I really enjoyed the vN trilogy by this author so I was eager to check out her newest release. This one was more of a sci fi thriller, heavy on the suspense aspects. It was a fun page turner that was easy to fly through. I wish it had been more focused on the sci fi elements because they fell into the background. An enjoyable read, but not as memorable as I would have liked.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from publisher.

This novel is a dystopian/thriller mash-up that is difficult to describe. A group of employees and their CEO are celebrating the sale of their product, an algorithm that maps people's emotions, when their plane crashes on a seemingly deserted island. Some employees die in the crash, more die throughout the novel, and things get really weird and verge on the horror genre. Interspersed with the present-day struggle for survival, we get the backstory on Kristin, the CEO's right-hand woman who is sort of an HR rep and sort of a general dogsbody. I quite liked the story, and I had a hard time putting it down as the tension ramped up and the wild plot unfolded. If I have a criticism, I think there may be a bit too much crammed in too few pages - lots of themes were explored and I started feeling a little overwhelmed towards the end. Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tor Books for a digital review copy.

This was so good!
I couldn’t put this down.
I think Madeline Ashby has officially become a new favourite author of mine, as I adored both books I've read by her.
I loved every second of this dark, unsettling, near-future, “whodunnit” sci-fi thriller.
Honestly, what is not to love about a murder mystery set on a remote island after a plane full of tech start-up employees crashes?
Also, Kristen was such an interesting and well-written protagonist. Her backstory was so unique and intriguing, and I couldn’t stop reading it.
Overall, I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys sci-fi, thrillers or mysteries.

I loved the main character here and really enjoyed inhabiting her worldview as well as her anti-hero elements. The little hints at the broader climate collapse are really well done and open up a lot of interesting themes, which make it very teachable.

I genuinely have no idea how I feel about this book and that almost never happens to me. But I finished reading and was left with the overall feeling that I wasn’t intelligent enough to enjoy this book. It felt very science heavy to the point I genuinely couldn’t and didn’t understand parts of the story. It also felt like there were things that the reader was expected to know but I don’t know how the reader was supposed to know them. I found myself rereading sections over and over trying to discern what I’d missed that would help it make sense and coming up empty. The story was interesting, pretty well paced, and definitely had some great twists. I also liked the characters, especially the FMC who I found fascinating. It gave Lost meets Knives Out meets Lucy Foley vibes, which I enjoyed. The end didn’t make a ton of sense and wasn’t super satisfying, but that felt fitting given how the rest of the book had been. Ultimately I feel like I spent the majority of the book really fucking confused. So I don’t know if I liked this book. I’m utterly baffled by what I just read.

I spent the majority of the book confused as to what was going on and who was who. It was hard to keep up with the names, a lot of time jumps, who's who.

The ending was interesting but not enough for me to be fully invested in the story

I was really excited about the premise of this book. A dark thriller that starts with a plane crashing and involves an AI house in which people are killed off mysteriously one by one? Count me in! However, this book quickly diverges from this idea into something completely separate.

There is so much of this taking place in the past that it makes the timeline of events really confusing.

I really liked the two main characters for a moment but then really hated all of the characters by the end and lost interest in the direction the plot took.

Everything that took place felt super unbelievable and trivial to me. In a sense, it's a thriller; just not a very good one in my opinion.

When I read the synopsis of this story, I was all too eager to find out what exactly was going on.
Our story starts off with a plane crash. Kristin awoke in a plane full of water. Where was she and what happened? A body floats by her and she’s confused as to what is happening. A voice rings out and a hand reaches for her. It’s her boss. He was so thankful that someone else survived. Unfortunately, one of her teammates wasn’t so lucky, but how many others made it?

They quickly take an assessment and discover many of them did survive and began checking the plane for whatever luggage and essentials they could use to survive. While they were doing that, they realized there was a huge house or some type of structure in the middle of the island they landed upon. What luck, right?

