When I started this read I was so engaged. I just couldn't wait to learn more about this creepy girl. But sadly I feel like we didn't get enough of Rose. I feel like it was a missed opportunity as I wanted more of her. The parents were just lack luster characters. I honestly didn't care what they had to say. I found them unlikable. And I have to be honest I guessed the big twist pretty early on. So this was not a bad book by any means ... it was just okay. Overall an average read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

I have read enticing plots summaries and glowing reviews of Sarah Pekkanen’s novels, but this is the first one I have read. I loved the premise of main character Stella as a BIA- Best Interest Attorney- tasked with recommending custody arrangements for a traumatized child after the death of her nanny. The impending divorce results from the father’s affair with the nanny, and it seems that everyone in the family could be a suspect if nanny Tina died by murder and not accident. In the course of interviewing the family members and all involved with Tina, BIA Stella is consequently also discovering the details of the nanny’s fall from a third-story house window.
I was immersed in the story, but less so in the several subplots involving Stella’s past and personal life that developed. I think mostly they detracted from the mystery and developing the characters vividly. But overall it was an engaging story with frequent suspense.

This book kept me guessing until the end for sure. There were so many layers and twists that it felt like a wild ride.

I will say FOR ME some of the things the MC does didn’t make sense. And that took me out of the story bc I was analyzing that decision. But that’s my only slight complaint.

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my honest review.*

Stella is an attorney appointed to look out for the best interest of a 9 year old while the parents are going through a nasty divorce. At every turn, the parents and grandmother thwart Stella's attempts to get to know Rose and find out what would be in her best interests. Another wrench in Stella's job is that Rose has been non-verbal since her nanny died by falling through an attic window. And Rose may or may not have witnessed the fall and the death. This is just one of the answers that Stella can't get to. While the family is divorcing and Rose is non verbal and they are recovering from the loss of the nanny, they are slowly switching all of the glass in the home out for plastic of some sort.

Stella is also coping with the crappy time she had growing up and almost witnessing her mother's overdose and, naturally, taking on this case helps her start to resolve those feelings and be able to investigate the overdose.

The family comes off very unlikeable and manipulative in the book. There is a good pace and the writing was pretty great. I listened to the audio version and the narrator did a great job with the suspenseful parts. It kept my attention and my heart raced a bit when the twists were revealed and when creepy things happened with Rose.

Worthy read. Mystery, thriller with a great story line. Stella helps teens with struggling family situations- helping to heal a childhood trauma of her own. When she is asked to help a nine year old with a divorce and unsolved death of the family nanny, she reluctlantly accepts the challenge. This in turn brings up bad memories of her past and possibly puts her life in danger.

I think I'm one of the very few people that actually enjoys the Evil Child trope so I really had a fun time reading this. There were so many red herrings that I was starting to second guess EVERYTHING the main character was experiencing. I genuinely did not like a single character in this book but it made it more interesting since I wasn't actually rooting for anyone to be "good" or "evil". Overall this was a fun thriller about a stupidly rich family full of selfish people. It was nothing to write home about, but I had a good time regardless.

5/5 Stars

I have completed this book but as it is published by an imprint of St. Martin's Press, I will be withholding my thoughts until they meet the demands of the boycott.

2.5 stars

Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney. By recommendation of her mentor/father figure, Charles, she takes a case with the Barclay family who are divorcing. Though Stella doesn't typically accept cases with children under the age of thirteen, she feels a bond with Rose Barclay who is suffering from traumatic mutism after the death of her nanny. Stella herself had traumatic mutism for a period after her mother died. She soon finds that this case won't only be about making a custody recommendation to the courts. It will be about solving the mysteries surrounding the nanny's death.

I have really enjoyed thrillers from Sarah Pekkanen in the past, but I found this story very predictable. I want to be surprised and entertained when reading a thriller. I was neither. The person who killed the nanny was very obvious from the beginning. I even guessed most of the twist when it came to Stella's own side story. The audiobook narration was extremely painful. I almost DNF'd the book 60% in because the audio was so bad. I should have. I would give Sarah's books another try, but would not recommend House of Glass to others.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This books have the hallmarks of a good thriller - short, tense chapters, multiple characters who could’ve done it, a narrator with a traumatic past and a good twist at the end, although it wasn’t entirely surprising. I’m rounding a 3.5 to a 4 because I really like this author.

House of Glass is a fast-paced psychological thriller about a wealthy DC-area family who’s nanny who fell through a third floor window and a child with traumatic mutism.

As someone who grew up near the book’s setting, the lush, vivid descriptions of the area felt so real to me, adding a layer of authenticity. I was fully immersed in the world, especially during the heart-pounding scene in Shark Alley at the Baltimore Aquarium (if you've ever been there, you’ll know why that made my heart race. Google it if you haven’t!). The anticipation builds with every chapter, peeling back layers of the Barclays’ secrets and Stella’s history. While the pacing occasionally falters, the October setting makes it a perfect read to get you in the mood for fall—and all the spine-tingling twists that come with it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

*House of Glass* is a compelling psychological thriller that explores themes of trauma, family, and the unreliability of perception. It follows Stella, a woman haunted by her past, who becomes entangled with the Barclay family while investigating the disappearance of their daughter, Rose.

The story has a tense, slow-building atmosphere where nothing is as it seems. The characters are complex and multilayered-Adding in childhood trauma and showing just how far a loved one would go to protect each other.

Solid 4 stars!

A little heavy handed and a bit predictable, but with the fast pacing and my need for a definite answer, I was able to read this vey quickly (it helped that I was in the car for 4 hours that day).

