This is a twisty thriller that had me captivated from the first page! Sometimes I find thrillers to be poorly written however this one was very well written and the character development was great. This wasn't a predictable story, it was completely original and captivating. The surprises were believable, and made me more interested in the story as it went on.

I enjoyed the perspective that this story took, including some of the mixed media that came in towards the second half, such as the reports. The writing really pulled me in at the beginning, and I read this novel in very few sittings and could have easily read it in one. I think the pacing, while a bit slower and more akin to a suspense novel, was good overall. Suspense can only lead so far for me, and as the second half of the book came about, I was anticipating a much quicker pace to ensue.

Sadly where this story fell flat was in its reliance on telling rather than showing. I also think that the premise at times seemed too simple or predictable, and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, which it did not. I think this story could have incorporated multiple perspectives, such as Rose's to amp up some of the suspense and thrill, and it would have perfectly hit the spot.

In general, I think that this is a very accessible mystery/thriller that many just getting into the genre alongside long-time readers could pick up, be sucked into, and thoroughly enjoy, so I will certainly be recommending it to my friends and family.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an early copy of this title in exchange for a honest review.

This book has a bit of that gothic thriller vibe that I love so much. A creepy kid living in a seemingly haunted house, who is obsessed with serial killers and collects sharp objects, is the focus of a child custody lawyer, who is tasked with observing her and making a recommendation as to her custody. I couldn't help but think of Ashley Audrain's evil little girl in The Push. The main incident in this story begins when the child's nanny falls from the upper floor window of their house. After it happens, the little girl stops talking. When the lawyer comes to get to know the family, she suspects that the fall was not an accident, and maybe the little girl pushed her. I thought Pekkanen did a great job building the tension as she slowly revealed little details of the mystery; however, I felt that she got a little off track by trying to connect the lawyer's own childhood trauma to her case. I think she could've gotten away with writing a straight psychological thriller without adding the details of the lawyer's personal life. I still liked it overall and I would recommend it if you are into character-based thrillers.

Sarah has become one of my auto buys. Her books just instantly draw you in! I really enjoyed the short chapters and trying to figure out if she was pushed or murdered. The love story at the end was a bit different but I still really enjoyed the book.

House of glass is an exciting thriller. The backstory is great and it leaves you constantly wondering what happened. I would highly suggest this book if you like thriller. I love Sarah pekkanens other books so I was super excited for this one. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Stella is a best interest attorney appointed to helping children who’ve experienced life altering situations because she witnessed something unfathomable when she was younger and has dedicated her life to helping those in need.

Stella is appointed to help Rose, a nine year old girl who witnessed her Nanny fall from the attic window and plunge to her death feet away from where her and her grandmother were picking tomatoes. As a result of witnessing the horrific accident, Rose has gone completely mute and it’s Stella’s job to comfort Rose and to figure out what happened.

Rose’s parents are getting a divorce; it’s up to Stella to decide who gets custody of Rose, but their house gives off an eerie vibe, and someone is taunting Stella. Is it Rose, or someone else entirely?

This was an addictive family drama that kept me guessing until the very end. I’ve enjoyed Pekkanen’s books the last two years and can’t wait to see what she writes next!

This one had so many levels - a disturbed child, divorcing parents and a death! This one kept me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was paced well and kept me guessing. I never fully committed to my guesses on who was at fault in this story.

While families often look "Perfect" to others, what happens behind closed doors is very different!

The Barclays only appear to have the perfect life. They are a wealthy family living in a beautiful home in DC with their nine year old daughter Rose and Rose’s grandmother. That not so idyllic life is in the midst of a divorce. Best interest attorney Stella Hudson works with children in custody cases to determine what is the best living arrangement for a child of divorce. Tragedy strikes when the Barclay’s nanny crashes through an upstairs window and falls to her death. Rose witnessed the death and is so traumatized that she is left non verbal as a result of the incident. What did Rose do or see? Was her nanny’s death an accident, suicide or murder? The house and the Barclay family are full of secrets and lies. Just when you think you know the facts the truth will come out in a surprise twist. This ARC was provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Whether writing by herself or with her partner Greer Hendricks, Maryland-based author Sarah Pekkanen has a knack for creating complicated, empathetic, curious heroines and putting them into dangerous situations. In House of Glass, her protagonist is lawyer Stella Hudson, who’s tasked with determining which parent is best for nine-year-old Rose Barclay. But Rose hasn’t spoken ever since her nanny Tina fell out of a window and died. Or was Tina pushed? Rose’s father Ian was having an affair with Tina, and she was pregnant. Rose’s mother Beth is guarded and on edge. How is Stella supposed to recommend one of these parents, when one of them could be a killer?

