If you like legal/psychological thrillers, add Sarah Pekkanen’s House of Glass to your TBR stack! Stella Hudson, a lawyer who advocates for teenagers whose parents are going through divorces, has now been asked to investigate and recommend the best situation for a much younger child. Reluctant to work with younger children, she wants to decline. but Charles, the lawyer asking her to handle the case, is the closest person she has to a father, and he insists only Stella can speak for this particular child. Rose, who does not speak, has suffered from traumatic mutism since seeing her nanny’s bloody and broken body on the patio after a fall from a third-story window on the Barclay family estate.

Stella follows procedures, meeting with both parents, the husband’s mother living in the home since failed knee surgery, Rose's piano teacher and Chinese tutor, her former school principal, the nanny’s boyfriend and best friend, and, of course, voiceless Rose, herself.

Did Tina, the nanny, commit suicide? Was she murdered? Nearly everyone, including young Rose, proves suspect. As Stella struggles to assemble the puzzle pieces, strange things begin to happen, and those frightening events combine with Stella’s own childhood memories to make her investigation increasingly difficult.

Sarah Pekkanen’s House of Glass will keep readers turning pages, wishing they had nothing to do but read to the end..

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reader egalley.

🪞Book Review 🪞

Thank you to Negalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication: August 6, 2024

Rating: I enjoyed it!

This is my second book by Sarah and I enjoyed this one more than her first. I’ve also really liked the books she cowrote with Greer.

The first part of the book went by quickly! I found myself speeding through the short chapters. The middle slowed down immensely which I found a bit frustrating, however the ending picked right back up!

This isn’t necessarily thrilling with crazy out there twists but rather a mystery that has surprises/secrets that come to light as you investigate with Stella.

🌟 Perfect for fans of:
🪞First person POV
🫙Popcorn chapters
🪞Murder mystery
🫙Sub- plot line
🪞Dysfunctional family

🌟 What to Read Next
🫙The Push by Ashley Audrain

House of Glass is narrated by a Guardian ad Litem (Stella) who either goes way above and beyond OR crosses professional boundaries and perhaps breaks the law, for the sake a of a little girl that reminds her of herself (Rose). In a household that banishes all things glass (plexiglass windows, boat-safe non-shattering mirrors, plastic glassware) after a fatal accident involving Rose's nanny, the little girl is either a target for or a perpetrator of violence. It's not immediately clear and the lives of several people will be forever changed no matter what Stella discovers as truth. She works tirelessly to uncover Rose's family's secrets...also, surprisingly, finding the time and energy to dig into her own distant past trauma.

This was a quick read for me, and it was able to keep my interest even though I had trouble connecting with Stella, mostly due to her unprofessionalism and her backstory being less compelling than the current mystery.

The narrator in the audiobook version wasn't my favorite...mostly because her soothing voice coupled with some of the longer, descriptive writing passages made it hard for me to keep focused. Also, the grandmother character was supposedly only in her 60's but she was voiced like someone in her 90's. It changed the character for me and made the elements with grandma less believable in the end.

Overall, a worthwhile thriller. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you so much to @stmartinspress @netgalley for the ARC!
4.5⭐️

🔍 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🔍
This is a gripping, suspenseful, psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat! Stella is asked to act as a best interest attorney, a child advocate, for 9 year old Rose Barclay after the death of her nanny.

Rose has been mute since her nanny’s death, and while everything looks wonderful from the outside of the Barclay estate, it’s very fragile on the inside. Parents planning on divorcing, and Rose has been collecting sharp objects, while the house has been cleared of any glass or sharp objects.

Stella’s past also comes forward as she digs into this case. Her experiences parallel some things with Rose and gives her the right knowledge on how to approach this case.

Going through this story had me on the edge of my seat! I had different guesses as to what could have happened to the nanny, but the author still knew how to take you through the wringer and not know who to trust!

I enjoyed seeing Stella have her own mystery she was uncovering from her past as well. Stella helping Rose motivates her to dig into her own past and face her own trauma.

