Fun! I found this much more propulsive and satisfying, overall, than Pekkanen's last book, and it stands on its own as a really well-paced and well-written entry in the "evil child" subgenre of thrillers a la The Bad Seed, The Good Son, etc. The protagonist's occupation was unique and interesting, the characters were all fully realized and complex, and I found myself invested in the outcome.

I found the ending a tad predictable (but maybe that's just because I read too many of these books) and the details a little too... well, detailed, at times (I really don't care what kind of juice Stella makes her smoothies from or what kind of appetizers Charles serves her with wine), as that abundance of exposition and detail did occasionally stall the flow.

An attorney with her own difficult past must determine the custodial parent for a child after her nanny fell to her death from a window in the family home. The child suffers from traumatic mutism. And she is odd. She collects macabre objects and is secretive. Is she hiding something? Fans of domestic suspense might enjoy this.

Stella is a best interest lawyer who’s been asked by her good friend, almost like a father, Charles to take on a special case. Stella only takes cases where the child is over the age of thirteen but Rose is different. Rose is a nine year old that is suffering from traumatic mutism after witnessing her nanny fall through the window into their backyard. Stella knows all to well about mutism because at one point in her life, she also suffered the same. Stella needs to decide which parent will have full custody of Rose but the further she spends time with the family and Rose’s closest circle, Stella realizes she’s may not be getting the full story about Rose nor the family.

I was completely immersed into the story from the beginning. It had my heart pounding as I was trying to figure out what really happened to the nanny, what the heck was going on with the family and who was lying! There were parts that had me so frightened. The author created so many surprises that left me with jaw on the ground! She had me questioning whether the character I thought was the killer, truly had done it. There’s also a sub plot that touches on Stella’s earlier life. Personally I really enjoyed learning about Stella and her life before she became a lawyer. It gave Stella more depth. Here’s where the book lost me: about seventyish percent into the book Stella starts a romantic relationship and I feel like it completely took away from the story. I still don’t understand why the book needed another plot.

This was such a good mystery. From the first page your sucked into this story trying to figure out what actually happened to the nanny. Who is innocent, whose guilty, who is flat out lying or who is a psychopath. You don’t know until the very end. I also appreciated the added mystery surrounding our main character. These characters are layered and I was really interested in learning about Rose. A complex mystery shrouded in family drama. Highly recommend.

House of Glass follows attorney Stella as she determines Rose's custody arrangement in the wake of a divorce that may be the result of the death of Rose's nanny (whew, run on sentence!). It's a twisty, turny thriller and a great vacation read.

A solid thriller with an added-in mysterious backstory for the main character. I didn't love it as much as the author's last novel (Gone Tonight) but it was pretty good. I was satisfied with the reveal and ending.

The things I liked about this book: strong twisty plot, escapist thriller, propulsive read, fast-paced; the DC setting. Things I did not love about this books: the audio narrator is frenetic, Stella's obsession with the case is over the top, too many inconsequential details, the Stella sub-plots don't flow, and found the ending cheesy. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of this book!

3.5 stars - rounded up! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s been a minute since I’ve read anything by Sarah Pekkanen - with the exception of The Wife Between Us - her collaboration with Greer Hendricks. I think it’s been a decade.

This one grabbed me from the beginning and quickly picked up steam through the 50 - 60% mark. This could’ve been a 5 star read for me up until this point. It was fast paced with cliffhanger chapters. I was furiously turning the pages. There were some good twists that kept me guessing, and the unlikable characters added to the entertainment value. They were all just super shady.

I felt like most of this story was too focused on Stella‘s background. Her failed marriage, death of her mother, traumatic childhood - it became front and center and I kinda got lost in the focus of the plot of the book. I was really hoping for more of a creepy, dead nanny murder mystery. The subplots just took over.

The ending took a bit of the 5 stars away as well. It just didn’t “wow” me and could’ve been better.

Even though I didn’t LOVE it - I would still recommend it and look forward to more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced copy to read and review.

I have been a huge fan of Sarah Pekkanen since I read her and her co-author years ago. House Of Glass is the perfect quick read thriller! I have been in a reading slump for a few months and this one brought me right back. The parallels between the main character and the little girl are too good. I love that even when I finally put the pieces together it came as a surprise. I enjoyed this thriller. Perfect for beach reading!

House of Glass was my first book by Sarah Pakkanen. While I really enjoyed the ending, it seemed like pulling teeth getting to there. Just seemed like it dragged and wasn’t much going on throughout the book. The ending really did make up for it though if you can make it there.