Even though House of Glass takes place in the present day, because the Barclays are wealthy and live in a sprawling old Potomac home, the novel has a gothic, haunted feel. Pekkanen adds touches such as a doll that looks just like Rose, spiraling staircases, and creaky floors to enhance the gothic atmosphere. Beth supposedly has a “glass phobia” that requires all the glass in the house being replaced with plastic. There’s even a creepy old lady—Harriet, Ian’s mother, who walks with a cane after botched knee surgery.

As Stella investigates, the case brings up her own issues—she also developed selective mutism after her mother died of a drug overdose. And as she gets to know the Barclays, she starts to suspect that Tina’s death was murder, and that the killer could be nine-year-old Rose herself.

Creepy kid stories are wonderful, and Pekkanen does a fabulous job with Rose, who reads books about serial killers and likes to collect sharp objects. Her pacing is wonderfully slow; she draws out the tension until it’s brittle enough to snap. At the same time, Pekkanen adds in the complications of Stella’s personal life—her divorce, prompted by her unwillingness to have children; her relationship with the judge who gave her her first job; the truth about her mother’s death. And the specifics of the D.C. locale are a treat for those of us who live or lived there.

Pekkanen has created many memorable characters over the years: Stella, Avery Chambers in The Golden Couple, Jessica Farris in An Anonymous Girl. They all live in D.C., and they’re all inquisitive and supportive. Maybe in her next mystery, Pekkanen can throw them all together.

🔍🪟Book Review:
Title: House of Glass
Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars

What do you do when you're a best interest attorney/guardian ad liem for children, but your current client is mute? Rose Barclay, 9 years old, has traumatic mutism after witnessing her nanny, Tina, fall out of a third story window to her death. Stella Hudson is tasked with determining which parent, Beth or Ian, should receive custody of Rose after they file for divorce. Rose has information that Stella desperately needs to make the most accurate decision, but Rose is not sharing anything verbally. As the story advances, Stella realizes that Rose has been communicating in other ways, but Stella doesn't see it at the time.

Stella not only investigates the parenting of Rose, but she stumbles upon evidence that Tina's death was not merely an accident. Someone in this house has aided in her death, but who is guilty? Rose, Beth, Ian, or even Harriet, Rose's grandmother and Ian's mother? All the signs seem to point toward Rose, but has it been set up that way intentionally?

Although I didn't believe that Rose was the troubled, violent child that she was being portrayed as, I didn't see the true culprit! Great suspense and twist ending! I enjoyed this book and haven't been disappointed by this author yet!

Published: August 6th, 2024

Thank you, @netgalley and @stmartinspress , for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I never considered myself a fan of the suspense genre, but this book has changed my perspective entirely. This psychological thriller is a masterclass in suspense, brimming with unexpected twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat.

The story revolves around Stella, a Best Interest Attorney, who is assigned to advocate for Rose, a nine-year-old girl who may hold the key to solving the mystery: the death of her live-in nanny. Complicating matters, Rose’s parents are embroiled in a bitter divorce, and since the incident, Rose has inexplicably stopped speaking. Stella's mentor believes that she might be the only one capable of breaking through Rose’s silence and uncovering the truth.

On the surface, the Barclays appear to be the perfect family, but as Stella delves deeper into their seemingly idyllic life, it becomes clear that beneath the polished exterior lies a web of secrets. The more she learns, the more it seems that everyone, including Rose, has something to hide. What truly happened to the nanny? The suspense builds as every character emerges as a potential suspect.

