A couple getting a divorce, a dead, pregnant nanny, a child who won’t speak because she saw her nanny fall from the window, and a best-interest attorney who has to help the courts decide who gets full custody after the divorce are the characters we meet.

The divorcing couple live in a huge house, and everyone seems to be hiding something about who could have pushed her out the window.

Could it have been the cheating husband, the scorned wife, the grandmother, or even nine-year-old Rose who hides sharp things in her pockets and room?

Something isn’t right in this house or with this murder.

Tension abounds as you try to determine just what is going on.

Fans won’t want to miss this one. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

House of Glass is a mystery, thriller in every sense. It had me hooked right from the very beginning. A nanny is found dead after falling or being pushed from a 3 story window. Now a 9 year old girl has stopped talking. You have no idea who to believe; the mom, dad, grandmother, the boyfriend, or the girlfriend. It’s impossible to guess who did it. Stella, a child advocate, is appointed to determine who the child should live with in the midst of the parents’ divorce after the nanny is found dead. There are many twists and turns which will keep one reading. If you like mysteries this one is a must read.

This might be my favorite listen of June! It kept me on my toes the whole time and was definitely engaging. I listened to it in two days (which is quick for me), and felt satisfied by the ending and how everything wrapped up (which hasn’t happened in QUITE a while for me!)

I totally thought that this story was going to end differently. Sarah Pekkanen did a great job making me think I had it all figured out. Looking forward to reading more of Sarah's work in the future.

Excellent page turner written page by the author of "Gone Tonight." I loved the twists and turns, none of which I saw coming. Highly recommended for lovers of suspense/thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Pub Date: Aug 6th, 2024
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While I enjoyed this book, I found that it was a little slow in the beginning. The resolution was worth it, but getting to the last hundred or so pages was a chore. I enjoy Sarah Pekkanen's writing: her characters are always top notch and well developed.

4.5/5

I found this one quite enjoyable! I was confident that I had it all figured out half way through the story. However, I started doubting myself, and although some of my suspicions were right, I did not anticipate the ending.

Eight-year-old Rose Barclay remains silent following the tragic passing of her nanny during her parents' bitter divorce. Attorney Stella Hudson is assigned to determine the best custody arrangement for Rose. Stories don’t add up, Stella is determined to help Rose find her voice and uncover the truth. Delving into the Barclay family's hidden truths, Stella uncovers a collision of past and present with startling outcomes. In this murder mystery, everyone is a potential suspect, including young Rose. Could the one Stella is meant to defend be the very person she needs protection from?

The characters were well-developed, each with their own distinct personalities and motivations. The plot twists were masterfully executed, keeping me on the edge of my seat until the very last page. The author’s ability to weave suspense and emotion into the narrative made for an unforgettable reading experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good psychological thriller/murder mystery!

If you enjoyed The Silent Patient, you would definitely appreciate this one!

Creepy house, creepy child, who-done-it vibes. I enjoyed the build up of the story and thought this was really a page turner. I didn’t want to put it down and had to see it to the end. I’m a fan of this author.

House of Glass was overall a great read. I give it a 4.1 rounded to four stars. It was exciting, thrilling at times, well written, and unique. I didn’t know what to believe about the characters for a long time, almost all the way to the end. This was my first Sarah Pekannen novel without Greer Hendricks and I find her to be a solid thriller writer on her own. I only deducted a star because I felt like the ending was just a bit rushed and a lot of things were left to line up in a short amount of time. I might’ve taken a different route myself for the twist, but I still enjoyed the novel and would totally recommend it to my thriller reading followers! Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!

First of all Sarah Pekkanen is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint! I was so gripped by the murder mystery and especially the parallels between Rose’s story and Stella’s past. The selective mutism and witness to a murder/ close family death really allowed for an easy parallel that played out gorgeously and horrifically.

Sarah’s writing has always been amazing to me. While I like to think myself clever in that I can usually predict the mysteries of books before they come out with it, this book, as they all do, tricked me again. Sarah has an amazing way of leading you down a path where you think you’ve caught her, only for her to pull the rug from under you right at the end and twist the story. While I had suspected every character in the story, as Stella does as well, it is so clear she masterfully guided us down this path just to pull a 180 at the end.

I couldn’t put this down, even when I knew I had other things to do.

Incredible! Loved it so much!

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.

This one had me hooked from the very first page! I couldn’t stop listening. We have the mysterious death of a live-in nanny, a nine-year-old who stops speaking after her death, a whole lot of family secrets, and a best interest attorney who is trying to figure out what really happened. I don’t want to say much more because, as is my recommendation with most thrillers, going in as blind as you can makes it that much more enjoyable.

I found this one fast-paced and completely enthralling. The twists were twisty and the secrets ran deep. Everyone is a suspect. Nothing is as it seems. It had everything we all love in this genre. Honestly, I have really enjoyed both of Sarah Pekkanen’s last releases and am really looking forward to what she is working on for us next.

Highly, highly recommend this one on audio. The EMOTIONS that listening to this one made me feel was top notch! Something about a good thriller paired with a great narrator just does it for me.

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.

Another great one by Sarah Pekkanen!!! so many unexpected twists! After enjoying Gone Tonight, I had been looking forward to this book and it did not disappoint! Great thriller! Highly recommend!

