Tag: psychological thriller

HOUSE OF GLASS by Sarah Pekkanen

August 6, 2024 / Kyle Wendy Skultety / 0 Comments

The next thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen, House of Glass.

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?

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for this review copy!

Sarah Pekkanen’s HOUSE OF GLASS is a captivating psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. The story centers around Stella Hudson, a lawyer appointed to represent a young girl caught in a bitter custody battle. The situation takes a dark turn when it is revealed the girl’s nanny recently fell from a window to her death, leaving a cloud of suspicion hanging over the entire household. The author skillfully weaves together elements of mystery and psychological drama. The reader is constantly questioning who to trust and what truly happened the night the nanny fell.

Pekkanen excels at building suspense. The story unfolds at a steady pace, slowly revealing cracks in the seemingly perfect facade of the Barclay family. Each character harbors secrets, and the lack of windows in their house adds a constant sense of unease. The narrative cleverly shifts between Stella’s investigation and the perspective of young Rose, the traumatized girl at the center of the case. This dual perspective allows the reader to delve deeper into the emotional toll of the situation and the complexities of Rose’s trauma. It also adds intrigue, as the reader is not sure who might be an unreliable narrator.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its characters. Each member of the Barclay family is flawed and complex, grappling with their own demons and motivations. Pekkanen expertly explores the dynamics of family relationships. The atmosphere of the house itself is also a character in its own right. Pekkanen creates a sense of unease and foreboding that permeates every page, making the mansion feel like a living, breathing entity with its own dark secrets waiting to be uncovered. The setting is vividly described, evoking a sense of isolation and claustrophobia that adds to the novel’s tension.

Summary:

Intriguing Premise: The combination of a child custody case and a suspicious death creates a layered mystery with high stakes. The lack of windows in the Barclay household adds a creepy atmosphere, making the reader wonder what the family is trying to hide.
Compelling Characters: Stella is a well-developed protagonist. She’s empathetic yet determined, making her a character you root for as she navigates the complexities of the case. The other characters, including the Barclay family members, are shrouded in secrecy, keeping the reader guessing about their true motives.

Suspenseful Plot: Pekkanen masterfully builds tension throughout the novel. The story unfolds with a slow burn, dropping subtle clues that leave you piecing together the puzzle. However,some readers might find the initial chapters a bit slow.
Focus on Trauma: The book deals with themes of child trauma and loss, which can be emotionally heavy for some readers.

HOUSE OF GLASS is a gripping and thought-provoking thriller. Pekkanen’s sharp writing and exploration of family dynamics make this a page-turner. If you enjoy character-driven mysteries with a touch of psychological suspense, then this book is definitely worth checking out. The exploration of family secrets and the unreliable nature of memory make for an entertaining story. Highly recommended for fans of authors like Tana French and Gillian Flynn, or for anyone who enjoys a good domestic mystery with a twist. Readers who enjoy piecing together clues and analyzing characters will find themselves engrossed in the story. The mystery itself is well-crafted, with enough red herrings to keep you guessing until the satisfying – and perhaps surprising – conclusion.

Want your own copy? You can pick it up here.

Mother Knows Best by Kira Peikoff

September 10, 2019 / Kyle Wendy Skultety / 0 Comments

A mother’s worst nightmare, a chance at redemption, and a deadly secret that haunts a family across the generations.
There’s only room for one mother in this family.
Claire Abrams’s dreams became a nightmare when she passed on a genetic mutation that killed her little boy. Now she wants a second chance to be a mother and finds it in Robert Nash, a maverick fertility doctor who works under the radar with Jillian Hendricks, a cunning young scientist bent on making her mark—and seducing her boss.

Claire, Robert, and Jillian work together to create the world’s first baby with three genetic parents—an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease. But when word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence that destroys her future.

Ten years later, a spunky girl named Abigail begins to understand that all is not right with the reclusive man and woman she knows as her parents. But the family’s problems are only beginning. Jillian, hardened by a decade of jealousy and loss, has returned—and nothing will stop her from reuniting with the man and daughter who should have been hers. Past, present—and future converge in a mesmerizing psychological thriller from acclaimed bestselling author Kira Peikoff.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

There is science. There is suspense. There is drama. There is also an important element that makes this fiction seem closer to non-fiction.

Claire wants another baby and is willing to go to great lengths to make, I mean to have, one. Against her husband’s wishes, she goes to see fertility specialist Robert Nash. Using a top-secret plausible-in-real-life-sort-of technique, Claire becomes pregnant with Abby, who is considered a “frankenbaby” after Claire’s secret is uncovered. The story jumps back and forth from the POV of Claire, Abby, Nash, and Nash’s assistant Jillian. This technique lets us see each character’s perspective and motivation (be aware, not all of them are altruistic).

The mix of science and family dynamics was done perfectly, and the bad guys are eminently hateable. As I mentioned before, the procedure to create a baby using multiple people’s sperm/eggs seems within reach. This made the book dramatic without focusing on obviously fake science.