This book had me completely hooked from start to finish; it’s the kind of story you can’t put down because you need to know what happens next. If you’re looking for a gripping read that challenges your perceptions and keeps you guessing, this psychological thriller is a must-read.

Thank you to Netgally and St. Martin's Press for the review copy in exchange for my honest review

This is definitely an unusual an excellent book. I've recommended it to friends and family, and they have enjoyed it as well. I certainly didn't see the twists coming.

3.5 Stella, a woman who determines who gets custody of the child in a custody dispute. Nne year old Rose deals with a great deal of stress, her nanny has supposedly jumped out a window, and Rose is now mute. Stella has no idea what she is getting herself into, because there is much going on under the surface. Appearances can be deceptive.

This did pull me into the story, mostly because of young Rose, wanted to learn what the final decision would be. Something that I felt could have been better is to make me feel how the house was scary, cloying. It didn't, it was tell not show.

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

I was hooked straight from the beginning to the end This is a creepy dark and menacing domestic psychological thriller. Why does Rose have so many sharp objects? Why isn't the house not made out of glass and changed into plastic? Why is Rose reading a book by Ted Bundy?

The family is very dysfunctional. There are too many dark secrets lies and danger. I thought that it was a fast-paced read. Everyone is a suspect.

The characters are all well done. My favorite character was Stella. Rose is such a creepy kid. Rose is suffering from traumatic mutism and hasn't talked since the nanny's death. Who killed the nanny?

This is a gripping suspenseful read and I loved the twists.

I want to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press
For the copy of this book and exchange for an honest review.

This book had an interesting premise. It was a book club pick that had me invested enough to see it through which justified 2.5 stars. Unfortunately the delivery fell completely flat for me. I feel like the ideas were planted very early on to make us suspect Rose, which to me made it blatantly obvious it was not her. We also were suspicious of Harriet right from the start, so I was hoping we would get a WOW turn of events and completely throw us off, which was a let down when it ended exactly as predicted early on.

Additionally there was so much extra information that I felt had no substance to the story-pretty much Charles and every story line pertaining to him specifically. His character could have been eliminated and it wouldn’t have taken anything from the storyline. The change up in her sexuality and a random new infatuation with the detective was so random to me and again added no value. But the thing that annoyed me most was the title. It might as well have been called house of plastic or house of plexiglass or even house of no glass would have better fit.

Stella Hudson is a “best interest attorney” assigned to determine the best environment for nine-year-old Rose. Her parents are going through a divorce and the nanny has recently died at their residence. Because of her own troubled childhood, Stella is highly motivated to navigate the trauma Rose has witnessed and determine whether Rose had any hand in it.

The story has all the makings of a great thriller; creepy little kid, unreliable characters, secrets people are tip-toeing around, a large cold house, etc. It begins fantastically, but seemed to lose momentum towards the end and the twisty conclusion was one I did not particularly see coming, but also did not find it super believable. I thought Stella was a strong character as she worked through the mystery surrounding Rose and her family. However, Stella has a backstory that somewhat stands outside of the main one. There were many moments throughout the book where it felt like two different books.

House of Glass is entertaining, but not a story that I think will stay with me.

This is one of my favorite thrillers I've read this year! The suspense is done spectacularly and I had a hard time putting this down! I would highly recommend this! Special Thank You to Sarah Pekkanen, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

For those who like a tense, character-driven psychological thriller with some delicious twists and turns, this book is for you!

Narrator and main character Stella is a positively fascinating character. She is an attorney who works as a Best Interest Attorney. If you don’t know what that is, don’t fret! I didn’t either, but I found it compelling and also I’m grateful that positions like this exist in the world. Essentially, Stella is there as an advocate specifically for the child impacted by this divorce and the things going on in the household. She works independently to assess the home situation and makes a recommendation to the court as to what would be best for the child.

In this case, the child at the center of the case is a prodigy named Rose, who witnessed her nanny’s death and hasn’t spoken since. This comes in the middle of a contentious divorce between her parents, who are rich as sin and live in an opulent glass house. The beautiful nanny, Tina, plummeted to her death from one of those glass windows. Of course before that, she had a torrid affair going on with Ian Barclay. Since Tina is dead, the details of the affair predominantly come from Ian. Never trust a man who claims the affair was a one time thing, amicable when it ended, or that the mistress is “crazy”. All of those can be true, but none of those can be true as well!

