Member Reviews
In an effort to prevent my views from being skewed, I generally wait to read reviews until after finishing a book-- and boy was I surprised to see the high scores on this one. Now, many books are far better in print, so I'll leave room for the possibility that I just didn't connect with the melodramatic vocal performance of the audiobook. But the book felt overcooked to me and under-seasoned to me, like it was churned out rather than rendered with any attempt at artistry, with one-dimensional characters, predictable twists, pacing issues, and a plot that was giving Lifetime Original Movie.
I know Sarah Pekkanen is a talented writer, and I know she can deliver a better book. I will still read her next release, but I'm hoping the literary-industrial complex hasn't gobbled her up and that she is still allowed to take the time necessary to put her work through a rigorous development process.
2.5 stars, rounded down
Sarah Pekkanen writes slow burn psychological thrillers which I usually like. But this one was a big miss for me. I spent way too much time rolling my eyes and utterly disgusted noises.
House of Glass concerns Stella, a young lawyer who acts as a “best interest attorney”. In other words, she works to determine what’s best for a child in a custody case. This time, she’s representing a nine year old precocious child who lost her ability to speak after witnessing the death of her nanny. A death that remains unresolved as it’s unclear if she was murdered or had an accident. Stella is uniquely qualified for this assignment as she also lost her ability to speak for a time after the death of her mother. Although I kept thinking she was exactly the wrong person for the job, as her own experiences would naturally bleed through (especially as the circumstances around her mom’s death remains a mystery). My major problem with this book was that Stella seemed determined to go way above and beyond the constraints of her job. She acted more like a detective than an ad litem attorney. And I am so tired of main characters making idiotic decisions that knowingly put themselves and others in danger.
Pekkanen moves the plot along at a brisk pace which helped somewhat. She does her best to keep the reader off balance as to who was behind the suspicious death by throwing in plenty of red herrings. But I thought it was obvious from early on. And the ending was way too OTT for my taste.
There is also a subplot concerning the death of Stella’s mom. This one was also obvious from early on.
I listened to this and Laura Benanti did a fine job as the narrator other than she made the mid60s grandmother sound like she was in her 80s.
My thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this book.
the audio was very good, thanks to the publisher for my free copy. Maybe I’m an outlier but this was fine, not as good as her last one. Some mystery/tension but not enough IMO. Easy enough to listen to, but if you have dozens of books on your tbr I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to recommend this one.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me listen to the audiobook of this story in exchange for an honest review. I really liked the narrator for this one and she did a good job bringing some tension to the story. Overall I enjoyed this book as I do most books for this author. Though some parts were a little predictable I loved seeing how things turned out. Definitely would read more by this author.
I'd call this one a decent beach read. House of Glass has a well-constructed and interesting plot, a couple significant but predictable twists, and features a surprisingly likeable attorney giving the main POV for the story. At the end, it comes together wrapped in a highly satisfying package, which I always appreciate.
This wasn't the best book I've read this season, but it's enjoyable and a fast, easy read, despite the taboo topic of evil in child form. I give it three and a half stars, rounded up. I'm sure I'll see plenty of women reading it at the pool and on the beach this summer.
Whatever the audio equivalent of a page-turner is, this is one of them! I was hooked from chapter one of this whodunnit (or did someone even do it?). Narrator Laura Benanti's reading was well-paced and well-performed. I was completely swept up in the mystery of who, if anyone, killed 9-year-old Rose's nanny, as well as what happened to main character Stella's mother years ago. Author Sarah Pekkanen had me completely in her narrative clutches as I tried to solve the cases alongside Stella. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, BAM! Here come the twists. I found the ending to the mysteries and the extended epilogue very satisfying and would heartily recommend this novel to thriller fans!
It was my first time reading Sarah Pekkanen. A twisted family with secrets, I found House of Glass a dark and twisted story, well-paced, chilling, creepy, full of taut, suspense-filled, riveting moments and had me on the edge of my seat. l liked how the author let us see the insightful thoughts of a 9-year-old girl with secrets and uncontrollable dark impulses that are downright creepy and terrifying. I paired my e-ARC with ALC, which Laura Benanti narrated. It was my first time listening to her. She did a fantastic job narrating, bringing a distinctive voice to the main and supporting characters.
I look forward to reading more of Sarah Pekkanen's books. I highly recommend you grab a copy; you won’t be disappointed. The author's prose was so vividly descriptive that I felt like I was right there as an observer watching the twisted story unfold. I had difficulty putting it down— I stayed up all night listening spellbound.
I want to thank St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing an e-ARC and ALC of House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Thank you, Macmillan Audio for this advance copy in exchange for my review.
Sarah Pekkanen never disappoints.
