3.5/5 stars

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the advanced reading copy!

SYNOPSIS -- 9 year old Rose Barclay is anything but ordinary. When her nanny, Tina, falls to her death and questions arise as to whether or not this was intentional, Rose becomes even more unique: suffering from traumatic mutism and stewing in complete silence. As her parents file for divorce, a "best interest attorney," Stella Hudson, is coerced into taking the case. Though Rose is younger than her typical clients, they have something important in common: Stella, too, has suffered traumatic mutism in her past. As Stella imbeds herself into the complicated family dynamics, she starts to uncover missing pieces of the puzzle. Why isn't there any glass in the Barclay home? Why does Rose seem to be determined to get her hands on a weapon? And what really happened to Tina?

This was a fast-paced and unique thriller! The premise was super interesting and I loved the perspective of a best-interest attorney! We don't usually get thrillers with such insight into a child's psyche, and this was a cool approach to take. The Barclays were a twisted family, and this was a twisted story. There were some GREAT twists, while some were more predictable and a bit of a let down overall. I was truly on the edge of my seat for this entire book; it was tense and suspenseful and riveting. The unexpected side story added a ton of dimension to the book, as well as to Stella's character. I think this could have a bit more succinct and had a little bit wilder of a twist, but overall it was a solid thriller that I really enjoyed reading!

Looking for a fast paced read you won’t want to put down? I got you. House of Glass is the book you’re looking for.

Beth and Ian Barclay are getting a divorce and fighting over custody of their 9 year old daughter, Rose. Stella is a best interest attorney - it’s her job to recommend the best custody arrangement. To determine this, it’s important for her to learn all she can about the family - and as she starts to investigate the Barclays, she quickly realizes this isn’t a typical case.

Creepy and compelling, I didn’t want to put this one down! Thank you to St Martins Press, Netgalley, and Macmillan audio for the free ebook and audiobook to review!

dnf at 50%

i tried. i rlly tried but this is insufferable. i simply could not go on. the characters are so shallow and superficial, it's so excruciating to read about them. this is so incredibly unoriginal and unimpressive. i struggled with the writing and dialogue. i didn't like a single thing about this book. the main character is supposedly a lawyer but is she really? she read like everything else BUT a lawyer. a detective, a therapist, a broken woman with a savior complex. this might have worked if it was written convincingly enough to suspend my disbelief, but it wasn't. i immediately looked for spoilers im reviews and gauged some of the ending and decided that it wasn't going to be for me at all. this makes me so sad because i was so excited to read this because of the glowing reviews, but clearly, i'm in the minority. However, you might still enjoy it, so definitely check out the positive reviews to see if it's for you!

thank you to netgalley and st. martin's press for an e-arc of this book. all thoughts are my own and not influenced in any way.

Kept my attention but got a little too “out there” at the end for me to rate this any higher. But it was overall a fun read.

3.5⭐️ The wealthy, picture perfect family isn’t always what it seems. Stella is an attorney who is tasked to advise on the best living situation for a child named Rose, whose parents are going through a divorce.

I was intrigued by Rose’s story from the start. She is a child who experienced some unknown trauma leaving her mute, without a voice. She also has the need to collect sharp objects…

This story had a very interesting premise, and every meeting with Stella and the Barclay family left me with more questions. The ending had a good amount of thrill and everything wrapped up very well! I do wish I heard more about Rose and her thoughts. It would be nice to dig more into her mind even more. Overall, great psychological thriller!

Okay this was so good! I found myself constantly wanting to pick it up and never put it down. I really liked the idea of the book and haven’t read anything similar in the “thriller” genre. I love the premise of a best interest attorney trying to decide which parent to give custody to and I love the non-verbal aspect to Rose, the child in her case. There was also a side storyline about her mother and the ending ties everything together so nicely in a full circle moment. It was a very satisfying ending to a very good read.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me with a digital copy for review.

