Follow The Butterfly

Clarissa Virtanen may be a psychotherapist by profession, but she is almost a celebrity in her own right. Appearing in magazines and newspaper interviews with tiresome regularity, she is known for her sexy dress sense and wild girl image.

Nevertheless, you would be mistaken in thinking she lacks depth - not least when it comes to her genuine devotion and diligence in treating her patients. Clarissa is willing to go to great lengths to help those she believes to be at risk for suicide, in particular.

So, when a young woman named Ida - an apparent suicide risk - becomes one of her newest clients, Clarissa makes a deal whereby Ida promises to hold back from hurting herself for at least six months, so that she has a real chance to benefit from therapy.

But is Ida being truthful about what her problems really are?

Well, in a word, no. Because Ida is a prolific and unrepentant serial killer, and her reasons for coming to Clarissa have very little to do with any risk of self-harm...

This is a dark and twisted tale which will keep readers enthralled. Ida is, as you might suspect, not a very likeable character. But she is quite a fascinating one, nevertheless. The other characters in the story are also well-drawn, so overall, this is a quite engrossing read.

I really enjoyed this book, ‘Follow The Butterfly’ debut novel by Finnish journalist and author Marta Kaukokonen which has been translated into numerous languages and the rights sold to to tv companies.
The story is told by four people, Ida (a psychotherapist), Clarissa (Ida’s latest patient, who is a serial killer), Pekka (Ida’s husband) and Arto (an alcoholic journalist). All four of them have their own sections and was very hard to work out who, if any were unreliable narrators. My interests were kept throughout, trying to work out the pieces of the puzzle, and I did not work it all out until the final reveal.
Recommend this for anyone who would like something different from the usual books within the mystery thriller category.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.