I love a book about a possible psychopathic child, and the is she or isn’t she throughout House of Glass had me gripped.
I really enjoyed the dynamics of the Barclay family. Stella’s quest to figure out little Rose and solve who murdered Tina was filled with twists and turns I did not expect.
The side plot of Stella’s own family history tied the story together perfectly.
The parallel between Rose and Stella’s selective mutism was something I’ve never seen done before and I thought that was so interesting.
4.5 ⭐️
🎧📖 note: Laura Benanti did a fantastic job with all of the characters and bringing House of Glass to life with her narration.
Stella Hudson is the attorney who has been assigned to 9 year old Rose Barclay’s case to determine the custody agreement during her parent’s divorce. This, of course, is after the unsolved murder of her nanny and resultant traumatic mutism.
“House of Glass” is a fast paced twisty thriller. The primary character is well developed and her own back story weaves through the plot helping you understand her drive. The secondary characters are only developed as far as the Pekkanen wanted to you know to keep the suspense high. The mystery was solved to my satisfaction, but the ending felt a little too buttoned up. Overall a binge worthy listen for a couple of days.
I really enjoyed this audiobook version of House of Glass. This was a perfect domestic thriller read. A whodunit murder mystery, this book kept me guessing until the very end. I also really enjoyed the dual timelines, and interconnected storylines. I would recommend this book to any lover of mystery, thriller, and suspense books. Excellent narration.
I'm a huge fan of Sarah Pekkanen. The first time I read one of her books was Anonymous Girl which she wrote with Greer Hendricks who I also love. I have yet to find a miss from here, and this book is no different. It started out a little more like a detective novel, and I'll be honest that I was hesitant if this one was going to be another hit, but not even a quarter of the way through I realized how wrong I was, and it's not another detective novel. Stella is a children's attorney and man is she a badass. Growing up her life was no cake walk, but she came out of it a reasonably unbroken person for everything she struggles with. Rose, the child, is such a conundrum, and you unwrap her layers chapter after chapter, and I truly couldn't put this book down. If you're a thriller fan and haven't started reading Pekkanen's books yet, you're missing out. I highly recommend this one!
The audiobook is also incredible. With so many details, I didn't have any problem keeping up with where the story was going or with the difference characters or anything. The narrator is the incredible Laura Benanti Tony award winning actress and singer so I would expect nothing than the best from her anyways. Definitely check out her other audiobooks as well!
3.5🌟
Stella Hudson is an attorney assigned to nine year old Rose. Rose's parents are going through a bitter divorce, both demanding sole custody of their beloved daughter. Stella has the most difficult task of determining what’s in Rose’s best interest.
Just to complicate things further, there is an additional issue.
The family’s nanny recently fell out of a second-floor window with dear Rose looking on. And she hasn’t spoken a word since.
As Stella digs deeper into Rose’s life she realizes this is a family harboring a host of secrets and she needs to tread carefully as she continues uncovering more lies!
I’ve been a huge fan of this author but this latest just failed to capture my interest. Was it the storyline? The characters? Though I had both digital and audio copy I chose the audio for the majority of the book. I wasn’t overly impressed with the narrator's performance and perhaps that distracted me from the book itself.🤷🏻♀️
Since I’m such a dedicated fan of this author I will be watching for her next offering. Maybe I’ll just stick with a digital copy!
A buddy 🎧 with Susanne
Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio (less)
Wow! What a wild ride! This book makes you doubt your own thoughts. I loved this one. The psyche of children as well as adults is so complex, that what you see may not be at all.
The story was ok-it dragged a bit at parts. I disliked the narrator and that may have impacted my view of the story.
Thank you #parter @macmillan.audio for the #gifted ALC to read and review.
Talk about bingable! This book was a wild ride with twists that took me way too long to see coming 👀 I absolutely loved it!
This was my first book by Sarah Pekkanen and I was pleasantly surprised by just how quickly I was invested in the characters. Enough to stop and send a message to my friend and tell her that I felt like I’d been punched in the gut at 4% 😅
Expect —> psychological thriller, childhood trauma (past and present), Twisty, Complex Characters, child advocacy
Stella’s job is to observe a child in their environment and recommend best solutions to the court when there are custody disagreements. Her current clients are a puzzle that grow increasingly dangerous. While Stella tries to figure out the what Rose needs, she discovers carefully crafted lies and that everyone is a suspect.
I loved how this book was written. The current storyline with small glimpses into the past. I’m a huge fan of advocating for those without a voice so Stella’s whole job is pretty incredible. This story kept me on my toes and I suspected… everyone. Every single person 😆😆 It was a fabulous ride that I couldn’t put down (turn off). The narrator did an incredible job keeping me hooked.