Oh my goodness, this book was so good! It had me on the edge of my seat, I was genuinely freaked out at times, and overall I just could not put this book down! Stella, our main character, has been tasked with becoming best interest lawyer for Rose, a nine year old whose parents are going through a divorce. However, Rose suffers from traumatic mutism ever since her nanny fell to her death from a three story window. Communication is difficult and Rose is completely closed off. However, the more time Stella spends with Rose and her family, the more she realizes that this is far from the perfect family and everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s death, right down to Rose herself.

I don’t say this often, but this was a book that I could not put down. If you like scarier, more disturbing thrillers, then this is not one to miss. I wish more could have been done with characterizations, but that is a nitpick and did not detract from the main story, which was compelling enough to have me reading well into the night. Would highly recommend if you like thrillers!

Stella is a guardian ad litem – she determines what’s in the best interest of the child in custody disagreements.

Rose the client. At 9 years old, Rose has traumatic mutism after seeing her nanny fall from the second floor window and die.

As Stell a observes Rose, she notices the young girl sneaking to pick up sharp objects – a shard of glass, a box cutter. But, as Stella coaxes Rose out of her shell she is not prepared for the secrets the entire family is hiding.

This one had me hooked from the very first chapter, and as more got revealed I could not put this one down!

RECOMMEND I’d also recommend The Wife Between Us and The Golden Couple by this author.

Thank you #NetGalley for the complimentary copy of #HouseofGlass in exchange for an honest review.

House Of Glass is a suspenseful, chilling and sinister read. The atmosphere in this book was perfect. It is somewhat of a slow burn, but never did I feel bored, it held my attention from start to finish and I absolutely needed to know the final conclusion.

The characters were all suspects pretty much and my mind kept changing throughout the whole book. I loved how the author dropped little hints here and there to steer you in multiple directions. The tension was slowly building from page to page revealing twists and information at the right time to keep the reader engaged.

I really loved the storyline and the plot. I thought it was well written and well developed. Definitely worth the read.

🎧 The narration by Laura Benanti was really good. She did amazing at setting the eerie and creepy feeling of the house. She was great with portraying the emotions as well. She truly kept me hooked.

𝕽𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖙𝖊 : August 06th 2024

𝕸𝖞 𝕽𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 : ✭✭✭✭

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @macmillanaudio, @stmartinspress & @sarahpekkanen for my gifted ARC & ALC in exchange for an honest review.
House Of Glass is a suspenseful, chilling and sinister read. The atmosphere in this book was perfect. It is somewhat of a slow burn, but never did I feel bored, it held my attention from start to finish and I absolutely needed to know the final conclusion.

The characters were all suspects pretty much and my mind kept changing throughout the whole book. I loved how the author dropped little hints here and there to steer you in multiple directions. The tension was slowly building from page to page revealing twists and information at the right time to keep the reader engaged.

I really loved the storyline and the plot. I thought it was well written and well developed. Definitely worth the read.

🎧 The narration by Laura Benanti was really good. She did amazing at setting the eerie and creepy feeling of the house. She was great with portraying the emotions as well. She truly kept me hooked.

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @macmillanaudio, @stmartinspress & @sarahpekkanen for my gifted ARC & ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I pictured this book as a horror movie in my head. It had all the horror details - a troubled child hoarding glass and weapons. The pregnant nanny who fell out with window to her death - was it an accident or murder? The husband, the married man who got the nanny pregnant and put strain on his relationship with his wife. The wife, who is a bit moody and terrified of glass. And finally. the frail grandmother who will do anything to protect her granddaughter.

Who killed the Nanny and why is the 9-year-old child collecting weapons and reading Ted Bundy books?

So many intriguing characters in his book. I was enthralled until about halfway through. It got to be a bit boring and some parts of it were clichéd. I love the premise of this book. It is an amazing concept. I just thought the execution was lacking. I give it 2.5 stars rated up.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review! This is out 8/6/24!

Thriller. Stella is a Best Interests Attorney who is tasked with deciding the best placement for a child during a divorce. In the wake of the mysterious death of a family’s nanny, the wealthy Ian and Beth Barclay are getting divorced and each is petitioning for full custody of their brilliant daughter, Rose, who witnessed her nanny’s death and since then has been diagnosed with traumatic mutism. Stella, who once suffered from traumatic mutism herself, is determined to help Rose and make the right decision for her. But as she spends time with the family she uncovers some disturbing things - flashes of anger from the parents, Rose’s collection of sharp objects, and the fact that there is no glass in the house, from picture frame panes to new plexiglass windows. Stella’s suspicions and paranoia continue to mount and she begins to wonder if the nanny’s death wasn’t an accident, and if so…who’s responsible?

