Ohhhh I did not predict this one! I had so many theories as this one forged ahead, and there were just so many possible suspects. I loved the slow, steady building suspense- and the climax was so action-packed and scary that I found myself holding my breath! LOVED it! If you like suspenseful thrillers, try this one :)

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy to listen to!

Stella is appointed as Guardian Ad Litem, when 9 y/o Rose’s parents file for divorce. Her nanny was found dead, and the courts don’t know which parent should get sole custody

Stella is a strong woman, with a troubled past which gives her the empathy to help traumatized children

She realizes quickly that Rose and her family are not quite right - for a start, their manor house contains no glass!

I was really intrigued and excited for this read, but somehow it didn’t click with me. Rose and her family are all pretty unlikable and although we got to know Stella really well, I didn’t feel empathy for her

The writing flows and it was an easy read, and although I liked the resolution, I wasn’t wowed

The narrator did a great job with the audiobook, giving a distinctive tone to all the characters

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review

This one was just ok for me. I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. The beginning was really good. The story just dragged too much in the middle, that I lost interest. The ending was shocking, but I wanted it to go another direction. I have a review post on this audiobook on my Bookstagram that I have linked down below.

House of Glass 4⭐

There are not a lot of books that shock or surprise me anymore. I'm not saying that to be a douche, it's just true. I knew we were looking at a "bad seed" storyline from the beginning, but I WAS NOT PREPARED. This book absolutely lulled me into a false sense of superiority, while sneaking the real clues right by me. I kept saying to myself, "If this turns out how I think it will, this will be such a cliche story." Whelp, I could not have been more wrong.

The cast of characters is almost Gothic - a beautiful little girl with an "old soul," her beloved mother with a fear of glass, her absent father who suddenly wants custody when divorce is on the table, her doting live-in grandma, and a traumatized lawyer trying to bring children of divorce some peace. When the FMC first arrives at the house and finds out the nanny was MURDERED in the first chapter, I was already intrigued. Everything is a rumor. You never know who is listening. Check your biases!

The one thing I will say without any spoilers, is that I thought the wrap up was pretty rushed. I was ready for gore, but didn't get it and that was disappointing. I wouldn't call this the best thriller I've ever read, but it sure as hell was fun! Perfect summer read, I think.

Wow! I blew through this 10+ hour recording in less than two days. The House of Glass, narrated by Laura Benanti, is a slow burn domestic thriller that kept my interest from the very beginning with outstanding narration of the gripping story.

Nine year old Rose Barkley’s nanny plunges from a window to her death, or was she pushed? Was it one of Rose’s divorcing parents? The grandmother? The nanny’s boyfriend? Or even Rose herself?

Stella Hudson, a special interest attorney, is assigned to the custody case. Can she protect Rose or do they all need protection from Rose?

A big thank you to Netgalley and McMillan audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest review. It’s a good one!

3.5 stars, rounded up.

I actually liked this book more than I thought I would. The mystery itself isn't terribly difficult to figure out, and I wanted it to be a little more surprising, but overall it was an entertaining read.

Rose is a nine-year old girl who might have witnessed the horrible death of her nanny. This has caused her suffer from traumatic mutism, a relatively rare disorder. Her parents are going through a divorce and fighting over custody. Stella, a best interest attorney (kind of like a guardian ad litem, she makes a determination what is best for the child) is familiar with traumatic mutism because she herself had it when she was a child. She wants only what is best for Rose. But what if Rose is responsible for what happened to the nanny?

I listened to the audiobook and Laura Benanti does a fantastic job creating a creepy, dread-filled atmosphere. I liked Stella, although I thought she was a little naïve in certain situations because I saw the writing on the wall from the start with her past. In fact, I thought the past storyline was the weakest in the book and took away a bit from the main mystery.

However, the mystery of what happened to the nanny was twisty and intriguing. There are lots of suspects and suspicious behavior galore. I did want more from the interactions with Rose, my reasons for 3.5 and not 4 are that I just don't think the characters were quite developed enough for me to buy into all that was revealed in the end.

