A review by allisonmaisch
House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

my very first audiobook ARC! and what a fun one. 

let me start by giving kudos to this author for having a main character who is a best interest attorney/guardian ad litem. it was so refreshing to have an FMC with a career not typically seen in books. i love a good detective novel, but it gets tiresome reading the same few professions in books. this was a much appreciated change of pace that i really enjoyed! 

stella has a unique opportunity to be appointed as rose’s BIA, a young girl suffering from traumatic mutism after witnessing the possible murder of her nanny. we see some *questionable* behavior from rose as well as each member of her family, leaving us guessing how tina really fell from the third story window. everyone in the barclay family is a suspect, had motive, and are actively working to deceive stella. throughout the chaos of rose’s story, we also learn about stella’s complicated past and the childhood trauma she endured of losing both her father and mother at a young age. she is reconciling that loss parallel to the barclays’ unfolding, leaving the reader with all the sensations of unease and dying to know the answers. 

i have to say that this was such a well-rounded ending. after the crescendo of finding out the “whodunit” aspect of the book, we were able to stay with stella for multiple chapters and have all areas of her life wrapped up with a cute little bow! it was so satisfying. i kept think the book was over and then we would get another chapter that gave us even more. my main critique of this was that she forgave WAY TOO EASILY! if we wanted true horror, there would have been more sinister implications in that major deception. 

many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for sending this ARC!