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The Butterfly Clues [Hardcover]

Kate Ellison
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 14, 2012
“Fascinating. Ellison has the art of page-turning down flat, and readers will be swept up by both the terror—and the romance.”
Booklist, Starred Review
 
“This book casts a spell over its readers.”—SLJ, Starred Review
 
“An engaging mystery starring a teen girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder. A pleasing mix of realism, tension, intrigue and romance.”
Kirkus Reviews

“ . . . a strong, twisty thriller of a debut . . . [with] a complex and memorable heroine.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Lo’s relationship with the mysterious street boy who calls himself Flynt, layered on top of her almost supernatural loneliness and helpless compulsions, gives the novel an otherworldly quality.”—VOYA
 
“A debut worth picking up. Stark and realistic.”—RTBooks


Penelope (Lo) Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things. Her dad's consulting job means she's grown up moving from one rundown city to the next, and she's learned to cope by collecting (sometimes even stealing) quirky trinkets and souvenirs in each new place--possessions that allow her to feel at least some semblance of home.

But in the year since her brother Oren's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous obsession. She discovers a beautiful, antique butterfly pendant during a routine scour at a weekend flea market, and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as "Sapphire"--a girl just a few years older than Lo. As usual when Lo begins to obsess over something, she can't get the murder out of her mind.

As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues," with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld much closer to home than she ever imagined--a world, she'll ultimately discover, that could hold the key to her brother's tragic death.

Also available in simultaneous e-book edition (ISBN 978-1-60684-268-3)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

* “Fascinating. Ellison has the art of page-turning down flat, and readers will be swept up by both the terror—and the romance.”
—Booklist Starred Review 
 
*“This book casts a spell over its readers.”—SLJ Starred Review
 
“An engaging mystery starring a teen girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder. A pleasing mix of realism, tension, intrigue and romance.”
—Kirkus Reviews


“ . . . a strong, twisty thriller of a debut . . . [with] a complex and memorable heroine.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Lo’s relationship with the mysterious street boy who calls himself Flynt, layered on top of her almost supernatural loneliness and helpless compulsions, gives the novel an otherworldly quality.”—VOYA
 
“A debut worth picking up. Stark and realistic.”—RTBooks
 
Poignant and haunting.  A gorgeously written debut.”—Lynn Weingarten, author of Wherever Nina Lies and The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers
 
“A clever mystery, an unlikely romance, an edge-of-your-seat thriller and one of the most wonderful books I’ve read. Here’s the only clue you need—read this book and be amazed.”
—Charles Benoit, author of You and Fall from Grace
 
“With startling insights, lyrical prose, and relentless tension, Butterfly Clues is a courageous, extraordinary first novel.”—Heidi Ayarbe, IRA-winning author of Freeze Frame
 
“A stunning and intricately woven debut novel.”—The Princess of Storyland
 
A heartfelt mystery with a great, intrepid lead character.” —Jessie, bibliophile... anonymous

“I could not put it down simply because of the sheer beauty of [Kate Ellison's] writing.
—Tia, The Undead Unicorn
 
“The plot is tightly wound and the story is very compelling. If you are looking for a good mystery, I highly recommend this one.”—Booktwirps
 
“Extremely refreshing and interesting and honestly, really really really good.”
—Valen, The Readers Heartstring
 
“How on earth do I explain to you how much I loved The Butterfly Clues? It seems like anything I say just won't be enough. This book is amazing.”—Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
 

About the Author

Kate Ellison trained as an actor in Chicago and has walked across the entire country of Spain. She is a painter and jewelry maker. Kate lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Butterfly Clues is her first novel.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: EgmontUSA (February 14, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 9781606842638
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606842638
  • ASIN: 1606842633
  • Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #842,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

I really liked the way this was written and the main characters. K. Knight  |  11 reviewers made a similar statement
Even if Lo wasn't a character I liked, Flynt certainly was. Literary Meanderings  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Riveting psychology/so-so mystery February 9, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison has some very distinctive elements that appealed to me, chief of them an obsessive-compulsive/kleptomaniac protagonist, "Lo." Written from a first person POV, the parts where the narrative delves deep into Lo's obsessive rituals, worries, fears, and compulsions are the most impressive. Lo's condition is one that I haven't seen before in young adult so in this psychological aspect The Butterfly Clues stands out in a very crowded genre.

"Here's the thing: I don't choose to take things. I have to. I've always had to do certain things, since the day I turned seven and began to insist that I wanted to stray six. I didn't know why, but seven felt off, somehow, made me feel like the world was tilting too much to one side. It wasn't so bad at first. Just little things--like the way the food looked on my plate, or needing to eat peas before chicken, or needing to put the left shoe on before the right. I started taking little things---a toothbrush or a candy bar from a store, discarded ticket stubs from the movie theater, stickers from the kids at school.

"But since Oren disappeared, it has gotten worse. A lot worse. Now, when the urge comes on, it's like this superhuman force that grips my body and won't let go until I have the thing I've spotted, the thing I need. And it's not the taking or the stealing I crave, it's the having and the keeping. Forever. With me. Safe."

When The Butterfly Clues begins, Lo is in the throes of her disorder. Although the narrative hints that her brother's, Oren's, disappearance over a year ago precipitated her condition into manifesting as full blown kleptomania and hoarding, the reader is kept in suspense as to what exactly happened. Only the aftermath is apparent: a stressed out, absent father; a heavily sedated mother; and Lo, a daughter left helpless and alone in the grip of her own demons. The exposition is subtly and expertly revealed, along with the parallel story of who killed Sapphire.