I had read a couple of Pekkanen's other efforts when she was writing with a partner (The Wife Between Us and The Getaway) and while they were decent efforts, I enjoyed myself so much more with House of Glass.

When 9-year old Rose witnesses the death of her nanny, she stops talking. Amid divorce proceedings, our main character Stella is sent in to investigate the mysterious death, while also determine the best path forward for custody of Rose.

Pekkanen has done a great job creating a creepy atmospheric thriller, with lots of twists. Overall I really enjoyed this one.

<b>House of Glass</b> is a highly addictive, spine tingling suspense where everyone is in question.

The Barclays are a seemingly perfect, wealthy family. But when their nanny falls to her death and a divorce is imminent with an ugly custody battle on the horizon, a best interest attorney is put on the case to represent the young child, Rose. Stella usually doesn't take cases with kids that are not in their teens, but the judge on this particular case knows Stella is the perfect person for the job. Stella is the type of attorney that is beyond driven and will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of everything.

But when Stella steps into the Barclays home, she knows that this case will be unlike anything she has experienced before. She not only is acting in the best interest of the child, but now is drawn in by the creepy "plastic" home and its inhabitants. Everyone is <I>off</I> and seems to be keeping her from the truth that lies within the walls. Stella feels that she must now find out what happened to the nanny in order to come to her resolution concerning Rose. Who is guilty and who is telling the truth? The mother, the father, the nanny's boyfriend, the grandmother and even Rose herself are all suspects.

Sarah Pekkanen did a great job of creating a setting that was both suspenseful and characters that all seemed like they were hiding something. Even when it came to Stella's personal life, you had to wonder how that all fit in with the case of the Barclays and the nanny's death. I liked that everyone was a suspect and seemed to be lying or at least withholding truths. There was always an underlying tenseness within the characters. Their actions intrigued me. While I didn't feel this was a thriller that was full of twists and turns, it felt more like a psychological study on the characters and their actions. And I love a good "who dun it" with a bunch of questionable characters.

Overall, this was a good suspenseful thriller with some interesting characters that all seemed guilty at one point or another. I was led to believe that all were a little bit sinister. WIth the short chapters and interesting characters, Pekkanen brought a sense of urgency to the story and made it that much more exciting. A good overall read.

This is the kind of book that made me love thrillers! Five stars for the twists, the chaos, and the subplot mystery!!!

While this has an interesting premise, I didn't connect with the plot or any of the characters.

House of Glass is the story of Stella Hudson, a best interest attorney, who has been tasked to see where Rose Barclay should go once her parent's divorce is final. Complicating the matter is that Rose's former nanny plunged to her death inside of the house. Beth, the mother, has removed all glass - of ANY kind, from the house. Ian, the father, did cheat on Beth, with the nanny, but insists it was just twice.

I felt that while Stella had an interesting backstory, I needed more from Rose. I wanted more of Stella-Rose only conversations/interactions. The story itself is fairly straightforward, with no major twists or turns.

I think that while this is an interesting concept, it just overall was not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I did something I rarely do and listened to this partly on audiobook while driving/working and then reading on my kindle when I had down time. I really enjoyed the narration on the audiobook as it added to the suspense and creepiness of the book.
Lawyer Stella had several traumatic things happen to her in her childhood, and now she helps older children (13 and older) as a best interest attorney during divorce cases. This time she has gone out of her comfort zone and agreed to take on 9 year old Rose who is suffering from a case of traumatic mutism. Add in a creepy house with no glass inside, a mom and dad who both seem suspicious and a highly involved granny and you have a very slow burn suspenseful read.
I received an ARC of this title from the NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

What a wild ride! Sarah Pekkanen continues to write thrillers like no other. Can't wait for her next one.

Rose is a nine year old, Ian and Beth Barclay are her parents, and they are currently navigating a divorce, and Harriet, her grandmother. When tragedy strikes the nanny, Stella is brought in to protect Rose and determine which person should have custody of her. The story takes off from there as we are led through several different scenarios that put all parties, Rose, Ian, Beth, and Harriet, as potentially responsible for the death of the nanny. Did she fall or was she pushed out the third floor window? The challenge for Stella is that Rose isn't currently speaking, so she can't hear from her.

