In this twisty family drama and mystery, Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney who is tasked with deciding what is best for a young girl, Rose Barclay. Rose's wealthy parents are going through a challenging divorce. There are a lot of factors for Stella to consider: a mystery behind the nanny, Tina De La Cruz's fall to her death, Rose has become mute as a result of witnessing Tina's traumatic fall, and now the entire house does not have any glass. All glass has been replaced with plastic. Why? How did Tina fall to her death? Did someone want to kill Tina? Who should be the caregiver for Rose?

As the story goes on we learn more and more about each character and Stella has to determine who may or may not be telling the truth. This book does a good job of keeping the reader guessing as Stella works through determining Rose's best interest. This is a fast read and the descriptions of the house also add an eerie element to parts of the story.

This is the third novel I have read by Sarah Pekkanen and this audiobook is enjoyably narrated by Tony Award winning singer and actress Laura Benanti. Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this advanced copy audiobook in exchange for an honest review. This book comes out on August 6, 2024.

This was expertly written and full of turmoil, confusion, lies, and tense moments. The characters were all so unlikeable at first, everyone a possible suspect. But as we weeded out what the story actually was, who was involved, and who was just trying to protect the child, the craziest outcome was unfolding.

I don’t read a ton of thrillers, but this one was mostly a mystery with some thrilling elements/suspense. Highly recommend for lovers of domestic thrillers, law enforcement/lawyer MCs, and creepy vibes 😂

I received an advanced reader copy of this audiobook from NetGalley. Although I thought I had this book figured out early on, there were enough twists and turns in this book that kept me really interested. I have never read any Sarah Pekkanen before, so I will be sure to check out some other books by her.

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen - WOW! This book was fantastic! Everything I would want in a thriller! This book kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat from the first page until the very last sentence. So many moving parts but they were all tied up pretty good in the end!

A thriller set in the DC area?! Sign me up! This was my first Pekkanen novel, and it certainly won't be my last.

Things I Liked: thriller full of twists, everyone was a suspect, even the creepy child?! the characters were so dislikable, yet well-written that it made me like them, andddd it was set in the DC area!!

Things I Liked Less: multiple side plots about the MC that didn't bring anything to the story in my opinion, I get the connection, but it didn't make me like them more, in turn they made the story longer than it needed to be.

3.5 stars, solid thriller from Pekkanen! Can't wait to read more!

4.5 stars.

Sarah Pekkanen has done a masterful job of creating an intriguing and creepy atmosphere with this story. Lawyer Stella Hudson has been tasked with determining custodianship of nine year old girl Rose Barclay—daughter of a complicated, wealthy family and eye witness to the suspicious death of her nanny. The family has secrets to protect and everything is not as it seems. While Stella is tasked with determining who Rose should live with upon her parents’ looming divorce, she finds herself in the middle of unravelling a murder—a murder where everyone in the Barclay house may be a suspect. I flew this story. The pacing was wonderful and it kept me guessing all the way until the dramatic ending.

Laura Benanti was a brilliant narrator. She alternated seamlessly between characters and provided a flawless, captivating navigation.

3.75/5.00 Stars

But who really did it?!?
This story line had me thinking it was every character introduced at one point or another.

Thinking about being in Rose's position and not speaking one word for weeks and weeks, is terrifying in more ways than one by the end of this story. With Stella's past history I was counting on her being able to crack Rose easily, but that was not the case. With each family member in question by Stella for the murder of the nanny, she didn't know what to believe was best for Rose. While Stella was not the investigator, she did her best as the Best Interest Attorney for Rose and found the killer in the family along the way. When all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, her duty to protect Rose were never more important.

This book had the fast paced plot of a thriller that kept you engrossed along the way. Partnered with the narrator, Laura Benanti, the final product was stellar.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Sarah Pekkanen for the audio ARC of this book.

I liked this one! It had a good fast paced story with a good mystery. I liked the narrator and found the story interesting and engaging

Fantastic narration by Laura Berlanti... a moody and tense audiobook in which the narration captures the tone and style Pekkanen creates with another strong slow burn suspense read. The story is strongly developed in this story filled with strong twists and unexpected turns in plot (without being overly filled with pointless twists) and the production of the book captures the uncertainty of the main character as she steps into a trouble family, a possible murder, and a child in need of... something. The story handles character development well, merging themes on past and present for the main character while never losing sight of the bigger story and mystery.
A great end of summer suspense read and a perfect audiobook for readers wanting something a little different, a step back from a summer romance read, and looking for a good audiobook.
Thank you MacMillan for another great audiobook!

This was a fabulous audiobook. I think Sarah Pekkanen does a fabulous job writing suspenseful thrillers. While I figured out the twist pretty early on, I still thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I love listening to this narrator, she does a great job making it easy for the listener to differentiate between characters.

The book was a little slow going for my taste. The entire time listening the author is setting it up to make you think murderer is one person, and does a great job making them really creepy. Then she speeds the end up almost too quickly, leaving me with questions. I'd have liked to know the reason or reasons behind the murderer's actions.

I look forward to more of Sarah Pekkanen's books.

this is one of the more popular arcs i’ve seen going around and i really didn’t know what to expect since i wasn’t reading other reviews but i can wholeheartedly say that this is a solid thriller.

there is a complicated FMC which i always love no matter the genre, there was backstory and points in time where the details were so small that i thought nothing of it until it came up later.

by the end of the story i feel like there were no loose strings to be tied and the story ended in a way that made the most sense for the direction we were going in.

Audiobook publishing August 6. Narration by Laura Benanti.

Attorney Stella Hudson is assigned to Rose Barclay, a nine year old who has been unable to speak since seeing her nanny die. Rose's parents are divorcing and Stella's job is to determine the best custody situation.