🏠 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🔍 Domestic Suspense
🔍 Psychological Thrillers
🔍 Fast-Paced, Tension Building
🔍 PTSD
🔍 Best Interest Attorney/Child Advocates

I am a huge fan of Sarah Pekkanen and absolutely loved her last book Gone Tonight. It consumed me. So my expectations were very high for House of Glass. While it started out with a bang and drew me in, about half way through I started loosing interest. Unfortunately there were too many sub plots that distracted me from the main storyline, they felt unnecessary, making the story drag on.

That being said, the main story line was intriguing. 9 year old Rose Barclay has suddenly become mute after possibly witnessing the death of her nanny Tina. Tina’s death was tragic and very suspicious. Did she crash through the third story window of the Barclay’s home accidentally or was she pushed? All four Barclay family members have motives to want Tina gone. Rose’s mother just found out her husband was having an affair with Tina. Rose’s adulterous father just found out his affair with Tina resulted in a pregnancy. Rose’s grandmother hated all the family turmoil that started upon the arrival of Tina? Even Rose had motive. After all she too could have discovered the illicit affair happening between her father and Tina.

As a result of the affair, Rose’s parents are going through a contentious divorce and each wants custody of Rose. This is where our main character Stella comes in. Stella is a lawyer who has been court appointed to figure out who is the safest and best person for Rose to live with. But the moment Stella sets foot in the Barclay mansion the hairs on her neck stand on end and her spine starts to tingle as she can feel the darkness that emanates from the home. Although Stella’s focus is to figure out who Rose should live with she can’t ignore the bigger questions. How did Tina die and why is Rose mute after her death?

Stella discovers the Barclay family are not who they portray to the outside world. They clearly are hiding the truth from Stella and lying to cover it up.

I definitely think this book is worth a read especially if you enjoy a slow burn thriller with several side stories. I would have enjoyed the book more if there was more focus on Rose and Stella’s relationship, the death of Tina and less on Stella’s past.

Thank you St.Martin’s Press and Netgalley for my e-arc of House of Glass. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pub Date: August 6th, 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🪞Psychological thriller
🪞Murder whodunnit
🪞Creepy house
🪞Crime/lawyer
🪞Childhood flashbacks

Gosh Rose is creepy! A nine year old, with adult tendencies, who can’t speak? Yikes. And with her whole family lying and scheming, it gets intense.

There was so much going on in this book. There were two major twists. While I saw one coming, it was still layered and well thought out. I’m sad I didn’t feel super connected to our FMC narrator, and wish we saw a bit more of Rose, but overall this was a great twisty read. Great pacing with short chapters, it kept my attention wanting to know more about the Barclays and what was really happening.

I feel like maybe my overall rating may be influenced by all the hype this book is receiving. Was it good? Yes absolutely. But maybe my expectations were too high going into it. That said, I’ve read and enjoyed several of this author’s books written with Greer Hendricks, and will continue to read her work.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of House of Glass. This was a pretty solid thriller from Sarah Pekkanen. There is a long list of characters who might have killed Tina, the nanny of Rose, who now suffers from traumatic mutism. Stella is a best interest attorney who is uniquely qualified to help Rose in her current situation. Unless something happens to Stella before she can help, just like Tina. If you’ve enjoyed Pekkanen’s past novels, definitely check this one out! Releases 8/6!

A murder mystery with more depth than expected!

Who killed the nanny? Why? Does the child Rose, whose trauma has made her mute, hold the key? What is the Barclay family hiding? And, where is all the glass in the house...?

Unlike the usual "let out a breath I didn't know I was holding", heart-racing thriller House of Glass keeps the reader hooked, while granting ample time and detail to get to know all the characters, their motivations, and thus begin to unravel the mystery for themselves.

To my delight, main character Stella is a complex and competent character. She's not a rookie stumbling through her first case and it is her expertise in being a Best Interest Attorney for her adolescent clients that lends to some of the greatest cat and mouse scenes. Even with a tragic backstory that she is still working through, and is exacerbated by this most recent case, Stella professionally works through her issues and stays calm and collected.

As good as the mystery was, I did feel that the ending had too much exposition for certain events and scenes that would have been fine being left out of the plot entirely. Also, two of the characters quite a double coincidental connection that just muddied the waters at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC!

3.5 rounded up
This book started a little slow. There was a part about a woman not introducing herself as doctor that really irked me. However, the further I read, the story became better. The theories constantly change as more information comes to light. Very suspenseful!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced release copy in exchange for an honest review.

