2.5 - the crime/investigative aspect of the book just didn't measure up to the stories in previous books in my opinion. Over the series I certainly came to enjoy the team, but as an aside to break up the horrible crime they were investigating - this book made the team the centerpiece and the crime itself was in the background. In previous books we heard more from the victims (and even the perpetrators) but there is none of that here except for one chapter from the day Faith was taken.

I'm certainly happy we got closure for each member of the team, I just wish more justice had been done for the crime that brought them all together. ( )

What started with The Butterfly Garden is truly brought full circle by the end of the fourth book. Obviously, not everything always ends happily, but at least closure is still possible. The characters grow and become only more engaging over time, and the cases only become more personal and bring them closer together. Overall, this is definitely a series that manages to keep the momentum it has at the start, albeit one that requires caution in light of some very disturbing subject matter. ( )

This was a fast read for me, which isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. The story itself progressed rather quickly, sometimes feeling a little rushed, but it seemed to be more about the agents and Eddison's history/story in particular. So if that's what you're looking for, you're in luck. If you're looking for another Butterfly Garden, this might not be for you.
I can't exactly explain why, but this left me on the fence. On the one hand I like that we got Eddison's history and a conclusion, but on the other hand it felt a little like reading two stories at once instead of them being fully integrated and flowing together organically. I did enjoy the reading, and the thought of bailing on it never even occurred to me, it just left me wanting a little, like I just needed a little more.

** Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ** ( )

#1: The Butterfly Garden ★★★★★
#2: Roses of May ★★★
#3: The Summer Children ★★★★
#4: The Vanishing Season ★★

This review can also be found on my blog.
disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration. All of the opinions presented below are my own.

First and foremost, I need to give my thanks to Rachel who has been with me for every step of this journey (I also reread her review of The Summer Children and realized it said everything I was trying to say below, but better). By which I mean she has put up with my endless livetexting of this godforsaken novel and my incredulity whilst reading it. Which comes across as rude, but I’m not sure I would have made it through without someone to vent to.

While writing negative reviews can be freeing in a way, I’ve been dreading writing this one. I absolutely adored Dot Hutchison’s first novel in this series. The Butterfly Garden was everything I wanted in a thriller, and I was absolutely blown away by it. I could not put it down! Shortly thereafter I read The Roses of May and while my review was glowing, my star rating slowly dropped the more thought I gave to it. The Summer Children peaked in quality a bit more, but the depth of focus given to the agents’ relationships, which many had critiqued in The Roses of May, finally began to irk me. The Vanishing Season takes it to a whole other level.

The problem with these books is that they force you to completely suspend your disbelief regarding professionalism and appropriate workplace behavior. There’s a time and a place for cutesy stuff like this, but FBI agents actively working a case ain’t it. It’s to the point where I hesitate to call this a thriller, or a mystery. While the last two books at least had some sense of danger and urgency, The Vanishing Season is honestly nothing but fanservice. The tonal shift is enough to give you whiplash.

I’m not saying that books need to mirror reality perfectly and most thrillers do require you to suspend your disbelief a bit, but it would take some serious mental gymnastics to think that a law enforcement team could actually function like this without crashing and burning, or at least getting a serious talking-to from an internal affairs department. I lost track of all the things I could not believe were happening. Agent cuddle parties. They all live next to each other! Always joking about the boy being outnumbered by LOL GIRLS (realistic but annoying). Her boss kisses her on the CHEEK? Literally everyone talks about the MC looking like an 8-year-old girl constantly and I’m seriously done with women being infantilized.

Aside from that, the excess of unnecessary detail was… overwhelming. I wish I had highlighted examples as I came across them because there were so many. In instances where a sentence or two would have conveyed a process just fine, a full page is used instead. There was so much infodumping that I just didn’t understand, and it came across as the epitome of telling instead of showing.

It sucks because between all the stuff I didn’t like, there was so much promise. The crime of the week could have been so much more interesting had it been expanded on, but it became more of a background to everyone’s personal problems. There was a really interesting exploration of realizing one had been abused that would have hit so much harder if it hadn’t been crammed together with a dozen other things. I feel like this book just tried to do everything at once and ended up shooting itself in the foot because of it. It’s a bummer because we all know Dot Hutchison is an incredible writer; The Butterfly Garden was kind of a masterpiece imo. The rest of the series was just an entirely different kind of writing.

So, unfortunately this really wasn’t for me and I can’t say I recommend it in its current state -- I can only hope that some additional edits were made between the ARC and the finished copy. I guess if you’re obsessed with the characters and want to see them spend all their time goofing around or having Serious Emotional Moments together, this is the book for you. If you’re looking for an actual thriller/mystery, keep looking. ( )