As part of her work with Rose, Stella investigates the Barclay family and digs deeper into the nanny's death. When Stella is targeted, she knows that she could place Rose with a murderer if she doesn't solve the mystery. This is one of those situations where EVERYBODY's a suspect, including the young girl, so red herrings abound. The side story of Stella's childhood was less entertaining for me, but went a long way to explaining her line of work.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Unpopular opinion ahead:

There’s a lot going on in this psychological mystery.

Rose is a 9-year-old girl who has traumatic mutism brought about by many terrible things that have happened to her or around her. Her parents are divorcing because her father, Ian, has had an affair with her nanny, Tina, who has become pregnant. On the night Tina was to tell Ian she’s pregnant, she falls from an attic window. Or, was she pushed?

Stella is a lawyer tasked with ensuring Rose’s best interests are met and she is placed with the appropriate parent. She herself went through trauma in her own childhood that rendered her mute for a time so she is well-equipped to help Rose.

However, it becomes clear to Stella that everyone in the house is lying and Rose’s behavior is so odd that it leads Stella to wonder if she is the one responsible for Tina’s murder.

My biggest issue is that I’m not a huge fan of this type of first person POV writing style. The story is told from Stella’s POV and is chock full of explanatory self-talk. There’s too much telling vs. showing and the abundance of statements like, “I’m the only one who can save Rose” had me rolling my eyes frequently.

Though the story was interesting, I wasn’t invested in any of the characters and therefore, didn’t really care what happened to them. And, while I could tell suspense was being built, it just fell flat for me. The two plots were promising but the twists weren’t shocking, or even hard to guess.

Had I not listened to this as an audiobook, and able to multi-task, I don’t know if I’d have finished it.

However, I’m very aware that my opinion is in the minority so I know there’s a wide audience for this type of popcorn thriller.

Laura Benanti did a fine job of narrating overall. She spoke clearly and concisely. But, I found the performance to be overly dramatic for my taste.

I received this advanced copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Much like her last novel I read, Gone Tonight, House of Glass is another story that is like starting a puzzle and slowly but surely making your way to completing it. There were so many factors in this novel that had me triple guessing myself and who I thought did it. In every book I’ve read by Pekkanen there is a stressful environment with a high level of psychological tension. Which I love! I’m also always on the edge of my seat at some point during the story and House of Glass was no different. I listened to the audio and finished in a day because I HAD to know “who did it”. This was a very bingeable thriller with an eerie setting and complex characters.

Thank you macmillan audio for the alc via Netgalley!

What is it about rich families and nannies and a crime that make us want to pick up the book?! Because I think behind the fancy cars and the ridiculousness that revolving them, we want to read that everything is not so perfect for them, right? Well, this was definitely one of those thrillers, but oh, so much more. I enjoyed this work, it being my third read from this author, especially when slowly it was built that perhaps the little girl was not your typical little girl.

I don't want to mention more than that because I don't want to give anything away. But this has been a fun listen, and the narration was great. The MC took a bit to get into, and there are actually two storylines alongside each other. I wish there was more about the nanny, but the story moved and kept my attention. It was definitely a thrilling read/listen that lived up to the expectations from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the audio eARC of this great book. All opinions are my own.

Soooooo good! I flew through this. The well written chapters are short and the suspense builds quickly. The twists had me questioning everything. This is a summer must read/ listen.
I was very fortunate to be able to listen to the audiobook. The narration, by Laura Benanti, is very clear, well paced and pleasant to listen to.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to very much enjoy the audiobook version of this ARC.

If you love weird, creepy kids this may be the thriller for you. A family that does not own any glass, a dead nanny and a girl that can't talk.

This is a psychological thriller in which an attorney must determine the best living situation for a 9-year-old girl with divorcing parents. The plot twist is that Rose, the young girl, may have committed a murder. House of Glass sounds good and psychological thrillers are perhaps my favorite genre. I just didn't love how this one was executed. Granted, the premise was intriguing and the house was creepy, but I wasn't sold on the character development. Way too many unnecessary details and predictable twists. Also, for an apparently smart woman, Stella wasn't that bright in her blind acceptance of people's behavior. This was my fourth Sarah Pekkanen book, and honestly, they've all been 2 or 3 stars, aside from a 4-star The Wife Between us. I don't think she'll be on my reading list moving forward.

Read if you like:
😬 Suspense
❓ Unreliable Narrator
☠️ Unsolved Murders
🔎 Everyone is a Suspect
🙊 Trauma induced Mutism

This mysterious book truly is a suspense meets family drama with the case of the mysterious death of the live in Nanny for young Rose.

We find out that truly everyone in this family is a suspect as Stella is trying to do her assessment to determine who Rose should live with on the heels of her parents filing for divorce after the death of their Nanny, who, was pregnant with the husband’s baby.

The main players aka suspects in the Nanny’s death are:
The Wife- who is a bit sketch and afraid of glass
The Cheating Husband- who is also sketchy
The Grandma- who is sketchy AF
Rose- sketchy and has some anger issues

So basically they are all sketchy and to add to it, our narrator is a bit (a lot) too involved and crosses some boundaries that are sketchy, all because of her backstory of being home when her mother died when she was a young girl under suspicious circumstances which led to her having trauma induced mutism too- so her tie to Rose is strong with this connection.

But as Rose’s behavior along with the rest of the family’s behavior gets more and more alarming and weird things begin to happen, Will Stella get to the root and come out alive?

I really enjoyed this book and I felt like the audio was well done, unfortunately it felt like other domestic/suspense/thrillers and didn’t feel like it brought something new to this plot type that hasn’t been done before so while entertaining it will be a more average read for me personally.

Thanks so much to the publisher for my ARC and ALC in exchange for my review!