Much thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of "House Of Glass in exchange for an honest review.
Now here's the kind of thriller I live for. Fast moving, loaded with no end of psychological dread but never ever, as so may similar books do, bogs down into a morass of internal monologue blah-blah-blah.
Sarah Pekkanen's plot keeps a reader whipping through the pages, even while her lead character is already heavily weighed down with a horrendous backstory of her own.
Lawyer Stella Hudson, survivor of a childhood filled with tragedy and abuse, now serves as a court appointed advocate for children caught in the middle of their parents' ugly divorce and custody battles. Based on her assessment of the family and child, it's her recommendations that will inform a judge's ruling as to which parent's awarded either full or partial custody. Her own traumatic childhood normally keeps her away from cases involving small children but as a favor to a beloved mentor, she agrees to represent the best interests for 9 year old Rose Barclay.
Rose, an unnaturally wise-beyond-her-years gifted child, stands in the middle of a wealthy family currently embroiled with scandal and sudden violent death. Now afflicted by muteness, the little girl may have witnessed her live-in nanny's fatal plunge out of a window, a suspicious death with no shortage of family suspects......her mother Beth, her grandmother Harriet, and her father Ian, whose affair with the nanny left the girl pregnant, touching off the divorce and custody war between the Barclays.
Armed with a court order to conduct an overview of Rose and her family, Stella must plunge into the maelstrom of the Barclays' darkest secrets and the nanny's death, a mystery that's currently stymied the police. And all of her attempts to bond with the strangely silent, enigmatic (and just possibly, murderous) Rose, have brought back all the nightmarish memories of Stella's own childhood, including mysteries surrounding
the death of her mother.
While I can't claim the twists and reveals are all that shocking, the suspense, ominous clues and red herring pile up nicely and the pacing never lags for a single moment. The story does an exemplary job in making a reader constantly worry about Stella's safety and sanity, which for me, more than compensated for the absence of the usual head-shaking, 'say what, now?' twists. I'm always all in for a book that makes you race to the finish and this one even includes a heart touching moment that might leave you misty eyed. A full 5 star 'grab it' for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley for the newest thriller on my list! House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen is such an atmospheric read that sucks you in and takes you along for the ride. I will admit, the first 10-15% of this book was more difficult to get through as we establish the story. Immediately we as the reader are able to pick up on the fact that the vibes in this house aren't what they seem, and it only thickens from there. My desire to pick up the book was smaller in the beginning, but as we continued the pace picked up and I felt much more encouraged to continue. So far this author has not missed for me, and after this success I look forward to seeing what else she comes up with!

I actually liked this a lot more than I expected. Sometimes thrillers have a tendency to border on ridiculous and, while I don’t have a problem suspending my disbelief for a story, they are often so bonkers that it’s harder for me to appreciate them.

That didn’t happen here. While House of Glass had some of your typical thriller elements, it was grounded in reality so much that the story felt believable to me. And that made it all the more unsettling.

This story works so well because it is creepy. The atmosphere is palpably tense and full of obvious danger. All of the characters are shady in their own ways, which makes in impossible to guess what is really going on. While it wasn’t all that twisty, I genuinely wasn’t sure what direction the story would take until the end. I did think it wrapped up a bit too neatly, but that’s a minor complaint.

All in all, I really enjoyed this! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC. House of Glass is out 8/6!

4.5/5

I enjoyed this one overall with its good creepy description of the house where a young nanny falls to her death and parallel storylines about childhood trauma. I also enjoyed the first person narration and the writing was easy to read. The main character, Stella, was likable.

However, I found parts of the novel to be quite slow moving. The outcome/revelation at the end was not that surprising as there was a limited number of suspects. The addition of a romance near the end seemed to come out of left field.

Overall, a good but not excellent thriller read for me.

Thanks to the publisher for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Another great thriller by Sarah Pekkanen! I love the creepy kid trope, and this one delivers in a big way. While the story was slower placed, the payoff is huge in the last several chapters when we get some wild twists. There was one particular subplot that seemed completely out of left field, and while I didn’t dislike it, it just seemed like a strange choice go include. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Pekkanen’s previous novel Gone Tonight, but I still think it’s worth a read for thriller lovers!

