Wow! Couldn't put this book down once I started reading it! Really enjoyed it. Rose's parents are divorcing Stella needs to figure out who the primary guardian should be.

It talks about a nanny who was killed reasons/cause unknown. Lots of family dynamics throughout with twists and turns

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen left me guessing the whole time! In Sarah’s new book you are following Stella Hudson who is a counsel in custody cases and lawyer who is assigned to help this custody battle between the parents of Rose Barclay. Rose’s nanny (Tina) has mysteriously ended up dead from falling out of a window on the Barclay’s house. Every member of this having is under suspicion.

This whodunit book has so many potential suspects as well as you are following along a few different story lines in Stella’s life. Stella is newly divorced, her mother was murdered in her childhood, she is the lead custody lawyer on the Barclay divorce, as well as trying to discover the murder of Tina while they same things that happen to Tina before her death begin to happen to Stella.

I enjoy this thriller and was checking behind me while reading. It left me on my toes and throughout I had no clue who the murder suspect was till the very end. I was hooked from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this arc!

“Here in DC, lies are as ubiquitous as pollen in the spring air”

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC! I was so excited to read another thriller from Sarah Pekkanen and House of Glass did not disappoint! Filled with twists, suspense, family, and amazing character development.

Stella Hudson is called in to determine the custody of little Rose Barclay. Rose is not talking and has seen something traumatic happen to her nanny. Stella, herself has suffered from the same thing when she was younger, so it seems like she is the perfect person to decide what is best for Rose. I personally thought I knew who was causing so many problems for the child, but I was oh so wrong! Plus, Stella gets some of the answers she has been seeking in her own life. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.

The nanny, Tina, falls through a third floor window to her death and circumstances are unclear as to murder vs accident. Stella is appointed to decide what should happen to the traumatized, mute little girl, Rose.

This book is a total page turner, which is why this gets 4 stars, but I wish things were a little bit simpler plotwise. Stella's own background story could use a book all of it's own, that's how complicated it was, and for whatever is revealed in this novel, it came off as a bit convoluted. Pretty much all of my questions that came up were answered by the final couple of chapters, but it was too neat and tidy of a wrap up. I enjoyed House of Glass immensely, but total satisfaction just wasn't there.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this psychological thriller.

What a fantastic ride! Had me on the edge of my seat and second guessing myself at every turn.

Had mebreading long, long past my bedtime. Let me just day Rose is a freaking creepy 9 year old.

Highly recommend.

I loved this book! A very compelling story. Sarah Pekkanen does not disappoint, this is another gripping story with so many twists and turns. Great read!

House of Glass is my second Pekkanen novel and I enjoyed this one as much as the first. This story follows Stella, a best interest attorney, as she works with a troubled child named Rose. Rose has witnessed the death of her nanny, who also happened to be having an affair with her father. There is no shortage of drama here! Very fast paced and nicely written characters. I especially enjoyed Stella. The only thing that kept it from being 4/5 stars is that I saw the big twist coming fairly early in the story.

This book was definitely a very slow, boring and drawn out read! Could have been a great story because it was eerie and kept me wondering who the killer was but the storyline was repetitive and went in circles for the first 3/5 I finished it just to see how it wrapped up and I have to say the ending was the best part and it didn’t disappoint. Would not recommend this book but would definitely read another book from this author.

Stella is a lawyer, but she works to determine how to disposition child custody cases. Stella is asked by her mentor to work on the case of Rose Barclay who hasn’t spoken since her nanny died falling from an upper level of Rose’s home. There’s a dark undertone to the story, such that it is not hard to imagine the Barclay house and grounds with a gothic atmosphere. Stella is uncomfortable at the Barclay house and she relates to Rose on another level. She’s trying to get to the bottom of what is going on in the family so that she can make a decision about what is best for Rose, but could something darker be going on with Rose? I enjoyed the story and couldn’t figure out who were the good guys and the bad guys. Love the dark and twisty nature of the story.

This is a classic “who done it” where everyone is a suspect. It was fast paced and suspenseful. Kept me guessing. Even though I pretty much figured out “who did it” early on it didn’t ruin the story for me. There were smaller stories within the story. I’ve only read one other book by this author, and I did not like it so I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this one. I would say pick this one up. Definitely worth a read.

Oh my gosh, this book was fantastic! It kept me guessing. It was tense and kept me on the edge of my seat. Best book I’ve read in a while!

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

Everything about this book was wild. So many twists and turns, with a completely unexpected ending. I was baffled because they were all sketchy, every single one of them. I didn’t trust a single soul, not even the kid. The way it was written really had me thinking the kid did it. It was written well, good characters, even if they were sketch, and a great plot. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Complete nail biter. I kept wondering what would happen next, in hopes I could figure it out before it was revealed. It was wild. Absolutely insane. Definitely worth the read, if you’re into mysteries and thrillers. The only thing I disliked was it can be confusing, at times. Everything is a key element to what really happened, so if you miss something, you could miss a really big detail in the plot, but other than that, it was great.

This is equal parts women’s fiction and thriller; read it if you like healing from childhood trauma.

This book follows Stella, a lawyer who represents the best interest of children whose parents are in the midst of a contentious divorce. Stella is appointed to help the court determine who should be granted custody of a 9-year-old named Rose. Rose just witnessed her nanny fall to her death from the third story of Rose’s creepy old home.

Stella goes to visit Rose’s house and finds something disturbing: there’s no glass anywhere. No mirrors. Plexiglass windows. Rose lives with her mother, father, and grandmother, all of whom seem to be a little too polished and rehearsed for Stella’s liking. Stella decides that, in order to determine who should get custody of Rose, she also needs to figure out who (if anyone) pushed Rose’s nanny out of the window. Anyone in the family could have done it, and all had reason to: the nanny was pregnant with Rose’s dad’s baby. While Stella works on Rose’s case, she also reopens the case file for her own mother, who died of a supposed overdose decades before.