While Kristen and her team headed up to the abandoned house, it was soon discovered that the house seemed to come alive. How did this house get here? Who built it and what was it used for? Once the team figures out how to get inside, the house appeared to have a mind of its own. Some doors would open by themselves. Some of those doors could be opened by people. The house was fully stocked with food as if it knew they would be arriving there. But how could that be? They were in a random plane crash. How could they have possibly known they’d end up on this deserted island with a huge glass house in the center? Hmm?

Kristin knew something wasn’t quite right and when members of her team began to go missing, she was positive they had a serious situation on their hands. And that, readers, is where our story takes off. So, this story may sound interesting and even exciting, but unfortunately, it was lost on me. I couldn’t grasp this story no matter how much I tried. I think the disconnect for me came by the way the characters interacted and were setup. The dialogue between the characters didn’t quite mesh with the actions that were taking place. Normally, I’m not the type of reader who gets squeamish or bothered by profanity, but I found the use of it with some of the characters just totally unnecessary and uncalled for. I’m thinking why would anyone talk like that to one another on a very simple question someone may have asked?

The story had some interesting elements by way of electronics and science, but that’s where it ended for me. I couldn’t get into this story the way I would have liked, and I honestly can’t blame the author for this because her writing style was decent, but I think I got lost with the idea of what I thought this story was going to be and it turned out to be something else which was a bit disappointing.

I loved every bit of this hot, unsettling., twisting and turning near-future scifi thriller. There are so many layers to this story and it had me hooked from the first page to the last.

This was such an interesting read. It was something completely different than I thought it was. It was mega disturbing on a few different levels. The plot twists really made me confused but it was a good payoff I think.

An absolutely engaging near future tech thriller. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The characters are interesting and there was a surprisingly good plot twist that I didn’t see coming. Highly recommended for all readers!

Glass Houses is a unique and gripping sci-fi thriller with a futuristic twist. When a group of tech employees and their eccentric billionaire boss crash land on a mysterious island with an eerie smart house, a sinister mystery begins to unfold as the survivors start disappearing one by one. The dual timeline kept me captivated as Kristen, the intriguing protagonist, navigates the cutting-edge tech world and tries to stay alive on the island. Thought-provoking and suspenseful, this story provides a chilling glimpse into a future where technology has eroded privacy. A wild, atmospheric ride for fans of Black Mirror and techno-thrillers.

Thank you to Tor and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby.
This was a very smart thriller set in the not too distant future. It’s centered around a group of tech developers and the billionaire owner of the tech company they work for. Their autopiloted plane makes an emergency landing on a mysterious island that happens to have a huge monstrosity of a house that is very hi tech. Kristin or Kiki as her boss calls her is our protagonist and she has had a traumatic past, Kristen has a very dark and dry wit which I really liked although she’s not an especially likeable character. Her coworkers start dying mysteriously on the island and her boss is spiraling. The timeline goes back and forth between when Kristin first started working for the company and them being stranded on the island. I really enjoyed this thriller but it left me wanting a little more. I was very intrigued by Kristin and wanted more of her back story. I’m giving 4 stars because it definitely kept me interested but would’ve loved a little more character development and a little less tech talk (the latter because most of the tech stuff was over my head) I would certainly recommend this book if you like fast paced, tech thrillers.

When the employees of a start-up specializing in an innovative emotion-mapping-AI-algorithm crash on a deserted island, they discover a mysterious AI-driven house and start to suspect something sinister is going on as the remaining employees start to disappear one by one.

This was an excellent sci-fi/techno thriller that very much reminded me of Black Mirror. The concept was very unique and it definitely made me think; all the what-if sinister technology speculation was really fun if you just accept the premise of the book and roll with it. The story was told in two timelines--the current predicament on the island as well as the past that revealed more of Kristin's (the "chief emotional officer" aka HR) character and past. Sumter's character (the CEO of the tech start-up) is clearly an amalgamation of the "tech boy billionaire" but not overly or distractingly recognizable as any real-life person, in my opinion. The action was a little slow to get going, but overall the plot kept me turning the pages and I felt like I read it very quickly.