This was such a fast paced and twisty thriller! Every chapter ended with revelation that kept me reading and refusing to put it down. I also appreciated the ways in which the twists were revealed throughout.

Stella is an attorney who works on behalf of the court in figuring out who children should go to in contentious custody hearings. She is also carrying her own childhood trauma, neglect, and abuse with her. All of this converges when she takes the case of Rose Barclay - a 9 year old who has trauma induced muteness after witnessing her nanny fall to her death out of a window at her estate home. As Stella investigates the nanny’s murder, it’s clear it could be anyone, including Rose herself and that finding what’s best for Rose could be both impossible and dangerous.

While she’s investigating Rose and her family, Stella also decides to look into the drug overdose death of her own mother, which brings its own sets of unexpected outcomes. The two mysteries mirror each other and Stella’s hope of helping her small self was such a good and important part of this book!! I also loved the found family aspects of Stella’s life and the reality that occasionally those people can let you down. I also felt like Glass House handled Stella’s mom’s drug addiction with care, not just judgment, which added so many good layers to the story. I really enjoyed this thriller, which hits stands Tuesday, 8/6! Check it out if you love thrillers too!!

Stella Hudson works as a best-interest attorney, speaking on behalf of children in critical situations. She typically only takes on older children, as a result of her own childhood trauma. When her close confidant and colleague asks her to take on a case with a 9 year old girl with traumatic mutism, it threatens to hit way too close to home, as Stella also suffered from this around that age after the death of her mother. Stella feels compelled to take on the case of Rose Barclay, whose parents are divorcing after an affair between her father and nanny was discovered - and the nanny fell to her untimely death at their home. Stella is tasked with figuring out the best custody arrangement for Rose - but is there anywhere Rose will truly be safe?

This was another great suspense novel from Sarah Pekkanen! I listened to the audiobook and the narration kept me on the edge of my seat. The author did a great job of making you think one thing was happening, and then twisting it back in an unexpected way. It’s a story where multiple people could be suspects, and the truth isn’t found out until the very end. This author writes about an area that I’m very familiar with and she clearly knows it well. Bonus points for doing the research to know that you can’t record someone in Maryland without their consent but you can in D.C. - I love it when someone does their research haha! This was another winner and I’m already looking forward to whatever’s next!

This was such a solid twisty thriller, I really loved it!
I was completely on the edge of my seat the entire book and was flipping those pages as fast as I could read.
I absolutely loved the storyline and was trying to make guesses as I read of how it was going to turn out.
I think the characters were very well done, they were given just enough back story to get you hooked on them while also containing tons of mystery to keep you guessing.
I also really liked the fact that we almost had two stories in one, it kept me incredibly interested and had me not able to put this book down.
I was wrong with my guess as to what was going to happen and I absolutely loved watching everything unravel and figuring out all that really happened.
Fantastic thriller and I would highly recommend it.
Thank you NetGalley for my arc copy, this opinion is my own.

I enjoyed this one. That said, I wish there had been more of a surprise with the outcome of who the guilty party was. The list of characters was rather small so there weren’t a lot of options as to who that would be. Really only three suspects. Quick read.

I really enjoyed this read! The characters were relatable and multi-dimensional and the story kept me hooked all the way through.

On the surface, the Barclays appear to lead the perfect existence in their palatial home tucked away in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Beth, an heiress to millions, is married to Ian, a handsome and doting father to their prodigious young daughter, Rose, who is full of academic and artistic promise. But when their nanny, Tina, mysteriously plunges to her death at the Barclay estate, the murder investigation and exposed secret affair between Ian and Tina threatens to shatter the family’s golden image for good.

Stella Hudson is the best interest attorney appointed to represent 9-year-old Rose after Beth and Ian file for divorce and fight for sole custody. Stella, who sees much of her own traumatic past in her new young client, quickly discovers not everything that glitters is gold. As Stella spends more time with young Rose, who can no longer speak due to trauma-induced mutism, she becomes obsessed with finding out who killed Tina in this gripping psychological thriller that was hard for me to put down.

This story is fast-paced with cliffhanger chapter endings and twists I never saw coming. I’m used to mystery thrillers starting off strong and slowing down halfway through, but this kept going right through the last page. The D.C. backdrop was the icing on the cake for me.

CW: child abuse, drug abuse

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!