I'm sad to say that I didn't love House of Glass. I have enjoyed other books by this author. I thought the book went on too long. I didn't enjoy the storyline of Stella and Charles although I understand why the author included it. I just felt it made the book too long. I didn't love the narrator. It just wasn't my favorite

Stella is working with the Barclays, a rich DC family, on their custody battle that is following their nanny dying from falling from the top floor of their home. Their daughter, Rose, has gone mute and that is similar to what happened to Stella as a kid. Stella has an uneasy feeling every time she is at their home and the grandmother that lives there as well gives her the creeps. Something else she finds strange is that anything that is glass has been replaced with with thick plastic. Although they look like the perfect family from the outside, they are farm from it.

This book had me guessing the entire time! As soon as I thought I figured out who did it, something would happen that made me second guess myself. There are a good core group of potential suspects to keep up with and I did not think that there were too many, just the typical suspects. The mom, the dad, the boyfriend, the kid, and the grandmother who also lived in the house. I did think the relationship between the dad and his mom was weird with how much she was going to bat for the mom to have sole custody instead of her own son. Overall, it was a great listen!

I haven’t read any of the other books by this author but I hear good things. This book was very good! I was very invested in the plot and characters. I will say I felt there were too many characters in the book and hard to keep track of who’s who but I still enjoyed it. The ending really surprised me with how abruptly it ended. Will recommend

✦ House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen ✦
★★★★★ 5/5 stars!
Pub Date : Aug 6, 2024

✦ Read if you like :
-nail biting suspense
-creepy houses
-creepier kids
-traumatic mutism/weird phobias
-DC setting
-everyone is a suspect- literally EVERYONE
-short, bingeable chapters
-Books that would make great bookclub or buddy reads
-The Turn of the Key but 100x better!

✦ My Thoughts
Sarah Pekkanen was one of my first favorite thriller authors. Am I her biggest fan? Probably😍 I have read everything she's written (both solo + co-authored) & her 2023 title Gone Tonight was one of my top reads last year. Excited is an understatement when I got this new release!

Eerie, unsettling, & so so good. I couldn't put this book down. I DEVOURED IT.

With short, binge worthy chapters that kept me on the edge of my seat, palpable suspense & writing that gets you completely invested- this is the recipe for a perfect page turner.

I love how this book was like piecing together a big puzzle - you just have to keep reading to see how the big picture comes together.

House of Glass is a 10/10! I am only sad that we have to wait until August for it to hit the shelves! Add this to your TBR RIGHT NOW! This is a must read for thriller lovers - trust me, you aren’t gonna want to miss this one!

thanks to @netgalley, @macmillan.audio , @stmartinspress, + @sarahpekkanen for the opportunity to read this arc ◡̈

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy.

I really enjoyed this book even though I knew “who did it” within the first few chapters. The audiobook was excellent. I highly recommend the book and the audio.

This is a interesting slow burn psychological thriller for fans of mystery and creepy kids. I liked it. Although I don't know if it is one I'll remember or reread, it kept me engaged throughout. The audio narrator was great, I always like her work and she did excellent with the pacing and inflections of this one.

A big thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook. Several suspects, if in fact it was murder. A gripping, thrilling, shocking, and suspenseful novel with an interesting premise that will keep you guessing from the start.

The House of Glass is a psychological thriller that kept me on my toes trying to unravel its mystery. Stella Hudson is a best-interest attorney in custody cases. She does not usually work with young children, however, due to her unusual connection to the child, she makes an exception. Rose Barclay is a 9-year-old girl who stopped speaking after her nanny fell to her death. Now her parents are in a bitter divorce and Stella must recommend custody arrangements. To make her determination, she needs to know what really happened to the nanny. Was it a tragic accident or was the nanny pushed? More troubling is who could have pushed the nanny.

