sucker for the “father” figures in heavy books like this, and he plays the spot perfectly.

In the same breath that people abhor those who break the law, they also love vigilantes with an appealing cause.

As with the first two books, trigger warnings are heavy-handed for this story: sexual assault, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child neglect, child abuse, child death, the list goes on. It’s a tough one to read at times, but the exchanges in between with the agents leaning on one another for support are enough to keep it from feeling overwhelming most of the time. The action never stops, and as someone who is finicky about my thrillers and typically doesn’t like crime thrillers at all, I don’t say this lightly: Dot Hutchison weaves the perfect balance of action, suspense, mystery, and character development to always keep my interest. At this point, I’d read anything she releases, and I cannot recommend this series highly enough!

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Thomas & Mercer for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is the third book in the "Butterfly Garden" series. The first book was AMAZING, so if you haven't read it, jump on it right away. Mercedes Ramirez is an FBI agent that had a horrible past. As an agent in the Crimes Against Children division of the FBI, she sees the worst of the worst kinds of crime. One day she comes home to a child on her porch who is bloody and traumatized. He watched an "angel" kill his parents. The angel rescued him from them and told him that he would now be safe with Agent Ramirez. This is a pretty fast paced novel that is hard to put down. However, there are many trigger warnings, so you might want to have a strong stomach to read about the abuse these children encountered. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

WoW, WoW, WoW..........If I could give The Summer Children by Dot Hutchison "10 stars" I would.
This is the third book in this series and I found this book just took my breathe away. So beautifully written throughout. It was my favourite of the series.
This was an excellent wrap up to the trilogy. Just Brilliant

Dot Hutchison is a fantastic author and looking forward reading more from her.

I highly recommend the series and will be read again in the future.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am A huge fan of Hutchison. Butterfly Garden was one of my favorite psychological thriller books. Although I enjoyed Roses of May and Summer Children, I didn't think they lived up to Butterfly Garden's legacy. The connection to characters and plot seemed forced. Hutchison' writing is exceptional and fast paced. The storyline was easy to follow and flowed nicely but Summer Children was more of a Detective Crime Thriller than a Psychological Thriller.

Dot Hutchison is my girl. Not only is she a brilliant writer, she releases her books on NetGalley to readers WITHOUT approval. You read that right folks! NO approval required. A lady of the people, how can you not be obsessed with this woman?!?

The Collector series is delectably dark and twisted. For some, this is a major appeal. The wrong just seems so right in her stories. I've eaten this series up. However, The Summer Children, lacked something for me. But to be fair, my standards for this woman are high, her previous novels were home runs. And you can't win them all.

The Summer Children synopsis was enticing as hell. But the execution just wasn't what I had anticipated. I felt like the story wasn't nearly as exciting as the previous. It was decent. But my high set standard weren't met. And maybe that is more on me. If you don't expect too much, you won't be let down. And I was expecting much.

I think Dot Hutchison has a great handle on presenting character point of views that truly differentiate and resemble each character through each novel. The 2nd story in the series was from Eddison's point of view. I believe I was reading a story from a man's point of view. With this one, Mercedes' point of view was handled in such a different way. This story was much more emotionally driven, which is true for many females. I just really appreciate Dot's ability to write from diverse point of views.

Overall, I don't think there was anything wrong with the book. I just had high hopes and that weren't quite met. Is it a decent story? Yes. Is it as good as the previous ones? Not for me. BUT....I am only one reader, so try it out for yourself.

And for the record, if there is a forth installment, you bet your ass I will read it!

Shout out to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I really enjoyed all three books in this series. They aren't so intertwined that you have to read them in order which is nice. If you enjoyed the first two you will like this one but if you haven't read the others this works as a standalone too.

I think it’s unfair to rate any of the author’s follow up novels since The Butterfly Garden set the bar sky high. It will always be one of my favorite horror/thrillers. It is always nice to see characters from the previous two novels visit, but I also enjoyed getting to know new characters as well. Very feminist and female centered characters and storyline.

