Review—The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson

Publisher: Touchstone 

Published: February 6, 2018

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Source: E-ARC

Rating: 3 Stars

GOODREADS

Blurb:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookseller comes a gripping literary suspense novel set in the 1960s about a deeply troubled family and three women who will reveal its dark truths.

In the autumn of 1960, Angie Glass is living an idyllic life in her Wisconsin hometown. At twenty-one, she’s married to charming, handsome Paul, and has just given birth to a baby boy. But one phone call changes her life forever.

When Paul’s niece, Ruby, reports that her father, Henry, has committed suicide, and that her mother, Silja, is missing, Angie and Paul drop everything and fly to the small upstate town of Stonekill, New York to be by Ruby’s side.

Angie thinks they’re coming to the rescue of Paul’s grief-stricken young niece, but Ruby is a composed and enigmatic seventeen-year-old who resists Angie’s attempts to nurture her. As Angie learns more about the complicated Glass family, staying in Henry and Silja’s eerie and ultra-modern house on the edge of the woods, she begins to question the very fabric of her own marriage.

Through Silja’s flashbacks, Angie’s discovery of astonishing truths, and Ruby’s strategic dissection of her parents’ state of affairs, a story of love, secrets, and ultimate betrayal is revealed.

Review:
Hmm...that was not at all what I expected. I’d like to point out that if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller/mystery aspect, you aren’t going to get it with this book. It’s achingly slow. To the point I almost stopped reading a few times. The twists are interesting but way too predictable. The ending left me...jarred. I have to say, The Glass Forest is creepy as hell. 

The storyline follows Angie, a 21 year old newlywed and mother, Ruby, a teenager and child of our last narrator, Silja. Silja and Angie are sister-in-laws to the charming and Cary Grant look-a-like, Paul and Henry. There are so many secrets surrounding these characters and one thing I truly did love about it, was the fact that it was so character driven. It was just too slow for my liking. 

There’s so much I could say about the book but it’s hard when anything I do write and say could potentially ruin the book for you, if you do plan on reading. The author writes very well, and great enough to keep my interest. While it wasn’t as fast as I would have liked, it still was decent. Let me know what you think about the book below! And if you finished hit up my email so we can discuss. 

*Thank you the publisher for providing a copy for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Buy the Book:
Amazon
Amazon UK

About the Author:
Cynthia Swanson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Bookseller, which is soon to be a motion picture starring Julia Roberts. An Indie Next selection and the winner of the 2016 WILLA Award for Historical Fiction, The Bookseller is being translated into over a dozen languages. Cynthia's second novel, The Glass Forest, released from Touchstone / Simon & Schuster in February 2018. She lives with her family in Denver, Colorado.