GLASS HOUSES
synopsis
When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. And finally, watching the unmoving figure, a pall settles over the pretty Québec village.
Armand Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, knows something is seriously wrong. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead. An accusation on the village green. Gamache knows there must be a purpose behind this odd act.
Yet Gamache does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.
But when the figure vanishes and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been discharged, or levied.
Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montreal, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache’s own conscience is standing in judgement.
"The tension has never been greater…A meticulously built mystery that follows a careful ascent toward a breaking point that will leave you breathless. It's Three Pines as you have never seen it before."
"..one of the most entrancing fictional worlds in popular literature."
"The award-winning Penny does not rest on her laurels with this challenging and timely book."
"An exciting, high-stakes climax."
"Chief Superintendent Armand Gamache of the Quebec police is one of the most interesting detectives in crime fiction."
"It’s a profound story, with all the warmth of steaming coffee drinks in the town bistro and the bitter cold of death and decay of the conscience."
A LibraryReads Pick for August 2017
A Publishers Weekly Top Ten Mystery for Fall 2017
"…absorbing, intricately plotted…proves she only gets better at pursuing dark truths with compassion and grace."
"Louise Penny wrote the book on escapist mysteries."
"….No other writer…writes like Penny….Her characters are distilled to their essences. The stylistic result is that a Gamache mystery reads a bit like an incantatory epic poem....It takes nerve and skill - as well as heart - to write mysteries like this."
"Ms. Penny has a gift for linking the mundane to the mythic…Gamache becomes a heraldic figure, as brave and cunning as the hero of an Icelandic saga, and the contemporary evils he battles have apocalyptic overtones...."
"Outstanding....On all counts, 'Glass Houses' succeeds brilliantly, full of elegant prose, intricate plots, and-most of all-Penny's moving, emotionally complex hero and his circle of friends and colleagues."
"Penny-whose books wind up on Best Novels of the Year lists, not 'just' Best Mysteries-is a one-woman argument against literary snobbery....Top notch."
"It’s a profound story, with all the warmth of steaming coffee drinks in the town bistro and the bitter cold of death and decay of the conscience."
"Penny's latest is one of her best ever….I couldn't stop reading."
"Gamache will face life-changing questions about the nature of guilt and innocence and the thin blue line separating law and conscience, leaving the reader contemplating these conundrums well after the final page has been turned."
"With grace and insight…Penny has pushed the boundaries of the genre with each novel, and 'Glass Houses' takes them still further….And she does so with compassion, decency and love as she depicts evil, exalts courage and neither flinches nor preaches as she confronts moral ambiguities-and the health and sickness within each soul."
"Louise Penny steers the complex plot… to a white-knuckle ending….If it is conceivable for Penny to top herself, she has done so in this soul-searching, psychologically insightful journey…"
Barnes and Noble named GLASS HOUSES named a Best Book of 2017
Amazon named Glass Houses as a Best Book of 2017
The London Sunday Times named GLASS HOUSES a Best Book of 2017
Washington Post's Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2017
A Best Book of the Year at Indigo (Canada’s largest bookseller)
Library Journal's Best of the year Mystery List 2017
AudioFile Best Audiobooks of 2017
Library Reads "Favorite of Favorites"
The Christian Science Monitor Best of 30 books for 2017