As the author shares the character’s flaws and desires, she illustrates the desire to have and protect a child in a poignant and accurate manner. She is adept at creating psychological suspense that appears real, not overly histrionic. Except for the science and the “three-parent creation”, each character’s emotions add to the plot and support the action. Abby behaves exactly the way a kid her age would, exploiting her computer savvy and using the Internet to find answers.

There were a couple of twists in the book, one that seemed obvious and another that was a shocker. I feel there is enough going on to get the reader hooked and wanting to get to the end to see how things turn out. Things get tied up kind of quickly in the end but it was satisfying. If the author continues with her science-backed plots I’ll definitely pick up her next novel.

Want your own copy? You can pick it up here.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

March 5, 2019 / Kyle Wendy Skultety / 0 Comments

Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Just like most of the other reviewers, I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down. The plot was immediately interesting despite Jessica’s vacuous personality and poor decision making. Dr Shields was someone I loved to hate, with her internal monologues and her unemotional personality. At times she reminded me of a robot, until she started having feelings – and boy, were they unexpected!

The authors made each character an unreliable narrator, so you are thrown off balance towards the end, where the twists start to happen. The characters’ past affects their future in unexpected ways, and the authors do a great job of showing how tragedy affects people differently. The underlying tension of the morality study’s probing questions juxtaposed with Jessica’s difficulty with her own morals will make you think about your own actions, both past and present.

The psychological scars of each character shape their actions and decisions, giving the impression that we are no better than the sum of our past. As more light is shed on each character and their own past, things start to make sense – sort of. Once we learn Dr Shield’s motivation, the tension ramps up and you simply must devour each page in order to find out what happens next.

I found it quite interesting that the authors chose to have both women be strong characters, with Dr Shield’s husband somewhat of a weak link. He shows up in the book later on and is just as unreliable as the two women. Despite a strong beginning, he is no match for Jessica and Dr Shields as the story line comes to a head. That being said, all three of these characters manipulate morality for their own benefit.

Dr Shields is a nearly perfect example of someone who needs control at all costs and will go to great lengths to gain it. At times she seemed too perfectly perspicacious, always seeming to be one or two steps ahead of Jessica’s machinations. However, each character has a flaw that can be exploited, and once those flaws are revealed the story starts to twist and turn as the characters unravel. I stayed up all night until I finished AN ANONYMOUS GIRL – it truly was that good. This is the book everyone will be talking about this year – don’t miss it!

You can get your copy here.

Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas

September 1, 2014 / Kyle Wendy Skultety / 0 Comments

Wow. Double wow. Anyone who knows a narcissist will cringe and nod at matriarch Josephine’s behavior, as she manipulates her way through her family’s life. Who is crazy and who isn’t? Nobody really knows.

Rose Hurst is missing. Violet and Will have been left behind to deal with the rage their mother, Josephine, has due to Rose’s disappearance. Will loves his mother so much, and so is only mildly uncomfortable at her alternate turns of dotage and anger. Violet, on the other hand, wants to get far away from her family. One night, as she is high on “seeds”, she commits a violent act against Will, causing Josephine to commit her to a mental hospital. Violet then tries to figure out what really happened that night, and tries to track her missing sister down as well.

The chapters are laid out such that the narration is done by Will and Violet, alternating chapters. Unfortunately, both narrators are unreliable and the reader gets to see different sides of the same story.

Josephine is a true narcissist, lying and stealing the spotlight away from everyone, even if it means turning family member against family member. With devoted son Will at her side, there isn’t anything that she can’t do. Even if she has to put a giant bowl of Death By Chocolate ice cream in front of Will to “help” him remember the night his sister attacked him.

“I need to make sure you can synthesize your thoughts about what happened. That woman who came by is going to make you explain it to her. If she can’t keep up with you, or you can’t explain your thoughts well, there could be big consequences,” says Josephine. Will does his best, but still becomes teary eyed, and his mother admonishes him to “stop overreacting”.

One of my friends has a narcissistic mother, and a weak father. As I read passages out loud to her, she shuddered and commented how true it all was. No one in her house was allowed to question things except her mother. Once I asked her why she never spoke up, and she told me it was just easier to let things go, so as not to upset her mother. She didn’t want to “rock the boat”, as it were.

A particularly interesting passage mirrors my friend’s thoughts: Violet is trying to tell her dad that he needs to stand up to Josephine. He tells her “You and I are very different people. I don’t see how rocking the boat is going to help matters much.”

Violet replies, “It’s not rocking the boat, Dad. It’s called communication. You’re allowed to ask questions. Other people do it all the time. Other people don’t live in fear of someone else’s reactions. They don’t relentlessly stress out about getting into trouble.”

Did I say WOW?? I loved this book, and I loved to hate Josephine. The plot goes along well, with enough mystery amongst the stress to keep you wondering where Rose is. The ending will shock you, and you will feel wrung out by all the manipulation, by everyone, to everyone. People like this really do exist, and it’s scary. Kudos to Zailckas to creating authentic characters with real problems.

Stop reading this blog post immediately and go read this. It will leave you a changed person.

Want to read more about Mother, Mother? Go to the Random House website. Want your own copy? Of course you do. You can purchase it here.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.