The Summer Children by Dot Hutchinson is the third book in The Collector series.
When Agent Mercedes Ramirez finds an abused child on her porch, clutching a teddy bear and saying her name, she has no idea that the trouble is only beginning. This angel is killed the parents of abused children and she isn’t just killing them, she is slaughtering them and making the children watch.
Ramirez and the rest of her team must stop this angel before her murders turn into a spree. But one by one children keep appearing on her doorstep with the same story of an avenging angel with a teddy bear.
As the case opens old scars for Ramirez, spirals into her past and begins to question her actions. Can she and her team must catch this killer before it is too late for everyone?
I don’t know how I am a year behind on this series because I loved the first two books. The Butterfly Garden was dark and had an interesting narrative. Roses of May brought back a few of our characters with a whole new serial killer and this new one we really get to see the team at work. That was one of the things I really liked about this one, the team. It was really nice to get a closer look at the agents and see why each of them went into Crimes Against Children. And seeing how close they are and how they come together to get past the “bad days,” brings a light to a pretty dark theme.
I know I said this in my reviews of the first two books but one of the things I like most about this series is that the rape and abuse happens almost abstractly. We are being told it has happened, we don’t actually “watch” is happen and I appreciate that.
I do wish I wasn’t so lazy and that I looked up the Spanish that was spoken throughout. The one time I did, it totally added to the story. Sigh. Just didn’t want to take myself out of the moment to look the lines up.
Another high 4 stars for me. Annnnd because I waited so long, I get to read the last one right away!
That’s all for now!
-M-