Thank you Netgalley, Sarah Pekkanen and MacMillan Audio! This book was everything I want in a thrilling mystery. I changed my mind a million times about what was going on and I was wrong most of the time which was refreshing and fun. I felt so connected to the characters in this book and couldn't stop listening to find out how everything would turn out.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook ARC. Your heart goes out to the MC right out of the gate her life is a hot mess and she gets thrown into this case with a family that is just so bone chilling and creepy. Everyone is so shady but I don’t understand why all this falls on a child lawyer and not the police. Why is this investigation on one person. I had no idea where this was going so I give the author credit for that! My complaint is Squirrel rehab is questionable and a weird sympathy inducing source. Another forced choice seemed like the unnecessary ending romantic interest Finally,The final plot twist was a little overkill at that point in the story. Overall it was pretty good but it needed probably a little more plotting out timing wise so it wasn’t so much info dumping at the end.
I have always enjoyed Sarah Pekkanen books but I think that this one was definitely my favorite! Wow I didn't want to stop listening to this! It was sooo good! I will be recommending this to everyone I know to read this! It pulled at my heart with this poor little and everything that she'd been through. I enjoyed the main character, Stella, development was great in that what she was going through with Rose helped her to dig into her past and discover new things about herself.
I don't want to give away any spoilers but 10/10 read this! Wouldn't change a thing!
3.5 stars, rounded upwards.
Author Sarah Pekkanen is known for writing psychological thrillers, and her newest novel, House of Glass, is a real page turner. My thanks go to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the invitation to read and review. This book will be available to the public August 6, 2024.
Our protagonist is Stella Hudson, and she works as guardian ad litem, which is a professional whose job it is to represent the best interests of a child when he or she is the subject, or an important participant in, a court case. Stella’s father figure and mentor is a judge, and a case has come up that he feels Stella is uniquely qualified for. It’s a divorce case, two wealthy individuals squabbling over a child. The child, Rose Barclay, has experienced a great trauma that has left her mute. She saw her nanny fall (be pushed?) out of the attic window and die, and she hasn’t spoken since. By convenient coincidence, Stella also experienced the same condition after a childhood trauma of her own; this is why Charles, her mentor, has asked her to serve.
I’ll tell you right now, I am not terribly impressed with this book. A protagonist who’s been traumatized in ways related to her task at hand is fast becoming a trope, and I’m ready to be done with it. Rose is a prodigy, brilliant in every way, which is also overused, and very convenient for an author that doesn’t want to deal with developmental stages even though the child is a major character. Also, Stella’s job does not require her to solve the nanny’s murder, that’s the job of the cops. Yet the book leads us to believe that this is part of a guardian ad litem’s work.
But the most annoying facet of this mystery is that I had it solved before the 20% mark. That’s just straight up ridiculous. If I had solved it because I am so darned clever, that would be one thing, but I feel as if my cat could probably have done the same. First, a suspect that’s identified very early in the story is almost never the killer, and then of course, the person least suspected by the other characters is often the one that did it. And so at first I waited hopefully for some new spin or plot twist that would make me change my mind, but it never damn happened.
Consequently, I was prepared to give this book a rating of 3 stars, which is lower than my average, but one thing stopped me. I noticed that, however cranky I felt about this transparently obvious mystery, I didn’t want to stop reading it. I could have quit at the halfway mark, skimmed the ending to be certain I was right, and then written my review, yet even though I knew exactly how it would shake out, I still wanted to see/hear the rest of the story.
I was fortunate in having both the digital review copy and the audiobook, and the narrator, Laura Benanti, does a first rate job. That’s worth something, too.
Because of the fact that Pekkanen’s mysteries are beginning to feel formulaic, I am probably finished with this author, but I also think there are a great many readers that will like it. Nevertheless, my recommendation to you is to get it free or cheap, rather than to pay full cover price.
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. The story starts with a nanny plunging to her death and 9 year old Rose may have been a witness to this horrible tragedy but no one knows for sure because Rose is so traumatised that she refuses to speak. Stella is appointed to act on behalf of Rose which she is not too happy about as she never takes on clients under 13 yrs old as it reminds her of her own tragic past. Stella reluctantly agrees as it is her mentor who is requesting this of her.
Stella notices that this case is quite strange and so are the members of this family. The parents are going through a divorce and everything in the house is plastic. There is not one piece of glass anywhere and no sharp objects
As Stella tries to get Rose to open up and trust her, strange things begin to happen and she wonders if Rose is the reason that the nanny fell to her death and now she feels her own life may be in jeopardy as well. This was a great read and Sarah Pekkanen did it again!!!! Enjoy!!!