In this case, the affair is impossible to deny because Tina was pregnant at the time of her death. Oh, Ian… You really got yourself into it this time. You’d think that the mother, Beth, would be sympathetic. She isn’t, though. The money is actually mostly Beth’s money. Beth herself is fragile and slightly unhinged. She’s deathly afraid of glass ever since the nanny’s death, which Stella and I both found suspicious. Apparently fear of glass is a real thing, though. The poor cook for the house can’t even use a glass measuring cup. Unfortunately for Beth’s new phobia, she lives in a literal house of glass. Ian, being the stand up cheater that he is, is going through the process of replacing the countless windows in the house with plexiglass. This is weird, if you ask me. It’s actually not a house of glass, then. It’s a house of plastic. Somehow this feels claustrophobic even imagining it.

The story has a finite number of suspects, which actually made the mystery more interesting. The timeline between the nanny’s fall and when she was discovered seems to eliminate some of the suspects, but introduce others. Namely, Rose is a strange child and there is something creepy about her. I found myself pondering if it is possible that Rose did it. Others seem to think so, and are working hard to protect her from that suspicion becoming more substantial. Meanwhile Stella has quite a backstory of her own that was an absolute roller coaster.

A tense book that I found full of surprises!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for my advance copies. Opinions are my own.

Thank you to Sarah Pekkanen for getting me out of my reading slump!

Stella has been through a lot - when she was a child, her family was torn apart after the death of her father. Her mother, unable to deal with the loss, turns to drugs and eventually succumbs to them, leaving Stella in a closet, mute from what she has experienced.

In the present day, Stella is a guardian ad litem, who helps children that are going through a hard time. Stella is recently divorced and relies on her friend Charles, who gave her a job when she needed on the most. Stella typically takes on the cases of older children due to her own background, but as a favor to Charles, takes on the case of Rose, who saw her nanny die and is now mute.

I LOVED this book. I had no idea who to trust and I could not wait to find out what was really going on. Rose's parents and grandmother aren't to be trusted, but I also found myself wondering if I couldn't trust Charles and Stella as well. And as the novel progressed, I had to wonder if Rose was really the one I couldn't trust.

While this book didn't make me laugh or cry, which is how you get 5 stars from me, I absolutely devoured in nonetheless. I loved that there was a main mystery but also another side story that really added to the overall effect.

There was a tiny little romance element added into the last 20% that I found completely unnecessary, however overall this is an excellent read and I can't wait to check out more from this author.

This book really shows that some people can be truly EVIL.

Rose Barclay is a 9 year old girl who is suffering from traumatic mutism. She literally can no longer speak. This started for Rose after witnessing her nanny Tina dying and even "possibly murdered." This all occurred in the midst of her parents divorce.

Stella Hudson is the attorney who has been assigned to Rose's case. She has been appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. Stella has her own traumatic childhood that led to her having a period with mutism and is why she doesn't normally take cases of kids under 13 years of age. Her job is to determine which parent is better suited to take full custody of Rose.

As Stella is meeting with Rose's parents and grandmother who lives with them after not fully recovering from surgery certain details around Tina's death, cause doubts as to whether it was an accident or not. While a case against this being a murder has not come to fruition, everyone remains a suspect, even Rose herself.

I really enjoyed this book, especially the audio version. Pekkanen has a way of setting up the scene in the story. It was very ominous and intense which I felt added another layer to the story. I also think she does a great job with character building and development and she had me very leery of Rose till the end. There was definitely a creepy factor to the characters.

I felt like this was an original story line, which is hard to do these days when so many of the same tropes and stories are over used. The narrator, Laura Benanti, did an amazing job with the audio book and I highly recommend that medium to read/listen to this book. The chapters were short and the mystery had me hooked. If you are in a reading slump, I bet this book will be the one to get you out of it!


Thank you St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the #gifted early copy!