There was a part of the story felt out of place just for the sake of adding it -- it has to do with the main character and a romantic interest.
There's also A LOT of side plots. It honestly started to feel like too much.

Stella is a lawyer that specializes in deciding the best interest for custody of children. She's given a case where a wealthy family is going through a divorce and both parents want full custody of their daughter Rose. The family recently lost their live-in nanny after she fell out of the 3rd story window and died on the pavement. Since that moment Rose has stopped speaking; she has traumatic mutism. Stella is perfect for this case because she too experienced traumatic mutism at a young age after she found her mom dead from an overdose. (as I'm summarizing this story I'm really noticing how ridiculous this all is).
There is NO glass in Rose's house. We're told this is because the mom developed a phobia of glass after the nanny died. (This actually makes the title a little confusing).
Not only is Stella a best interest attorney, she's an amateur detective cause she's over here trying to figure out how the nanny died -- was it an accident or was she pushed? Everyone's a suspect and everyone is lying.

I don't recall every saying this before but I think this story would have actually been better if we had less backstory. All of the details and revelations in Stella's life took away from what was happening in the present with the family. I really only cared about what happened to the nanny and if Rose had a deeper issue.

4.5 stars

This was so good!! It immediately hooked me in from the very beginning keeping me awake way past my bedtime. Kids are so creepy to me and this was so creepy. I actually didn't guess the culprit which made this fun though with many creepy kid thrillers I kinda wish the ending were different. But that's okay. This literally had my heart racing at times. Definitely recommend giving this a read.

Thank you netgalley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

A house of glass, except that there is no glass, it is all made of plastic. Murder, lies, secrets. Trust no one. This kept my interest until the very last page.

A perfect family or is it all just for show. When the Barclays decide to divorce things get complicated. The nanny has died and it has yet been determined whether it was an accident or if someone pushed her. Rose the daughter witnessed her death but has remained mute since the incident. A judge has appointed Stella Hudson to serve as counsel for the young girl until things are settled. Stella soon learns that this case is far more complicated than she could have ever thought. She soon begins to uncover secrets but there are more to be dug out. Follow as Stella looks at everyone in the family in hopes of learning the truth. This read had me on edge the whole way through!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a readers copy of this book. My reviews never contain spoilers and are freely given.
A case worker is assigned to determine custody of a young girl whose parents are divorcing. Her nanny fell (or was pushed) through a window of the home and died. She is told the child witnessed the tragic death and hasn’t spoken since.
With a slew of contradictory stories from the parents, grandmother, employees, and acquaintances the case worker will need to parse out the truth to determine what is best for the child. The young girl exhibits some concerning behaviors of her own.

This is a compelling story, as you work through what is truth and who is lying. Definitely a good read for anyone who loves enigmatic characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC

House of Glass was nothing special for me. I didn't really care for most of the characters. Nothing intrigued me very much. I strongly prefer her previous novels co-written with Greer Hendricks.

I enjoyed reading House Of Glass a book I had been excited to read since I have loved the Sarah Pekkanen's previous book and her collaborations with Greer Hendricks. This book fulfilled my expectations - a captivating psychological thriller that kept me engaged and flipping the pages, trying and failing anticipate what would be happening next...
This book starts off with attorney Stella Hudson being appointed by the court to figure out the best interest of temporarily mute Rose Barclay. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney who represents children in custody cases. And Rose's case is extreme as her parents' custody battle comes right on the heels of her nanny falling to her death (or was she pushed ?) - as traumatic incidents pile up for reserved and shut off Rose Stella needs to find a way into her life to figure out how not to hand her to a potential murderer.
Being a survivor of childhood trauma herself once Stella steps foot into the Barclay's lives, so many old wounds are opened for her. She usually sticks to cases involving teenagers for exactly that reason. But having overcome trauma induced temporary muteness herself she is determined to figure out who murdered the nanny, to provide Rose with the best possible future. But literally everyone is a suspect, the father, the mother, the grandmother, the boyfriend, the piano teacher and maybe Rose..?
There's a dark and gloomy atmosphere around this house, but what is causing it? Another unsettling discovery is that the family has removed every trace of glass in their house since the incident. Going as far as to replace windows and drinking glasses with plastic.
What are they afraid of? And what are they hiding? Ahh so many twist and turns!!

Loved this book! Loved the plot and it kept me hooked highly recommended. Was a quick read for me and hoping to read more from this author.

I just finished reading my second book by Pekkanen, and I have similar feelings about this one as I did about the one she released last year around the same time. The book is a mystery or thriller, although those genre titles are confusing to me. The story follows Stella, a best interest attorney who is trying to determine who 9-year-old Rose will live with after her parents' divorce. Rose has suffered a trauma-induced mutism, which makes Stella's job harder. The trauma in question is the cold case of the death of Rose's nanny, who fell from a third-story window, possibly pushed. During the investigation, nothing is as it seems, and it brings to light Stella's own childhood trauma.

The beginning of the book was great, with a lot of wonderful build-up. It seemed like we were heading into the gothic with creepy house vibes, but that didn't pan out, although the house's creepiness was mentioned quite a bit. I thought I had figured out the whole mystery after the first chapter, as everything was leading to a certain conclusion, but I'm glad that it took a turn and you can't rule anyone out as a murderer.

What dragged the story down is the subplot of Stella's story. While the backstory is interesting, it wasn't necessary and it messed with the pacing of the book itself. Then there's a weird and random romance that was added at the end, and the ending was just a bit off. The character of Stella is great, and it would be a great premise for a series, but adding all the extras to a story that could be very intense instead dragged the story down. It's still quite good and worth the read, and I would love to read more like this because the premise was amazing!