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A review by pagesplotsandpints
House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen
3.5
<b>Read Completed 5/29/24 |</b> 3.5 stars
<b><I>Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin's Press, for the audiobook review copy. This did not affect my review in any way.</b></I>
HOUSE OF GLASS was like definition "okay" thriller. I wasn't really wowed by Sarah Pekkanen's last book, GONE TONIGHT, and this one was a little bit better but it just wasn't anything original nor was it high octane and fast-paced to make up for it. I really enjoyed the co-author team of Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks... not sure what happened to Greer Hendricks, but those books just had better chemistry for me.
HOUSE OF GLASS wasn't bad, but I've read far too many thrillers to really be impressed by it. I did like the main character and narrator Stella, and I had fun watching the the mystery of the Barclay house unravel. This was a little like THE SILENT PATIENT in the sense that Rose is no longer speaking after the traumatic incident of watching her nanny die. Was it murder? And if so, who did it? Anyone in the house is a suspect, including Rose herself. I didn't feel like this was too close to THE SILENT PATIENT or anything, but it still maybe be of interest for fans of the book! It was just an average thriller that felt pretty tame, in my opinion, and there wasn't really any twist or reveal that shocked me. Thrillers don't always have to have a wild twist, but when the rest of the book isn't really catching me, a good twist does help to raise that rating a bit.
I felt like the author handed the reader a few too many things. I always like to read reviews after I finish the book, and it seems like plenty of people were still shocked by the ending, but I thought a lot of things were spelled out for me. Was I 100% sure? No, it could have been anyone, but the culprit was still well within our sights and I wish there was something pushing us away so it would have been a bit more exciting to reveal.
While this was a bit more suspenseful than GONE TONIGHT, HOUSE OF GLASS still was medium-paced, which again, is fine, but the rest of the details didn't really grab me. I was definitely interested in who killed the nanny and I was entertained the whole read, so that's why I went with 3.5 stars, but it didn't cross that threshold to really hit 4, and I wasn't disengaged enough to lower it to a 3. The author also tried to throw in the hint of a romance at 80% and no no no, that is not necessary whatsoever.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I listened to this book as an audiobook whose narrator was Laura Benanti. While I thought she did a good job with the narration, I really didn't feel like her voice and style was a fit for this book. Her voice was just a little higher pitched and kind of reminded me of Rebecca Soler in a way. I just feel like her style would be much better for romance or young adult. I actually have listened to her before, only once, in another thriller but it was an action thriller (DROWNING by T.J. Newman). Whatever the reason, I just didn't feel it here. Other than that personal preference, I thought she did a really good job with the rest of the narration and all of the different voices!
<b><I>Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin's Press, for the audiobook review copy. This did not affect my review in any way.</b></I>
HOUSE OF GLASS was like definition "okay" thriller. I wasn't really wowed by Sarah Pekkanen's last book, GONE TONIGHT, and this one was a little bit better but it just wasn't anything original nor was it high octane and fast-paced to make up for it. I really enjoyed the co-author team of Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks... not sure what happened to Greer Hendricks, but those books just had better chemistry for me.
HOUSE OF GLASS wasn't bad, but I've read far too many thrillers to really be impressed by it. I did like the main character and narrator Stella, and I had fun watching the the mystery of the Barclay house unravel. This was a little like THE SILENT PATIENT in the sense that Rose is no longer speaking after the traumatic incident of watching her nanny die. Was it murder? And if so, who did it? Anyone in the house is a suspect, including Rose herself. I didn't feel like this was too close to THE SILENT PATIENT or anything, but it still maybe be of interest for fans of the book! It was just an average thriller that felt pretty tame, in my opinion, and there wasn't really any twist or reveal that shocked me. Thrillers don't always have to have a wild twist, but when the rest of the book isn't really catching me, a good twist does help to raise that rating a bit.
I felt like the author handed the reader a few too many things. I always like to read reviews after I finish the book, and it seems like plenty of people were still shocked by the ending, but I thought a lot of things were spelled out for me. Was I 100% sure? No, it could have been anyone, but the culprit was still well within our sights and I wish there was something pushing us away so it would have been a bit more exciting to reveal.
While this was a bit more suspenseful than GONE TONIGHT, HOUSE OF GLASS still was medium-paced, which again, is fine, but the rest of the details didn't really grab me. I was definitely interested in who killed the nanny and I was entertained the whole read, so that's why I went with 3.5 stars, but it didn't cross that threshold to really hit 4, and I wasn't disengaged enough to lower it to a 3. The author also tried to throw in the hint of a romance at 80% and no no no, that is not necessary whatsoever.
AUDIOBOOK THOUGHTS: I listened to this book as an audiobook whose narrator was Laura Benanti. While I thought she did a good job with the narration, I really didn't feel like her voice and style was a fit for this book. Her voice was just a little higher pitched and kind of reminded me of Rebecca Soler in a way. I just feel like her style would be much better for romance or young adult. I actually have listened to her before, only once, in another thriller but it was an action thriller (DROWNING by T.J. Newman). Whatever the reason, I just didn't feel it here. Other than that personal preference, I thought she did a really good job with the rest of the narration and all of the different voices!