While the story sounded interesting, this book just ultimately didn’t work for me. I’ll start with the good parts: 1) the author does a good job of making every character creepy, and 2) it’s not obvious whether there is a murderer and if so who it is. Also, the setup of the story was interesting enough to keep reading.

But that’s, unfortunately, where the good parts end. The writing style just didn’t grip me. It was boring, and the narrator added boring and well-known legal facts. But even worse, I felt that the story completely fell apart at the end. There were so many threads and story lines but none of them ended up mattering or being relevant. There was really no connection between any of the plot points in the story, and you think that Stella’s and Rose’s stories are going to be relevant to each other, but they aren’t. Also, I really didn’t find myself rooting for the narrator, Stella. I didn’t get a great sense of who she was or anything about her. What makes her tick? She also gets a strange love story out of left field toward the end of the book.

Ultimately, this book didn’t offend me or anything. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I wish I had liked it more.

Book Title: The Glass House
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Publisher: Saint Martin’s Press
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: August 6, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pages: 352

This is my seventh Sarah Pekkanen story; I especially liked " Catching Air".
I read loved the four thrillers she coauthored with Greer Hendricks -" An Anonymous Girl" was my first and I became a fan; then " The Wife Between us", "You are not alone", and "The Golden Couple".

Stella Hudson a successful lawyer who has been appointed counsel to represent nine-year-old Rose Barclay in a custody case. Stella’s job is to observe and then make a recommendation based on her experience as to which parent should have custody.

Ian Barclay, is the handsome father and was a landscaper and married an heiress
Beth Barclay is the wealthy mother who is used to getting her way.

Tina de la Cruz, is the twenty-six year old nanny for Rose.. Tina had an affair with Ian Barclay, and is pregnant. One afternoon Tina has a terrible accident and falls to her death from her third story attic bedroom window. It was ruled an accident as the window in the bedroom was too low and 100 year old single pane glass did not meet code.
Young Rose and her Grandmother Harriet were in the garden and witnessed the fall and death of Tina. Rose then developed traumatic mutism and cannot speak.
One of the reasons Stella was selected to represent Rose is she also lost her voice over a traumatic event. When he was six years old, she her mother dead on the floor from drug overdose.
In fact, the story deals a lot with Stella’s grief as she investigates if her mother ‘s death wasn’t her doing but she had been murdered.

Stella is dealing with both of these situations. Additionally is having difficulty getting through to Rose who doesn’t want her around and seems like “The Bad Seed”.
Making us wonder how much she had to do with Tina’s death.

I am a big psychological thriller fan and there are some things I am prepared for:
 Expect twists and turns!
 Be suspicious of everyone!
 The most obvious person didn’t do it!
 There will be many secrets!

Yes! I have a suspicious mind but Sarah Pekkanen fooled me!
Story kept me glued - in fact by the end my head was spinning.
Definitely unputdownable!!

Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press for granted me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 6, 2024

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I really love Sarah Pekkanen! She just grabs you in the beginning and keeps on going. I could not put this book down. The book starts with Stella, who is a best interest attorney, having to work with Rose, a nine-year-old girl, who has traumatic mutism. Her parents are getting divorced and Stella needs to determine who Rose should live with. The people involved with Rose are her mother and father and her grandmother. There was also a nanny who is now dead by falling out of a third story window, or was she pushed? All throughout this book I was unsure about the guilty party. I felt it could have been any of them and I didn’t figure it out until almost the end. I felt the twists were great and I did not see them coming. I highly, highly recommend this book!

House of Glass has it all-- creepy house, creepier child, well meaning, but cold, mother, charming, but suspicious, father. The MC is assigned the case because the parents are getting divorced, and she is a Best Interest Attorney. Throw in a potential murder on the grounds of the creepy house, and I was hooked from the beginning. I really enjoyed this premise. I have never read about a BIA, and I thought it was pretty fascinating.

There are some definite cons in this book- the writing is paced a little funny. Heavy on random details and then light on developing some of the characters. But since it's a thriller, I was okay with the light characterization. I could not get behind the last few chapters (why so many for the resolution?!) and found that a little much. There were some predictable elements, certainly. You can see at least one thing coming from miles away, and it made me not care about the MC as much because I saw it coming. However, I found this readable and surprisingly light, given the contents.

Loved her last book but this one missed the mark for me. Not sure why. I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters and i found I struggled to pick it up each time.

Thank you for my advanced copy

Stella is a child advocate who becomes involved in helping decide the custody of a young girl named Rose Barclay, whose parents are embroiled in a contentious divorce. The case is made even more difficult by the mysterious death of Rose's nanny. Stella must help discover Rose's truth, while avoiding becoming another victim in her story.

Sarah Pekkanen's "House of Glass" is a solid psychological thriller. Set in Washington, D.C., it unravels the chaos following a nanny's mysterious death in a wealthy couple's home amidst their bitter divorce.

At the center is Stella Hudson, an attorney tasked with sorting out what's best for the couple's troubled daughter, Rose. Pekkanen crafts tension masterfully, pulling us into Rose's mysterious behavior and selective mutism.

While the story takes its time to simmer, there are moments where the pace lags, especially with a subplot involving Stella's mom. Yet, Pekkanen nails character development, particularly with Rose, keeping us hooked on her every move.

Even though it's a slow burn, the ending packs a punch. "House of Glass" takes you on a thrilling ride through domestic suspense, rewarding patient readers with a satisfying finale.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Sarah Pekkanen, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is anticipated to be released on August 6, 2024.