Meanwhile, we learn more about Stella's back story, including her own brush with mutism when she was a child after the death of her mother. Stella is fresh off her own divorce and learning to live alone. Her work with the Barclay family brings up memories of her past, and while she is hired to determine which person should have custody of Rose, she is more tempted by the nanny's death investigation. She becomes more embroiled into the investigation and the family and questions everything she witnesses and learns, including about her own past.

I highly recommend this if you are looking for a quick bingeable thriller that will have you reviewing all the suspects until you put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review.

Sarah Pekkanen's House of Glass is a solid thriller that will keep you guessing and second-guessing yourself all the way until its heart-stopping conclusion. Tina, the young nanny to the wealthy Barclay family, is dead, and questions abound. The family's nine-year-old daughter, Rose, has stopped speaking. Parents Beth and Ian are embroiled in divorce proceedings. Grandmother Harriet (Ian's mother) is trying to keep the family together. Enter Stella, an attorney who is appointed on Rose's behalf to determine what is in the best interest of the young girl. Stella's own traumatic past makes her uniquely situated to take on Rose's case - but is Stella putting herself at risk? While I did find parts of House of Glass to be a bit slow and unnecessarily drawn out, overall the novel is a solid thriller that had me questioning every character, and I was pleasantly surprised by the final twists.

Not since the nanny’s creepy death in 1976’s The Omen has a nanny’s death been surrounded with such weird and menacing family dynamics!

Meet the Barclays: Ian, his wife Beth, mom Harriet and nine-year-old Rose. Ian was naughty with nanny Tina, who on the cusp of telling him she was pregnant, mysteriously fell through her attic bedroom window to her death. The case has gone cold, but now Ian and Beth are divorcing, Rose who witnessed the event has traumatic mutism, and Best Interest Attorney Stella Hudson has been assigned to determine which parent should have primary custody.

As Stella tries to do her job, she’s getting subtle and not-so-subtle pushback from the family, including Rose, whose behavior is getting creepier by the day! Stella’s past childhood traumatic mutism resulting from her own mother’s death has made her keenly sympathetic to Rose’s suffering. So why does the girl seem so angry with her, and why is she pocketing those sharp objects Stella has noticed?

One thing is clear, the deeper Stella digs into this family, the more danger she’s in!

I liked this story! The Barclay home was its own cryptic character, the odd family dynamics brought a pervasive tension, Rose’s behavior was super creepy and grandma Harriet was her own enigma. The growing sense of threat to Stella was a nice undercurrent that kept me engaged, and a side story about her friend/mentor Charles added another layer of intrigue. There was a lot to like, even if I didn’t like this as much as last year’s Gone Tonight. I can’t say the ending surprised me, and it did go a little eye-rolly, but overall this was a solid, well-written psychological thriller.

I look forward to seeing what Sarah Pekkanen comes up with next!

Wow! I loved this so much more than I expected to! I had so many theories, and I still didn’t get it right. Pekkanen weaved an eerie and intricate whodunnit that I could not put down, and she wrapped everything up in a pretty bow at the end. I loved how sinister things seemed at times, and how the MFCs past was woven in to relate the little girl in the story. I bounced between the physical and the audio of this one, and the narrator did a phenomenal job. She helped set the scene to make some parts more chilling. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Macmillan Audio for my ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest feedback!

I received a gifted audiobook copy of HOUSE OF GLASS by Sarah Pekkanen from Macmillan Audio!

HOUSE OF GLASS is a combination thriller and family drama. The Barclay family seems to have it made, but when their young nanny falls to her death from the third floor, many questions are raised. Nine-year-old Rose Barclay hasn't said a word since that horrible event. Her parents are the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle, each sure that they're looking out for Rose's best interests.

Stella is the attorney hired to get to know Rose and her family to provide reports back to the court about Rose's best interests. Stella has a history of trauma as a child and went through her own period of mutism, so she's been asked to take on this case. As she does, it soon becomes clear that everyone in the Barclay house has reasons to lie and Stella can't be sure who was behind the nanny's death.

It took me a while to warm up to the characters in this story, but I eventually wound up getting to really enjoy Stella. The story begins with a lot of questions, even a suspicion that Rose herself could have had a hand in the nanny's death. Even as Stella becomes less and less certain of her young client, she still does her best to put the child's needs first and I really appreciated that.

I thought that the mystery element was really well done here and the author did a good job of layering in red herrings and questionable behaviors from many of the characters in the Barclay home. It took a few turns that I didn't expect along the way which is always a nice bonus. I would say this one was a slow burn for the first half of the book as a lot of groundwork was being set, but it really took off closer to the end and it was hard to put down!