Overall, this was a fairly quick read with a plot that kept me interested throughout. Although I prefer the books Pekkanen writes with Greer Hendricks, I did enjoy my experience with this one.

This was an enjoyable book. HOUSE OF GLASS kept me intrigued and I didn't step away from it. I enjoyed the protagonist and was surprised by many of the twists. I would actually like to read about her dealing with another case on behalf of a juvenile client. In the twisty turny thriller world it is difficult to truly stand out, and after finishing HOUSE OF GLASS I didn't feel compelled to contemplate it further, unlike how I felt about THE GOLDEN COUPLE. However, I felt the characters were well-developed and I had never heard of this specialty in law before. Would likely make a good TV series.
Good narrator

Stella Hudson, a best interest attorney, takes on Rose Barclay as a new client. Rose’s parents are in the midst of a tense divorce and Stella must make a custody decision. To make the situation more complicated, the family’s nanny, Tina, died recently after falling out of a window on the property and Rose is now experiencing traumatic mutism. Stella quickly realizes that each family member could be responsible for Tina’s death. She must wade through each individual’s story to arrive at the truth.

Wow, this was a great read! The writing style, pacing, and the details of the story were addictive. I binged the audio and enjoyed the story’s twists and turns.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and MacMillan Audio for both the ALC and ARC copies of this title.

This book was really difficult to get into, and to finish. This book was honestly super slow, and way longer than it needed to be. A little too many twists and turns that maybe I just missed but made us deter a little too much from the main storyline and made it more confusing than it needed to be. A mysterious death, a troubled child, and a divorce that seems amicable? So many suspects and potential reasons for the nanny to be killed. But can the person assigned to be the evaluator for the court figure it out and protect the child correctly? I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was an engaging and propulsive plot. The mysterious aspect of who pushed (or was she?) the nanny kept me guessing. I was intrigued by the mute child and what she knew but was suppressing. My only fault was that I wasn't a fan of the flashbacks to Stella's childhood. I felt that they drew me out of the story a bit, and I wasn't as invested in her as a character except for her role at figuring out the mystery and family dynamics.

Overall a good thriller that kept me interested as i read it, but not one that I will probably remember much about in a few months.

I listened to the audio version and found the narrator to be good, no complaints with her performance.

“Lies gather force when the stakes rise.”

✨ Genre: Thriller
🖤 Steamy rating: None
⚡️ Profanity: Mild

Rose Barclay is a 9-year old girl, who suffers from traumatic mute disorder following the suspicious death of her nanny, Tina while at the Barclay’s house. Stella is a Best Interest Attorney appointed to the Barclays to represent Rose in the Barclays bitter divorce. Stella has a special interest in Rose, because Stella too suffered from traumatic mute disorder following the suspicious death of her own mother when Stella was a child. As Stella investigates the Barclay family, more sinister events start to take place. Nobody in the family gives Stella warm vibes, and anyone could have killed Tina, including Rose. Meanwhile, Stella is finally in a place in her life that she is ready to look into her own mother’s death.

This one hooked me immediately. The plot was creative and different from most thrillers. Stella was a likable lead character, who shows resiliency and strength overcoming the cards she was dealt. I enjoyed the plot into Stella’s mother’s death, too.

Triggers: Murder, death of a parent, divorce, deception, mental illness, and drug use and overdose

Thank you @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for the early copy of The Glass House. Reviewing it was my pleasure. I love Sarah Pekkanen’s books. This eerie binge worthy thriller was no different.