Mirroring Lo's free fall into her obsessive-compulsive ways is her descent into the underworld of drug addicts, runaways, thieves, and strip clubs called "Neverland." Ellison balances its allure, in the form of a free spirit, Flynt, with its dangers, such as Sapphire's murder. I was intrigued with Lo's exploration of Neverland and charmed by Flynt; however, I was frustrated by how Ellison depicted Lo's clumsy and unrealistic investigation of the murder, which involved posing (while underage) as a stripper in a nightclub, interrogating other strippers, finding evidence in plain view which the cops apparently did not locate. I knew who the killer was the moment he/she came on the scene.

As a mystery/thriller, The Butterfly Clues, was not very compelling; it fares better as a psychological portrait of a teenage girl trying to cope with tragedy while battling OCD.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Hobbitsies Reviews: Original and captivating February 14, 2012
Format:Hardcover
I have no idea why I put off reading The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison for so long. Because once I started it, I thought The Butterfly Clues was truly and wonderfully beautiful.

It's so rare to find a protagonist who isn't just weird-yet-still-endearing, but actually, truly, probably..I don't want to say crazy, but maybe just that their world doesn't make sense to us. We rarely read a book from the point of view of someone who thinks so differently. And The Butterfly Clues was just that - I couldn't necessarily understand Lo's sense of purpose in the collection of objects, but I was able to emphasize with her overall.

And the loss of her brother and her family's way of dealing with the grief - it broke me. Lo's treatment of her brother's room and her dad's reactions...I just thought The Butterfly Clues was such an interesting look at the grieving process and so heartbreaking.

Other than Lo, one of the main reasons The Butterfly Clues appealed to me is because I am such a huge fan of the mystery-solving-sleuthing teens. I love a good teen mystery - I must have read a billion and twelve Nancy Drew as a teenager book. And The Butterfly Clues? Has a damn good mystery, if I do say so myself. I did not solve it AT ALL (except for one teeny tiny thing I guessed at) and rather than feeling stupid, I was sucked in - I had to know who killed Sapphire, I had to know how Lo figured it out, etc.

The writing, also, was beautiful. Kate Ellison's writing really allowed us to get inside Lo's head and even though I don't have the same urges as her, the way she was written made her so real.

Overall, I loved The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison. I thought it was a beautifully written story with an intriguing mystery and I loved trying to solve it with Lo.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Spooky February 14, 2012
By K. Sowa
Format:Hardcover
This book was different. The first thing you realize is that Penelope (Lo) has severe and untreated OCD. Her world has fallen apart since the death of her brother and she finds refuge in the many different routines and rituals she performs every day. She clings to them as the only stable thing in her life. I felt so badly for her and since the book is told from her viewpoint, you really get a sense for her need to count or say certain things as she goes through her daily tasks. However, as she embarks on this quest to solve a murder, her compulsions seem to keep her brave and give her the strength to do things that would otherwise be completely insane for a teenager from the suburbs.

The story straddles the world between realism and something with a touch of the unseen. At some point you get the impression that her OCD actually gives her some insight into things she couldn't possibly know otherwise. Her romance with Flynt, the street artist, was sweet and unusual, much like their characters. Within the element of the paranormal, is the story of Lo's family and their deep and intense sadness. I think that's what saved the book for me. As she is taking huge risks to solve this mystery, her mother is non-functional and her dad is trying very hard to keep the family together in some way. Their grief is intense and you definitely get the sense that Lo wishes, more than anything, that things could go back to the way they were before everything fell apart. The ending was bittersweet and realistic, which really worked well with the rest of the story. I give Kate Ellison a lot of credit for depicting Lo's OCD and her powerlessness against it in a very realistic and sympathetic way.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Haunting
he Butterfly Clues was a surprisingly entertaining read. With a uniquely tortured yet vibrant main character and an atmospheric setting, the words sucked me into Lo's world. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Emily
5.0 out of 5 stars Tap, Tap, Tap...Banana!
This is the second book I've read by Kate Ellison (See review of her newly released Notes from Ghost Town), and I was not disappointed! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Bitsy Bling Books
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Quick book. Good angles to a possibly predictable plot. Words paint amazing pictures of a girl's mind and her surroundings.
Published 2 months ago by Tara Sullivan
2.0 out of 5 stars I Could Not Get Into This...
`The Butterfly Clues' looked intriguing, but I'll come out and say now that I did not finish it. I felt no sympathy for the heroine. Read more
Published 4 months ago by StarReviewer
4.0 out of 5 stars A Little Hard to Follow, but still interesting!
What I Liked: 1) Flynt. I liked Flynt, with his mysterious ways. He was funny, but mysterious, and just kind of interesting to be around. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Courtney @ Fuzzy.Coffee.Books
5.0 out of 5 stars Gah! I LOVE This Book
THE BUTTERFLY CLUES by Kate Ellison sat on my bookshelf forever. At first, I couldn't remember why I'd been drawn to it in the first place. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Alien Lurker
4.0 out of 5 stars An engrossing story
I'll admit it - I first wanted to read this book because of the cover alone. In a sea of books with covers full of pretty girls in elegant dresses, this book stood out. Read more
Published 8 months ago by BookPortrait
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting combination of mental illness and mystery.
All and all I enjoyed The Butterfly Clues. The author does a good job of moving the story forward at a reasonable pace while withholding enough information to keep you turning... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Rebecca Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling page turner for this reluctant mystery reader!
First, a big thank you to Egmont USA and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Kary
3.0 out of 5 stars I would have liked more mystery and less OCD
Penelope "Lo" Marin has always liked order. Since her brother's death Lo has needed more than her rituals to bring order to the chaos of day-to-day life. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Miss Print
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