This took me a minute to get into, but once I was in I was hooked. This is definitely a slow burn with tensions building throughout, and the twist was solid and I did not see it coming. There is a b-story twist about Stella’s own traumatic upbringing that I did see coming from pretty early on, but as it wasn’t the main twist I wasn’t too let down. Overall, a super solid domestic thriller!

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 & 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐰! 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞-𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝! 𝐀 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧! 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫!

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒮𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒽 𝒫𝑒𝓀𝓀𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓃, 𝒮𝓉. 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓃'𝓈 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Stella is appointed as the attorney for Rose Barclay, an 8 year old girl, in her parents divorce. The Barclays are super wealthy, living in their luxurious estate in DC. Along with the divorce, there is a criminal investigation into the death of their live-in nanny who fell to her death from her attic room and so happened to be pregnant with Mr Barclay's baby. Stella sets out to get to know her client, who is struck mute by the tragedy and collects sharp objects. Who killed the nanny?

This story is a suspenseful, fast paced, page turner full of lies, secrets, and deceptions. This is a well written and well planned character driven story, and I loved how the tension quickly built throughout the story. There is an ever present feeling to the story that everyone is lying and nothing is as it seems.

Each of the characters are well developed with their own backstory and behaviors. I honestly thought each one of them was the killer at one point in time in the story and did not figure it out until the very end! Lots of red herrings, twists and turns! Another great story by this author!!!

Highly recommend

This was sooooooo good!!! I was really creeped out. Her description of the feeling in the house and Charles felt a bit lovely and creepy. I am mixing characters and space, but to be honest the house really felt like a character.

I would round up to a 3.5

The first half of the booked was a complete page turner, wonderful twists and turns, I kept changing my mind on who I thought was the murderer!

I had such high expectations with the book grabbing my attention right away! The second half the book i felt fell flat. There was a lot of Stella and her background as a child, (to much so) and less about the true crime that occurred.

There are some intense moments that brought the story somewhat together and some others that i felt dragged on. The ending I felt very predictable and brought some additional plots that were not needed to end the book.

With that being said I will round up on this 3.5 STAR review!

Thanks to Netgalley for my early copy! the book hits shelves on August 6, 2024

I loved this book. It was gripping from the very beginning. I was hooked throughout the story. The ending played out a bit dramatically than realistically hence the four stars instead of five. I would love to read more by this author. I recommend this book to anyone who loved a gripping psychological thriller!

I got an opportunity to listen to this book instead. Here is my audio review:

Audiobook/Psychology Thriller: I liked this book until the ending. It's written in first person, my favorite. It did keep me guessing: he did, then she did it , the kid did it, all four did it.
The ending was disappointing because it could have ended with a good feeling, but instead, after the climax, it was five chapters of stuff.
The narrator was great.
I want to thank Netgalley for a copy of the audio.

A couple in the midst of divorce. A nanny is killed (and is pregnant at the time of death) A creepy mother-in-law and a child silenced by trauma. This book has it all. Throw in a court appointed lawyer who also suffered trauma as a child to add to the creatitivity of this book. I enjoyed trying to figure out who was responsible for the nanny’s death and getting to know all of the characters, If you are looking for the next best summer read, give this one a try.

When Rose Barclay become mute after her nanny dies tragically at their home, Stella is tasked with getting to the bottom of which parent she should live with when they divorce. At their home, Stella notices there is no glass. Is that to keep Rose safe? Is she dangerous? And if not, who is?

This was so propulsive (as I have come to expect from Pekkanen). I was so invested from the beginning and loved the depth of relationships between the characters she was able to build, which is not common in the domestic thriller space. I couldn't wait to find out how the story would resolve, and I loved the different layers of mysteries that were uncovered.