#macaudio2024

There’s a lot of bad things going on right now, so I turned to this thriller to ease me into my self-declared day of reading Saturday. It was listened to on audio thanks to @macmillan.audio via NetGalley and I intended to fully take my mind off of the intensity of the last couple of days, by replacing it with another intense drama of a completely different nature. Andddd it did the trick, although it nearly made me cry at the end from the emotional response I wasn’t expecting to have! #HouseofGlass by @sarahpekkanen is told from the perspective of attorney Stella Hudson, who comes upon the case at the urging of her mentor, a judge who gave her her first start in law, convincing her that this case, although the client is a child younger than she normally represents, is one that she is best able to represent. A young child, Rose Barclay, of wealthy parents going through a divorce, witnessed the untimely death of her young nanny, and is now mute due to the trauma. Since Stella herself experienced trauma and muteness as a result of it in her early childhood years, she decides to take on the case to help this young girl in the best way possible. To help find out who this child should live with, she interviews each member of the family intensely, and also reaches out to friends of the nanny. The case of the nanny’s death has become a cold case, but by advocating for Rose, Stella creeps further and further into that mystery, and what she experiences and ascertains from her observations and interviews leaves her with a dreadful feeling and she becomes fearful for her own safety as she inches closer to learning the truth. This story also provides her with clues and hard truths about her own childhood story, and I have to say, I truly became a fan of Stella as a character. I am actually hoping that @sarahpekkanen considers making Stella’s character appear again one day in more thrillers or court dramas of her minor client’s cases!!! (Pleeeeeeease) because I am going to find myself missing her, the judge, and hoping for that romance to bud as well, so I loved the ending, and I’m hoping for more???! !!!!
(@stmartinspress tell her I’m onto something here!!)
5 stars for me!

This was So Bad.  This was the worst book I've read in 2024 (and will probably hold that title through the rest of the year). I got through this as fast as I could, just to get it over with. Because it was a complimentary copy from NetGalley, I felt beholden to finish it so I could properly review it.

I despised Stella.  She's one of those characters who is supposed to be professional and highly skilled, but she comes across like a nitwit.  She is absolutely terrible at her job.  She is supposed to be an advocate for Rose to help determine which parent Rose should live with, but she gets distracted by investigating a murder instead (like you do!), regularly loses her temper with Rose, and even intentionally spurs Rose to rage, merely out of pique.

Pekkanen uses SO many tired overdone expressions to create tension:
(These examples are all from the same random chapter, when Stella chats with the MIL, Harriet - it is an absolutely mundane situation, nothing creepy at all is going on here.):
<i>* My heart flutters in my chest 
* I suppress a shudder 
* My instincts are shrieking at me to leave 
* I wrap my arms around myself.
* My heart leaps into my throat 
* I feel a tingle between my shoulder blades, a  sixth sense that someone is watching me.</i>
Stella's sixth sense is constantly sensing something. Everything in this story is either "palpable" or "sends chills down my spine."   (I think I do not have enough fingers to count the number of times "palpable" was used, and imo once is one time too many.)

And this has the very annoying “repeat the same thing twice” style - a character will give preparatory comments before handing something over, and then the text will pointlessly point out “she’s preparing me for something” (NO DUH),  a character will say several angry things and then Stella will think “she’s not just blaming [X], she’s FURIOUS” (again, no fucking duh WE GET IT)
Pekkanen is attempting to amp up the tension by doling out critical information drip by drip, but all she does is slow the pace down to glacial.  Everything (EVERYTHING) is bogged down by excessive description, and repeated descriptions, and far too much chaff that has nothing to do with this story at all.

Things I needed to hear less about: 
* Stella's ex, Marco.  My god I do not care.  This added NOTHING to the reading experience.
* Stella's traumatic childhood (her father's death, her mother's death, her cruel aunt).  One mention was sufficient.  All the flashbacks were tedious. 
* The detailed back story of Stella's friendship with father-figure Charles.  Why does this matter??

Somebody give me a red editor's marker and I can excise all this chaff and maybe there will be a fun thriller hiding under there! Maybe.  

Things I liked:
* The surprising romance that developed between Stella and Detective Natalia Garcia.  Get it, girl!  