I really enjoyed this book. The first book in the trilogy is one of my favorite books ever, the second fell short in my opinion, and this third one really stepped up to bring everything full circle.

The detectives from the first book are back and one in particular keeps having bloody children with teddy bears show up on her door step, because an angel told them they'd be safe with her. Nearly everyone in the book has a traumatic past which made for an interesting and eye opening read. The book can be read as a stand alone and enjoyed, but there is a lot of reference to the first book, so I'd recommend reading that first (plus it's AWESOME). The one (small) thing that I would critique is that there were a lot of Spanish phrases throughout the book, which I don't mind in general because I have a basic understanding of the language, but I did have to stop reading and go to google translate about 5 times to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book. #netgalley #thesummerchildren

Book 3 did not disappoint! I LOVED the Butterfly Garden and was really excited for Roses of May, however, I felt that book fell a little short. My expectations were a little lower for The Summer Children after the 2nd book, but it was so good! The subject matter is a little heavy at times but the story flows nicely. I love the inclusion of characters from the previous books as well. Can we get a book 4?

This is the third and final book in The Collector trilogy so, to get the best from it, it is best to have read the first two, The Butterfly Garden and The Roses of May, first. You could, at a push, read all three books as stand alones as the main stories are self contained, but there is a running theme and crossover character inclusion and development to be had throughout the trilogy so I really would recommend reading in order.
In this book, we feature on FBI Agent Mercedes Ramirez and the work she does for the Crimes Against Children division. She arrives home on day after a date with her partner to find a child one her doorstep. A child who is covered in blood and clutching a teddy bear. A child who tells her that an angel killed his parents and then dropped him off at her house where she would be safe. She calls it in and the child is taken to hospital and his house searched whereupon the bodies of his parents are indeed found, slaughtered.
And then another child turns up, and another. On investigation, it is believed that the "angel" is indeed trying to save these children as all appear to have suffered some kind of abuse. Of course, this doesn't justify the brutal way in which these abusers are punished. But to find out who is committing these most heinous crimes, the FBI have to figure out why it is to Mercedes that the unsub delivers the children.
As with book two, the Butterflies from book one pop up in this book too. Another reason to have read that one first. They are still very close to the agents who helped save them from the garden and that link is maintained throughout this instalment too.
I really felt for Mercedes in this book as she could also have been considered a victim in this story as she was the one singled out as the safe person for the children being "saved". Not an insignificant thing and one that impacted not only on both her personal and professional lives but also provided a bit of a blow to her relationship. Obviously with dealing with crimes of the kind depicted within this book, and indeed investigated by the CAC in general, you know what you are letting yourself in for. But here the author has been very careful in including what is necessary for the story to progress without going into all the sordid details. She really has handled the crimes against the children with kid gloves. It's enough that we know what has happened without needing to spell it all out.
But honestly, it's not all doom and gloom. Far from it. Using mostly the art of camaraderie between the FBI agents, the author has managed to keep the book from getting too dark and kept it balanced. There is a real bond between all of them that is evident in the way they behave and look after each other throughout the trilogy and indeed within this book. It's also reinforced by the relationship they still have with the remaining Butterflies from book one. There's a danger that my next statement could come across as a bit twee but I do mean it when I say that they are almost like a big family, so close they have all become.
And now the sad part. This was book three of a trilogy. It's over, it's done. But I'm not ready to leave all the characters yet. I need more, I want more. I wonder what is next for the author and if she will cameo some of these characters in her subsequent books. I hope so; I'm going to miss them. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Having read the first 2 books in this trilogy, I was dying to read the third and it was spectacular! It far surpassed my expectations.

The first book was dark, the second one not so much and this one was really dark to the point of being disturbing. The subject matter was not easy to read at times but the book was written so well. I practically devoured it and couldn't put it down at all. I think it would be better to read the series in order and not start with this one, it will give some insight into the characters.

I really enjoyed it and how the series was wrapped up. I only wish there were more books after this one. I hope the author writes another series soon.