House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarapekkanen #LauraBenanti @MacmillanAudio

the setup…
Stella Hudson is attorney who serves as an advocate for children in custody cases. She’s recently divorced (amicably) and her latest assignment is nine-year old Rose Barclay. Though she as a rule only accepts cases for children thirteen or older, Stella’s mentor recommended she take on Rose because of her special circumstances. See, Rose stopped speaking after her nanny fell to her death through a window in the Barclay home. Rose may have been a witness to the accident…or her murder.

the heart of the story…
Rose is the center of this story and from the onset I wasn’t sure (and neither was Stella) if she was a victim, co-conspirator or murderer. What makes this more interesting is Stella’s own tragic past where she suffered the same inability to speak when her mother died under questionable circumstances. It was a constant dance with Rose’s family, including her parents Beth and Ian and paternal grandmother Harriett, who all interfered with Stella’s access to Rose. It was obvious they were hiding something and my suspicions vacillated between all of them. The house itself added to the creepiness as all things glass was removed from it, supposedly a phobia of Beth’s. Yeah, right.

the narration…
Benanti delivered a great performance, first and foremost as Stella and also in her storytelling. She also managed other character voices really well.

the bottom line…
Despite figuring out the whodunit before the reveal, this was quite an interesting journey to the truth. Rose was just as creepy as that house and made it plausible that she could have given the nanny a push. Even though the story started to drag midway, when it later regained its mojo, it was riveting, moved quickly and hard to put down. There were also a few more surprises I didn’t see coming.

Book Info

• Release Date: August 6, 2024
• Narrator: Laura Benanti
• Audio Length: 10 hours, 43 minutes
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

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(Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)