I listened to the audiobook, and I suspect Laura Benanti was partly responsible for how much I hated this book, I did not like the affect she chose for each character, it just made me hate them all more.

I was fortunate to be given a free copy of this book via NetGalley, and I'm sorry I don't have anything nicer to say.

In this story we have Stella Hudson, who is appointed counsel for Rose Barclay. Rose is a nine year old girl whose parents are going through a bitter divorce, and she has also just witnessed the death of her nanny. During this traumatic time, Rose has developed traumatic mutism and she cannot speak.
Stella can relate to Rose because when Stella was a young girl she witnessed the death of her mother, and then developed traumatic mutism herself.
Because Rose's parents are divorcing, it is Stella's job to spend time with Rose and her parents to see who would be the better parent for Rose to live with once they divorce. We have the wealthy, uptight Beth Barclay- her mother. Then there is lan Barclay, more down to earth and not so wealthy-her father. We soon learn that lan's mother, Harriet has lived with the Barclay's for several years and is witness to many events that has happened within the family.
Which brings us to the death of the nanny, Tina. Tina fell to her death through her third story bedroom window. Was she pushed? Was it an accident? Or was it suicide? And did Rose witness what really happened that night? Also why are the parents replacing all the glass in the house? Even the mirrors are being replaced...
This book had my attention from the first page all the way through until the last! I loved Stella's character, and felt that everything and everyone else was so relatable and real. I'm so glad that I took a chance with this book, and I cannot wait to read Pekkanen's next! I highly recommend this twisty thriller!

I feel a bit like an outlier here but I found this book to be good but not great. I enjoyed the mystery of it all, but at times it felt a bit too much like telling and not showing. I love when we are left breadcrumbs to try and solve the mystery with the main character, and at times I felt like we were being constantly redirected by Stella, the narrator. I found that the inclusion of the very light romance to be strange at the end as well. While I sound critical of this book, I did still enjoy it. I thought the author did a fantastic job of describing the Barclays as people, definitely developing their characters. This is especially true of Rose. I did not know that this profession even existed as well, so it was interesting to read that part of the book. I did enjoy listening to this audiobook, though, as the narrator really brought the story to life. I found it easy to follow and entertaining. With that being said, I felt a bit disappointed in the mystery as it didn't seem to grab ahold of me as much as I wanted it to. That being said, I know I will read more from this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

3.5⭐
Genre ~ psychological fiction
Setting ~ Washington DC
Publication date ~ August 6, 2024
Est Page Count ~ 352 (68 chapters)
Audio length ~ 10 hours 43 minutes
Narrator ~ Laura Benanti
POV ~ single 1st, present tense
Featuring ~ dead nanny, infidelity, secrets, mentions of loss of parent, childhood trauma, drug addiction

Stella is an attorney working with 9 year old, Rose, to determine which parent she should live with after the divorce. Why a divorce you ask ~ well, shockingly, [insert eye roll], the husband was sleeping with the nanny, Tina. Tina falls to her death, Rose witnessed it and she hasn't spoken since.

All characters were unlikable, but I didn't hate that so much for this book. I thought Rose's character was well written. Let's just say it wasn't a bad idea to remove all the glass from the house.

Overall, this was just fine for me. There was a heart pounding hot minute at the end, but ultimately I found it to be pretty slow moving. Bringing so much of Stella's own childhood story gave us a whole second plot that could have been it's own book. And then her love interest at the end seemed surprising to me and even Stella herself.

I'm definitely in outlier land here as everyone is loving it 🤷

I was lucky enough to have both the ebook and the audio and both worked well.
Narration notes:
Laura did a wonderful job. She gave each character a distinct voice.

CONTENT WARNING: murder, ableism, infidelity, addiction, death of a parent, trauma, grief

I’ve been a huge fan of the books Pekkanen co-wrote with Greer Hendricks, so I couldn’t wait to read this one. Unsurprisingly, I found it to be just as engrossing and enjoyable as the co-authored books. I was lucky enough to have gotten approved for both the ebook and audiobook versions, so I switched off between both versions to get a feel for both. The audiobook is narrated by Laura Benanti, and she was a great choice for this book—she perfectly captured Stella’s character and did a wonderful job with the story.

