it's the secrets that kill you

Stella Hudson is an attorney who works for the best interest of children. She usually works with teenagers, but her mentor has recommended she work on behalf of Rose Barclay, who may or may not be safe in her own home.

Rose is 9 and lives with her parents and her father’s mother. After an incident at school, she’s been homeschooled. Her grandmother teaches her, and she has a language tutor and a piano teacher. Her parents have filed for divorce, and the family court thought that Rose needed someone to step in and protect her interests, especially since her nanny died.

Tina was Rose’s nanny. Then she had an affair with Rose’s father, Ian, and got pregnant. She lived in their house, on the third floor attic, where she had a lovely room with large windows. It was one of those windows that she fell (or was pushed?) and did not survive the fall. Rose was in the garden with her grandmother when it happened, and she hasn’t spoken a single word since. And now Stella is coming in to try to figure out what’s best for Rose moving forward.

Stella’s mentor hand-picked her for this assignment because he knows her background. Her father was killed in a car accident when she was very young. Her mother turned to drinking to face her grief, and then to drugs. One night, she put Stella in the closet to keep her safe, and Stella stayed in that closet all night waiting for her mother to come and get her. Finally, Stella opened the door and found her mother on the floor, dead from an overdose. She was sent to live with an aunt who didn’t want her, and she didn’t speak for a long time.

But from the first time she shows up at the Barclay house, Stella feels that there are secrets being hidden by the family. Ian and his wife Beth are reluctant to let Stella have access to Rose, and Rose can’t speak for herself. When Stella tries to talk to Rose’s grandmother, she feels blocked by her too. There is clearly something going on in the house, but Stella can’t get through.

She notices that all there is no glass in the Barclay house. The picture frames have all had their glass removed, the drinking glasses are all plastic, and all the windows are being replaced by plexiglass. She sees Rose reading Anne of Green Gables, but when Stella looks more closely, she sees a book about a violent killer under the Anne book jacket. She talks to some of Tina’s friends and finds out that she’d had strange things happen to her in the house. Some of her things had gone missing, and she’d heard voices.

Stella tries to put together everything she learns about the Barclays and their house, but she can’t quite figure out what’s going on. Did Ian kill the nanny when he found out she was pregnant? Did Beth kill her because she slept with Beth’s husband? Was it an accident? Or could Rose have gotten angry with her nanny and hurt her? It is up to Stella to figure out what happened, so she can tell the court what will keep Rose safe.

But as Stella gets closer and closer to the truth, she also gets closer and closer to a killer. Will she survive long enough to protect Rose, or will Stella not be able to keep anyone safe?

House of Glass is a domestic thriller from bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen, and it is filled with twists. There are secrets layered with secrets, many of them hidden behind Rose’s mutism. The plotting is first-rate, with all the ups and downs you would expect from a author of this caliber. I raced through this book to find out just what was happening in that house, and I was not disappointed in that ending.

I listened to the audio book for House of Glass, narrated by Laura Benanti. I thought she did a beautiful job. One thing I noticed with the audio is how Stella sounded so young and naïve at times. It makes sense with her childhood, and I thought it served the story well, but I was impressed with how Benanti could bring that forward so smoothly without making Stella sound incompetent or unprofessional. I thought she did an excellent job with Stella’s voice, and listening to this book was a joy. If you’re a fan of a domestic thriller, you will not want to miss this one. It’s fantastic.

Egalleys for House of Glass were provided by St. Martin’s Press and an early copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.