House of Glass

Not since the nanny’s creepy death in 1976’s The Omen has a nanny’s death been surrounded with such weird and menacing family dynamics! 

Meet the Barclays: Ian, his wife Beth, mom Harriet and nine-year-old Rose. Ian was naughty with nanny Tina, who on the cusp of telling him she was pregnant, mysteriously fell through her attic bedroom window to her death. The case has gone cold, but now Ian and Beth are divorcing, Rose who witnessed the event has traumatic mutism, and Best Interest Attorney Stella Hudson has been assigned to determine which parent should have primary custody.

As Stella tries to do her job, she’s getting subtle and not-so-subtle pushback from the family, including Rose, whose behavior is getting creepier by the day! Stella’s past childhood traumatic mutism resulting from her own mother’s death has made her keenly sympathetic to Rose’s suffering. So why does the girl seem so angry with her, and why is she pocketing those sharp objects Stella has noticed? 

One thing is clear, the deeper Stella digs into this family, the more danger she’s in!

Here’s where my thoughts on this book get a little complicated.  It’s the tale of two formats.

On my Kindle, I liked this story.  The Barclay home was its own cryptic character, the odd family dynamics brought a pervasive tension, Rose’s behavior was super creepy and grandma Harriet was her own enigma. The growing sense of threat to Stella was a nice undercurrent that kept me engaged, and a side story about her friend/mentor Charles added another layer of intrigue. There was a lot to like, even if I didn’t like this as much as last year’s Gone Tonight. I can’t say the ending surprised me, and it did go a little eye-rolly, but overall this was a solid, well-written psychological thriller.

This brings me to the audio. Normally, I love listening along while I read, but as anyone who likes audiobooks knows, a narrator can significantly impact your enjoyment.  Unfortunately, that was the case here. If it hadn’t been an ALC, I would’ve stopped listening early on. Was it a poor performance by Laura Benanti? Not at all! It just had aspects I don’t prefer. I don’t like overly tremulous, emotional voicing when a female character is scared. I find it annoying more than engaging. Also Harriet is in her mid-sixties but she sounded like she was in her eighties, which affected believability. I didn’t hate the audio, but I didn’t love it.

So with all that said, the written story gets 4 stars, the audio gets 3 for an average of 3.5, which I’ll round up because the story kept me engaged to the end, and isn’t that what’s most important?

★★★ ½  (rounded to 4)

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and author Sarah Pekkanen for the digital ARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC to honestly review. It’s out on August 6, 2024.