Although the story itself was entertaining and a not-so-classic "whodoneit," I really struggled with connecting with the characters. I personally did not feel that many were very likeable. I typically need a strong connection to a character to truly enjoy the book so with that I give this three stars.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It's unique premise captured me from the start - sci-fi, AI, futuristic, thriller.

The back-and-forth from before the plane crash, to what was happening on the island was a little clunky and didn't seem to fit in some places. It is best to go in without any expectations, because it's not really a whodunnit, rather a why-dunnit. There are plenty of plot-twists and surprises, regardless. Some plot points were confusing or seemed misplaced, but it didn't ruin the story overall.

In the end, Glass Houses was a fun, wild ride with moments of suspense that had me up late, needing to know what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor publishing for provding me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

First off, this story really took me by surprise. The way each chapter builds the tension of the mystery had me unable to put this down. Any fans of the series Lost, and the movie Glass Onion will probably enjoy this book.

The setting for Glass Houses is in the future, where the need and use of technology is integrated heavily into our daily life.
Bloody masterpiece
The story follows a group of team members on a return flight from the successful sale of their A.I that maps human emotions and turns it into currency. The plane crashes onto a deserted island claiming the lives of several people, and stranding the others. Among the survivors is the eccentric billionaire and founder, Sumpter, and Kristen, his chief emotional officer. The survivors find only a mysterious black house, that is fully stocked, as if it had been awaiting people. The mystery deepens when one by one the surviving team members start disappearing.

The story is split between dual timelines, before the plane crash, and after the plane. We navigate through this futuristic world, and the mystery of the island with Kristen. With her title as Chief Emotional Officer, we get an intimate look at the company she works with and the people she works alongside.

This book delves into a lot of heavy things like PTSD, navigating a male dominated industry as a woman, and how the advancement of technology has destroyed a person’s right to privacy.

Honestly, the tech advancements described in this story feel close at hand, and it’s almost upsetting how close our world is to resembling this fictional one.

The pacing of Glass Houses is so well done. I honestly cannot get over how engaging everything with this story is, and how hooked you are into the mystery.

If you’re a fan of science fiction thrillers, and mysterious, then I highly recommend this story !

What a ride! I loved it. There are two POVs - before and present. I cannot even decide which I loved more. They both captured me immediately and did not let go. I could not turn the pages fast enough, but there were enough new technologies / futuristic things that had me stopping frequently to try and picture in my head. The characters were fantastic! Always a bit vague, never showing their true selves, adding to my unease and unsure feeling the whole time reading. Who do you root for, who can you trust, when is the author springing the trap?! You never know!

The atmosphere - just perfect. It was thrilling futuristic horror and the only type I want to read from now on. I yelled out loud so many times, but then was smiling so my partner was so confused. This is UNLIKE anything I have ever read and I absolutely loved it and this will stick with me certainly forever. Now I bet the audiobook would be even more fabulous....

This is so not my usual type of read but I was looking for upcoming books for our library and then I ended up really enjoying it. it is quite a dark look actually at technology and explores some really interesting themes about women and tech and it was quite foreboding at times but also fun to read. The characters and interesting and the writing is easy to read and sharp. I really liked how it incorporated flashbacks. Will be recommending this and adding to our library.

In the near future, an autonomous airplane crashes on a deserted Pacific island. Several people die in the crash, but several also survive, including the CEO of Wuv, a software company that purports to be able to evaluate emotions using contact lenses and other smart devices. The survivors find a house that will only open for men. Everything within the house will only open for men. What is this place? Kristen is the "chief emotional officer" of Wuv, who was hired to hold the hand of the CEO, Sumter. Being a woman in tech has always been an issue and it has not gotten any better, except Kristen has been working on that. It becomes clear there is more going on than meets the eye and Kristen's boss is right in the middle of it all. A very interesting take on women in tech and what might happen in the future.