Have you ever read those posts that go around that compare statements made by children and serial killers, then ask you to guess whether the statement was made by a child or a serial killer? Well, I have, and trust me when I say that it’s shockingly difficult to tell the difference. Although not every book featuring a suspicious death that happens in the vicinity of a child reminds me of that post, this one certainly did.

Let me start with Rose, the young girl at the heart of this story. Following the traumatic death of her nanny, which she witnessed, on top of the ugly divorce that her parents are in the middle of, Rose has developed traumatic mutism. She’s nine years old, and a best interest attorney has been appointed on her behalf, to determine what actually happened and make a custody recommendation that will be most beneficial for Rose.

Stella, the best interest attorney, has taken Rose on at the special request of her mentor, a judge who took Stella under his wing. She normally doesn’t take clients under the age of thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood and experience with traumatic mutism, but in this case she agreed to bend her self-imposed rule to work with Rose. This gave Stella a lot of insight into what Rose was experiencing and how to work with her most sensitively, but it also created a lot of interference from her own experiences that could create blind spots. We saw a lot of Stella’s backstory in flashbacks of her own experiences as some of them mirror Rose’s in certain ways.

Pekkanen is a master at amping up the tension and the creeptastic factor of this story. Yeah, I don’t think creeptastic is a real word, but I just made it into one, because it’s the best one I can think of to explain this. One of the first things we learn about Rose is that she collects sharp objects, but Stella immediately notices that there is no glass to be found in the family home—not a window, a cup, a wineglass, a mirror, picture frames, nothing. The house, the tension between the members of the Barclay family (the parents, grandmother, and Rose), the nanny’s actions in the family home, and Stella’s own past and realizations about herself all work together so beautifully to slowly crank the tension up until I was flipping pages and couldn’t go to sleep until I finished reading and found out what actually happened.

I found myself wondering if it could be possible for a nine-year-old kid to be as manipulative as Rose, or if Pekkanen was just making it sound that way, and Rose's words and behavior were just that of a strange and mildly creepy little girl under extreme amounts of stress and not getting enough socialization with other children her own age.

There were a few suspects in the story, and it almost felt like the author was pushing one or two of them a bit too hard, which made me think it probably wasn’t them. I predicted the outcome of the book way earlier than the reveal, but I really liked how the author got us to the end of the story—the twists and the reveal were done beautifully, and the tension was the best part of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, with the whole vibe keeping me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. Overall, I was impressed with this story, and am looking forward to checking out more of Pekkanen’s solo work. I recommend this one if you like mystery/thrillers that are tense, involve an investigator/attorney with personal history that reflects the case, and stories involving complex family dynamics.

Stay tuned for my upcoming #AuthorElevatorSeries Q&A with Sarah on pub day (Aug 6), where we will go behind the scenes of the book and this powerhouse author!

#1 NYT Bestselling author (a long-time favorite) returns following Gone Tonight with her latest riveting thriller, HOUSE OF GLASS. A perfect family with an ideal life turns sinister when a young nanny is suspected of being murdered in this twisty whodunit. (or was it an accident)?

HOUSE OF GLASS is a mesmerizing domestic suspense that combines a whodunit crime thriller with an in-depth psychological study. Its gripping suspense and tantalizing clues will keep you on the edge of your seat.

About...

Set in the Washington DC area, Rose Barclay (age 9) witnesses the possible murder of her nanny, Tina de la Cruz, amid her parents (Beth and Ian) bitter divorce. They are fighting for sole physical and legal custody of their daughter.

Stella Hudson, recently divorced, is Rose Barclay's best interest attorney. She is appointed to counsel the child in custody cases. Due to her own traumatic childhood, she never accepts clients under thirteen. However, the judge believes she may be the only one to help due to her own background and trauma.

