The Glass Forest

A Novel

By: Cynthia Swanson

Narrated by: Caitlin Davies, Jayme Mattler, Cassandra Campbell

The lives of three very different women intersect in shocking ways in this “outstanding psychological thriller” (Library Journal, starred review), by the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookseller.

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

When Paul’s niece, Ruby, tells them that her father, Henry, has committed suicide and her mother, Silja, has gone missing, the newlyweds drop everything to be by Ruby’s side in the small upstate town of Stonekill, New York.

Angie thinks they’re coming to the rescue of Paul’s grief-stricken young niece, but seventeen-year-old Ruby, self-possessed and enigmatic, resists Angie’s attempts to nurture her. While taking up residence in Henry and Silja’s eerie, ultra-modern house on the edge of the woods, Angie discovers astonishing truths about the complicated Glass family. As she learns about Henry and Silja’s spiraling relationship, and Ruby’s role in keeping them together, and apart, Angie begins to question the very fabric of her own marriage.

As details of the past unfold and Ruby dissects her parents’ state of affairs, the Glass women realize what they’re capable of when it comes to love, secrets, and ultimate betrayal.

As turbulent and electrified as the period it’s set in, The Glass Forest is an “intoxicating slow burn [that] builds to a conclusion rife with shocking reveals.” (Publishers Weekly)

Stay for the ending.

C.S. definitely writes with a signature style of mystery and slow seduction. The reader is drawn into a story that begins with character development and familiar schemas, only to be trapped into witnessing in rapt attention as the shadow side of each character is revealed.

Intrigue

Loved the the story. At first a bit confusing then all makes sense in the end. Keeps you thinking! You

Captivating story

The story line was intriguing and kept me listening. The reader for Aunt Angie sounded like it was a computer generated voice so it detracted from the story.

unbelievable twists

I didn't see several plot twists coming. this story left me speechless multiple times!

Worse than a sophmore slump

Frankly, I suspect this is not actually the sophomore slump, but that this is the author's first novel, which was shoved in a drawer (and rightly so), but dusted off and called her second novel.

This is billed as "literary suspense," which implies good writing and, well, suspense. Nope, none of either. It starts off badly from the first paragraph, which was so badly written I actually stopped what I was doing and stared at my iPod thinking, did I really just hear that? As the story begins, Swanson relies on using as many adverbs as possible and (as my friend calls it) "GPS," moving your character around as creatively as the robotic woman on the GPS app.

Overall: lousy description, poor word choices ("She couldn't believe she had a 'female'" instead of "She couldn't believe she had a baby girl."), trite (and badly written) dialogue ("First, kiss me. Tell me you love me."), and description ("twinkling chocolate brown eyes"—used 3 times in 1 chapter, I think) and so on. Add to that, this woman should not be allowed to write sex scenes, however brief. So cringe worthy. Lots of telling vs. showing (yeah, those pesky adverbs among other rookie…mistakes that seasoned writers tend not to make).

The structure was distracting: Angie is 3rd person past tense (god-awful audio narrator who sounds like a sort of sing-songy robot), Ruby 1st person present tense (Ok audio narrator), and Silja 3rd person past tense (good audio narrator).

Usually with 3 POVs, there's at least one you like. Not so in this case. Angie was boring beyond belief (she enjoys housekeeping: oh that lemon scent! How satisfying to clean the bathroom twice a week), but Ruby and Silja weren't much better. There was nothing very compelling or original about any of them. And the two Glass husbands? Horrible men, albeit about as uninteresting as the rest of them.