The narrator, Laura Benanti, did a good job conveying Stella's growing emotions and concerns as the story progressed. The story unfolds slowly, giving the reader time to question who to trust. I had no problem staying invested and enjoyed the slow build-up of the tension. With an unexpected twist, and our main character having surprising revelations in her own life, the ending payoff was worth the wait.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

Who killed the pregnant nanny? Despite husband and wife throwing suspicion on each other and filing for divorce, the police rule it a cold case. Child interest lawyer Stella is assigned to represent the 9 year old child who is now suffering from traumatic mutism in a contentious battle for full custody of Rose. But what if it was actually Rose who killed the nanny? Stella must try to gain the trust of a child who won't speak and has a weird habit of collecting weapons. She also has to navigate her divorce and learning the truth about her own mother's death, which resulted in her own case of traumatic mutism.

Pekkanen cleverly weaves Stella's past trauma into Rose's current situation. She infused sinister and haunting details into the story and it had me hooked.

I really enjoyed this book as it unraveled, and the audio was really good. Thank you the publisher and netgalley for the ARC!

I loved the mystery in the book and how it relates directly to the main character. I also loved how I really thought it was the little girl who did it the entire time!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney who looks out for the children in custody cases. She is assigned to work with Rose Barclay who witnessed the death and possible murder of her nanny. Rose hasn't spoken since the death and has been collecting sharp objects. Stella also had gone mute for months after the death of her own mother when she was a child. Lots going on as Stella works to figure out what is in the best interest of Rose while also untangling her own history.

Laura Benanti did an excellent job narrating.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
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After reading and loving Gone Tonight, I was super stoked to get an early copy of House of Glass! I was able to listen to this one while simultaneously read it on my kindle which is a huge favorite of mine.
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Stella a best interest attorney is working with Rose Barclay during her parents' divorce after the death of Rose’s nanny. Here’s the catch, Rose is now mute, and this has “creepy kid” vibes written all over it and I really enjoyed following this story. Throughout the entire book I didn’t know who to trust and I was constantly shifting suspicion as to what I thought really happened.
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Told in a dual timeline, the reader gets a glimpse into Stella’s past and in the present day with Stella and Rose. I really loved how much I couldn't figure out what was going on with the Barclay family. They were all so strange and shady. The entire thought proves behind the "glass" was a great little touch. House of Glass is more of a slow - steady paced book. It held my attention throughout. The ending is more fast paced and thrilling. I really did not see that coming, not one bit though once I thought about it, it wasn't overly shocking either.
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I listened to this one via audiobook. It was narrated by Laura Benanti. I though she did a phenomenal job at driving home the eeriness of the house and really nailed those suspenseful moments out of the park. I am highly recommending listening to this one!
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House of Glass will release on 8/6, be sure to get this one - it is very very good! Mystery / thriller fans will be loving this one. Huge thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Pekkanen, MacMillan Audio and St. Martins Press for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank You NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the audiobook. The narrator did a good job on this book. But, To be honest I did not really enjoy this one. I had it figured out within the first 25% of the book and though it was a short 350-ish pages, it felt like it was never ending. I’ll give this author another shot, hopefully I like the next.

Wow! This thriller was fantastic! I throughly enjoyed this one. The characters were well-developed, the plot was bi-structural and the twist was not expected! This story was about a little girl with traumatic mutism, named Rose. Her nanny fell out a window and was killed and she was witness to the event. Enter Stella, the lawyer trying to figure out the safest place for her to reside due to an upcoming divorce shortly thereafter. The closer she gets to Rose’s mother, father and grandmother, the more she realizes the nanny may not have fallen, but pushed. But by who? This book will make wonder, creep you out in the best way and somehow is still a “feel-good” story. It won’t take you long to read this one, you won’t be able to put it down! Thank you @netgalley for an advanced audible copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

5 enthusiastic⭐️

I have contradictory feelings about this book. I was both hooked and curious but ultimately underwhelmed by most of it. The main mystery itself was meandering and lacked any true menace or suspense. I didn't care at all about her backstory with her found father and thought it was ultimately unnecessary—I probably would've liked it more if the plots connected in some way. I kept hoping for a big twist, which is the only reason I kept going.

The narrator was okay, and I do think fans who don't read a lot of suspense will like this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me listen early!