In this story we have Stella Hudson, who is appointed counsel for Rose Barclay. Rose is a nine year old girl whose parents are going through a bitter divorce, and she has also just witnessed the death of her nanny. During this traumatic time, Rose has developed traumatic mutism and she cannot speak.
Stella can relate to Rose because when Stella was a young girl she witnessed the death of her mother, and then developed traumatic mutism herself.
Because Rose's parents are divorcing, it is Stella's job to spend time with Rose and her parents to see who would be the better parent for Rose to live with once they divorce. We have the wealthy, uptight Beth Barclay- her mother. Then there is lan Barclay, more down to earth and not so wealthy-her father. We soon learn that lan's mother, Harriet has lived with the Barclay's for several years and is witness to many events that has happened within the family.
Which brings us to the death of the nanny, Tina. Tina fell to her death through her third story bedroom window. Was she pushed? Was it an accident? Or was it suicide? And did Rose witness what really happened that night? Also why are the parents replacing all the glass in the house? Even the mirrors are being replaced...
This book had my attention from the first page all the way through until the last! I loved Stella's character, and felt that everything and everyone else was so relatable and real. I'm so glad that I took a chance with this book, and I cannot wait to read Pekkanen's next! I highly recommend this twisty thriller!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the ALC, and St. Martin's Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Sarah Pekkanen is an auto-buy thriller author for me because of his ability to write twisty plots with unnerving suspense and foreboding. House of Glass is told from the POV of Stella Hudson, a best interest attorney, who is assigned to the case of Rose Barclay, a 9 year old girl who recently witnessed the death of her nanny and have developed trauma-inspired mutism. Stella feels drawn to this case specifically due to her own childhood trauma and temporary mutism that she developed. She must spend time with Rose, her parents, her grandmother, her tutors and teachers to be Rose's advocate in a messy custody battle after the tragic accident.

The minute Stella steps into Rose's home, she knows something sinister is lurking... there is not one piece of glass in the home and Stella learns this is because Rose had previously collected sharp objects and even brought them to school as a weapon. As Stella interviews the family members about the nanny's death, she suspects each member is telling lies to cover the truth and is suddenly concerned for her own safety as strange things begin happening in her personal life as well. Stella urgently works to uncover the truth but everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. Even Rose.

Narrator Laura Benanti did a fantasic job in building suspense and urgency to her performance as the book propelled towards a pulse-pounding ending. I truly wasn't sure WHO was responsible and was immersed in the audiobook for hours at a time! Connecting Rose's case to Stella's own childhood (the unsolved suspicious death of her mother) was a fantastic way to call Stella's own bias and perspective into question as well, and I really loved the endings to both plotlines. Fantastic thriller that is a must-read or listen.

In HOUSE OF GLASS Ian and Beth Barclay are getting a divorce. Who will get custody of their nine-year-old daughter, Rose. Stella Hudson, counsel for children (usually teenagers) in custody cases, is a best-interest attorney who represents a child in a custody battle. Will Stella represent Rose? Also, the newly-pregnant nanny, who worked for the Barclays, has died. Did someone kill her? If so, who? I read on to find the answers to my questions.

To say I am interested in this thriller is an understatement. My eyes are riveted to the words I am reading. I like the way the two stories, Rose's and Stella's, are woven throughout the book. Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for giving me the chance to read and review an advance reader copy of HOUSE OF GLASS.

This was one of my favorite books by this author. I have to admit that I considered not finishing it because I am not a fan of creepy children in stories but I am so glad that I did. This was a fast-paced novel that had me questioning my instincts.

Following her nanny’s fatal fall from the upstairs window, nine-year-old Rose stops speaking. Did she have something to do with it? Signs point to maybe.

Attorney Stella Hudson is assigned to the case to explore the goings ons of the home and see if the child should be protected from her parents or possibly from herself.

Mix in Stella’s childhood trauma and the fact there is no glass in the home, and every chapter becomes creepier with more and more questions gurgling up until the very end.

In terms of pacing and some of the details, the story was a little bit reminiscent of The Housemaid for me, though making a kid at the center of a whodunit adds a whole other sinister element.

Though this wasn’t my favorite, the author is an auto-read both as a standalone and her books with Greer Hendricks.

Sarah Pekkanen's latest HOUSE OF GLASS is a strong domestic thriller that publishes August 6, 2024. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, and her job entails getting to the heart of child custody cases and figuring out who would be the best custodian for the child. After a case where a young nanny is either murdered or accidentally killed, the daughter Rose is experiencing traumatic mutism and the parents are divorcing. Stella takes the case and uses her instincts to not only figure out which parent would be the best for Rose but also solve the nanny's murder and figure out what happened to Stella's own mother.

Stella is an excellent protagonist and somewhat unique as a best interest attorney. She's keen. She's extremely observant. It's almost like she missed her calling as a detective. But like many protagonists in this type of space, she has her own demons from the past that she hasn't yet overcome. I really liked following Stella as the main character, and I would love to read more books about this type of role.

Do you like a creepy kid? This one has creepy kid Rose. Chunks of this book reminded me of THE PUSH.

Both parents in this book aren't redeemable, but the character of Stella makes up for that. The father's mother Harriet has some great scenes though.

Some parts of Stella's story seemed a bit slapdash (her ex, her new love interest). I'm not a reader that needs a lot of twists in my domestic thrillers, and I didn't mind that nothing in the narrative truly caught me off guard. I think that's GOOD and is an indicator of a well-written story because seeds are planted in advance. I feel that the story would have been strengthened for Stella to have a comrade in the police department to work the case with vs. the police giving up on the case so that Stella is doing everything solo. Stella comes across a bit too superhuman with all her roles (attorney, case worker, detective, investigator, etc.) in infiltrating the family. Plus, I think Stella having a collegial banter instead of being in her head so much would have been more interesting.