House of Glass - Mystery Review

Goodreads:  House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Rating:  Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

Genre:  Mystery 

Why I Picked This Book:  I've read other books by this author and enjoyed them and this sounded intriguing.

My Impression: This was an intriguing and unsettling read.  Stella is an attorney appointed to help decide custody of a little girl after a shocking and traumatic event that is tearing her family apart.  To determine this she must dive deep into the lives of both parents and everyone that surrounds the little girl.  The more she investigates and spends time with the family the more she realizes that nothing is as it seems.

I was pulled in from the first page.  Stella has her own traumatic backstory that impacts and at times potentially hinders her ability to thoroughly represent the best interest of the little girl, Rose.  But since she is an outsider to the family she's able to provide almost a bird's eye view of everything that's going on.  

This is a fast paced read and the author does a good job really bringing the creepy atmosphere of the Barclay's house to life.  I was caught up from page one and it was one of those stories that lived on the edges of my mind until I was able to return to it.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  This was creepy and interesting and kept me turning pages.

Would I Recommend this Book?   If you like a creepy and unsettling read but aren't in the mood for horror or lots of violence on page this is a great choice.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *