Over the past several months, Echoes has grown from a simple idea into a community of readers who gather each month to explore fiction together.
Whether we are meeting in person or online, our goal isn’t simply to finish another book. It’s about slowing down, asking better questions, and discovering why certain stories keep resonating long after we’ve turned the final page. Each month we read a different novel, share our perspectives, and explore the craft, themes, and ideas that make great stories memorable.
This September, we’re reading The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison.
It’s a dark psychological thriller built around a disturbing premise—and that makes it an interesting book for Echoes because it gives us something larger than the plot itself to talk about.
Why do readers voluntarily enter fictional worlds that frighten us, disturb us, or make us deeply uncomfortable? What makes that experience compelling rather than simply unpleasant? And what does a writer have to do to make us keep turning the pages when part of us would rather look away?
That brings us to September’s question: Why are we drawn to stories that disturb us?
– September 2026 –
!! ECHOES BOOK CLUB !!
This month, we’re reading The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison, the first novel in The Collector series.
Some stories invite us into places we would never want to visit in real life. They introduce us to people we hope never to meet and circumstances we would rather never experience. And yet, when they’re done well, we keep turning the pages.
The Butterfly Garden begins after a horrific crime has already been uncovered. A young woman known as Maya is being questioned by FBI agents about a secluded garden where young women were held captive by a man known as the Gardener. As Maya tells her story, the novel gradually reveals what happened inside the Garden and the relationships that developed among the women trapped there.
That makes this month’s novel particularly interesting for Echoes. The question isn’t simply what happened or how the story will end. We’ll also look at why a reader willingly stays inside such a disturbing story.
As you read this month, pay attention to what keeps you turning the pages. Is it the mystery? Maya’s character? The relationships between the women? The desire to understand the Gardener? The structure of the story? Or simply the need to know how everything turns out?
By the end of the month, I’d love to hear your answer to our central question:
Why are we drawn to stories that disturb us?
So, grab your copy of The Butterfly Garden, and let’s step inside the Garden.
!! NEXT MONTH’s BOOK SELECTION !!
At our next Echoes Book Club meeting in Reedsport on Wednesday, Sept 30th, 2026, we will vote on the next book to read.
- Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt
- Beautiful the Meadow — Isaac Hunter
- The Silent Patient — Alex Michaelides
The winning book will become October’s official Echoes Book Club selection.
Whether you plan to join us in Reedsport or participate online, we hope you’ll read along with us and join the conversation.
!! Join the Club !!
If you would like to join us for Isaac Hunter’s Official Echoes Book Club, use this form here.
!! IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK, YOU WILL LOVE OUR DAUGHTER !!
You can purchase the first book in the Witch Gnostic Heresies trilogy right now for a limited time up to 70% OFF, so act now while we still have copies in stock!
Check out this excerpt of Our Daughter:
“Okay, mom,” Randy said.
“You behave yourself and be nice. You’re lucky to have company while you wait for the doctors.”
The woman turned and started back the way she came.
“The nurse said it would be twenty or thirty more minutes, so we’ll eat quick and be back up here before they take you in, okay?”
“Okay, mom.”
“Sorry for him,” the woman said to Katie as she walked by.
“He’s funny.”
Katie grinned.
As the woman left, Katie noticed the boy moving around again on the bed. Before she realized what was happening, the tiny lump disappeared and she could hear the faint sound of bare hands and feet on the tile floor.
He was low crawling under the beds toward her.
A moment later, Randy popped his head out from under the nearest hospital bed, craning his neck around to look up at her.
“Hello, there,” Katie said.
Randy disappeared back under the bed, the bed sheet draping down almost to the floor. Katie could still see three little fingers pressed to the tile.
“What are you here for?” Katie asked, readjusting her seat in the chair, trying to get the ache in her chest to lessen.
For whatever reason, the wheelchair was really uncomfortable.
“Why are – “
Randy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he looked around.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m getting my leg fixed,” Katie said. “See?”
Randy poked his head back out from under the bed and looked at the leg she was pointing to.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The doctor said it’s broken,” Katie said. “Shattered.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. Ouch.”
“Can you feel it?” Randy asked, able to stay out from his hiding place.
“I can feel it, but it’s not too bad,” Katie said, then tapped the IV in her arm. “This thing is giving me medicine of some kind for the pain. At least that’s what the nurses said.”
“Why are you – “
Randy stopped mid-sentence.
He scooted out from under the bed entirely and slowly crept over to er on all fours.
“What are you, some kind of spider?” Katie asked, giggling a little.
“What are you?” Randy echoed.
He was now only about a foot away from her chair and sat there, his legs folded up under him, gawking up at her.
“What are you staring at me for?”
“I’ve never – “
Randy put out a hesitant hand and ever so gently touched her arm.
“Are you some kind of ghost?”
He looked around again.
“Are you – ”
He leaned in, talking in a whisper.
“Are you dead?”
A nurse came around the corner and stopped abruptly, spotting the empty bed in the far corner where Randy should have been.
“Randy Andrews,” the nurse said, her hands now on her hips. “You get right back into the bed and you stop playing around, please. They are ready for you in surgery.”
Katie watched as Randy scrambled on all fours under the beds and back up onto his, pulling the sheet back over top of himself again.
She started to ask him about his question, but couldn’t get the words out before his parents appeared at the door.
Katie sat there quietly, watching Randy stare back at her from under his sheet. She glanced over at his parents and the nurse, noticed Randy’s dad had no hair on the top of his head.
Are you dead?
What kind of question was that?
The snap of the wheel locks being disengaged on Randy’s hospital bed jarred Katie out of the confusion she was in.
The doctor she’d first seen was now at the door, waiting for Randy.
He was his surgeon.
They wheeled Randy out of the room, his parents following right behind, disappearing to the left, heading for his operating room.
The pre-op room was empty again.
Dead.
Are you dead?
What kind of crazy question was that?
The nurse came back through the double doors.
“It won’t be long now,” she said.
“Okay.”
Katie tried not to think about the dull ache growing just behind her sternum.
The nurse disappeared around the corner as Katie watched the double doors to the operating rooms slowly shut.
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Click here and grab your copy today, and jump into this Witch Gnostic Heresy trilogy with both feet!
But, trust me when I tell you, there are deceivers in our midst! Get started in this bone chilling suspense novel right away and find out why….sometimes….you’re just better off DEAD!
!! Get Your Copy Today !!
What do you think?