Another solid thriller by Sarah Pekkanen!

The Barclay’s are a wealthy DC family in the middle of a divorce. Stella is appointed to decide which parent will gain full custody of their daughter Rose. To make things more complicated, Rose does not speak following the traumatic death of her nanny, who fell from the third story of the Barclay’s house.

This book was full of suspense and kept me on my toes. I kept flip-flopping on how I felt about Rose. Stella was a great main character and while I enjoyed her back story, sometimes it took away from the suspense of the current plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies in exchange for my honest review.

Stella Hudson, a child psychologist and lawyer is assigned a case that is full of red flags from the start. The wealthy Barclay family find themselves at the epicenter of a case when their daughter’s nanny is found dead after “falling” from a third story window. Now their daughter Rose has gone mute. Stella is there to serve Rose and get to the bottom of the nanny’s accident. But, something sinister is at play? Is Rose really a victim in the tragedy surrounding her, or is she the culprit?
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I’m a huge fan of Sarah Pekkanen. She’s an auto buy author for me and she certainly served up a great read here. Full of twists and turns I truly never knew who to suspect. I love her domestic thrillers and this one might be my new favorite. Bravo!

A twisty, suspenseful domestic thriller, I could not figure out who to trust in Sarah Pekkanen's latest, House of Glass. The Barclays live a life of privilege, but dad Ian and mom Beth are at the start of a tense divorce - both want full custody of their nine-year old daughter Rose. When their nanny falls out a house window to her death, the police suspect it was not an accident. The incident left Rose traumatized and unable to advocate for herself, so Stella, our protagonist and court-appointed lawyer, must step in and determine the best custody arrangement for her. But Rose collects sharp objects, all glass is removed from the house, and no one wants Stella to be alone with Rose for too long. Stella knows something else is amiss, and she struggles with her own past as she risks everything to find the truth. The ending was so satisfying!

Stella is in charge of determining the best interests of children in nasty divorce proceedings where a decision cannot be made amicably. Her newest client is Rose, a girl who recently witnessed the death of her nanny in her home. The nanny somehow fell through an upstairs window to her death. The circumstances surrounding it are very suspicious and the case is not settled yet. Because of the horrific incident, Rose has become mute and will not speak to anyone. Since she cannot advocate for herself, Stella needs to get to the bottom of what happened and who is responsible for the nanny's mysterious death. She needs to spend time with each family member and determine the relationships that are beneficial for Rose, while Stella is also doing her own covert investigation.

This book was absolutely amazing!!! I have loved the books that Sarah Pekkanen has co-written and I am a huge fan of hers individually too. This story gripped my soul from the very beginning and did not let go until the book was finished. The story is phenomenal and well-thought-out. There are so many suspicious characters that it is hard to know if anyone is being genuine. The writing is perfection and a complete thrill. I highly recommend this book!

2.75 ⭐️

The premise sounded so intriguing…

Nine-year old Rose stops speaking after her nanny (who is also her father’s pregnant affair partner) plunged to her death through a window. Attorney Stella Hudson is hand-picked by her legal mentor to represent Rose’s best interest in her parents’ custody battle because she herself suffered from traumatic mutism following the death of her mother.

Is her creepy but bright voiceless client a traumatized witness, or did she push the nanny herself? If only Rose could communicate!!

Except… she can. She could WRITE the words she cannot say. Whether she’s a secret psychopath or a girl in need of help, surely she would want to write down her own version of what happened. But nope. And wouldn’t a child prodigy at least carry around a notebook so that at family dinners, she can ask someone to pass the salt? Instead, Rose’s communication in all forms is minimal, terse or vague. In reading other glowing reviews, I seem to be the only nitpicker that this bothered. But one of my biggest pet peeves in the thriller/mystery genre is when a character’s inaction serves to draw out the plot.

Overall, the writing and plot seemed a bit scattered, like throwing darts at multiple dartboards at once. While a particular plot twist hit the bullseye, many of the other storyline tosses bounced off the wall.

I received an ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review.