Rose has refused to speak and collects sharp objects. There are different kinds of mutism that afflict children. Some in certain environments are called selective mutism. Sometimes, it can occur after brain trauma or surgery. Rose seems to be suffering from traumatic mutism. (After a severe trauma).

Could Rose have violent tendencies?

Stella knew all too well about mutism when she discovered the body of her mother when she was younger than Rose. She could not speak for months.

The grand Potomac, Maryland historical estate with twenty acres purchased for $12 million before the renovation, the added barn, and the two-story shed are home to the Barclays behind its stately iron gates. The property is in both Ian's (dad) and Beth's (mom) names, but ultimately, it was Beth's family's money that made the purchase.

Stella soon realizes the case with this wealthy family is much more twisted, dark, and sinister than she can imagine. Everyone seems to be hiding something and lying.

Who is the victim, and who is the murderer?

Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder:

Beth: Mom
Ian: Dad
Harriett: Grandmother
Rose
Pete: Nanny's boyfriend.

Everyone seems to have a motive.

In light of the latest discovery, Barclays has removed all of the glass in the home after Rose started collecting sharp objects. The removal of the glass symbolizes the family's attempt to protect Rose from potential harm, but it also hints at the fragile nature of their seemingly perfect life.

Stella sees Rose as an intelligent little girl, but she is hiding "The Stranger Beside Me," a book about the serial killer, Ted Bundy, within the covers of "Anne of Green Gables!"

We learn about Stella's complex past when her father died after swerving off the road to avoid a deer and smashed into a tree at the age of 36, and her mother turned to alcohol and drugs.

Why does Barclays seem hesitant to allow Stella to spend time alone with Rose?

My thoughts...

HOUSE OF GLASS is a thrilling, addictive domestic suspense about marriage, betrayal, family, and the secrets that push us to the edge.

Sarah Pekkanen has been a favorite author of mine since the early days of her contemporary titles, co-authored books, novellas, and latest thrillers. I have read them all and am a huge fan. No matter what genre she writes in, you can expect superb storytelling and well-developed characters that will keep you captivated from the first page to the last.

Atmospheric with Gothic vibes—the creepy mansion behind the iron gates and the sense of darkness lurking with every page turn create a chilling atmosphere that adds to the suspense and intrigue of the story combined with the suspecting characters and their hidden motives.

Everyone in the house is a suspect, even Rose, and the parallel story with Stella adds to the intrigue. Stella's own traumatic past and her growing concern for Rose's well-being create a multi-layered narrative that keeps readers guessing. Everyone seems to have a motive. Even Stella is in danger. Rose is a wild card, and you do not know what to expect from her and the silence.

Audiobook...

Drum roll, the audiobook is a must-listen performed by the fabulous award-winning actress, Laura Benanti: Tony® Award-winner and five-time Tony® Award nominee, a highly celebrated stage and screen actress. An outstanding performance! The characters come alive—Unputdownable! Highly recommend the audio.

Recs...

HOUSE OF GLASS is a clever cat-and-mouse whodunit thriller for fans of the author, and those of authors Mary Kubica, Sally Hepworth, B.A. Paris, and Kimberly Belle.

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, #MacAudio2024, and NetGalley for a gifted digital ARC and ALC for an honest opinion.

Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Aug 6, 2024
Aug 2024 Must-Read Books

Young Rose is not speaking. Her nanny is dead after a fall (or a push?) from the balcony. Her parents and her grandmother are keeping Rose at home, controlling everything she does. And, there is NO glass in the house! They fear Rose will do something.

Stella is hired to be Rose's attorney and her first visit to the stately Barclay home is a bit chilling, maybe sterile or even staged. Stella is determined to find out what happened to the nanny and what is going on with Rose.

A story that kept me guessing.

Really well thought out plot and characters. There are twists that you can guess and twists that you cannot. The narrators of the audio book was fantastic as well.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.