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An instant New York Times Bestseller and August 2017 LibraryReads pick!
“Penny’s absorbing, intricately plotted 13th Gamache novel proves she only gets better at pursuing dark truths with compassion and grace.” —PEOPLE
“Louise Penny wrote the book on escapist mysteries.” —The New York Times Book Review
“You won't want Louise Penny's latest to end….Any plot summary of Penny’s novels inevitably falls short of conveying the dark magic of this series.... It takes nerve and skill — as well as heart — to write mysteries like this. ‘Glass Houses,’ along with many of the other Gamache books, is so compelling that, for the space of reading it, you may well feel that much of what’s going on in the world outside the novel is ‘just noise.’” —Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post
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. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead.
From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.
But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.
Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montréal, 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 judgment.
In Glass Houses, her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.
“Penny’s absorbing, intricately plotted 13th Gamache novel proves she only gets better at pursuing dark truths with compassion and grace.” —PEOPLE
“Louise Penny wrote the book on escapist mysteries.” —The New York Times Book Review
“You won't want Louise Penny's latest to end….Any plot summary of Penny’s novels inevitably falls short of conveying the dark magic of this series.... It takes nerve and skill — as well as heart — to write mysteries like this.”
—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post
“Ms. Penny has a gift for linking the mundane to the mythic. Steadfast, civilized and grimly determined, 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....[With a] cinematic finale, in which the book’s well-laid and carefully sustained suspense is at last released.” —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal
“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.”
—The Seattle Times
“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....Penny is a master of the slow burn, with readers only seeing the final pattern as everything is set aflame.” —Christian Science Monitor
“In the most intriguing installment yet….Louise Penny deftly combines crime and punishment, a timeless avenger and a dark exploration of the conscience….A great and twisting tale, as we’ve come to expect from the previous 12 Gamache novels, but also an exploration of moral judgments, mental frailty and the eerie notion of reckoning: We all must pay our debts…A profound story.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Penny's latest is one of her best ever. From the very first page, when Gamache begins his testimony in a court case, the reader is riveted....I couldn't stop reading. This is the perfect holiday weekend book.”
—Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
“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.” —BookPage (Top Pick in Mystery)
“With grace and insight…Penny has pushed the boundaries of the genre with each novel, and ‘Glass Houses’ takes them still further. With an intricate and intelligent storyline, cherished characters, a setting that cries out ‘come live here’ and a terrifying climax, she produces another stellar literary novel. 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.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“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 into each of her memorable characters.” —Bookreporter.com
“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.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Three Pines is a sublime metaphor for the precariousness of harmony wherever we find it...one of the most entrancing fictional worlds in popular literature.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The award-winning Penny does not rest on her laurels with this challenging and timely book. Though touched by the evils of the outside world, Three Pines remains a singular place away from time.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Penny’s poetic style of writing and her deeply realized characters, with their mix of flaws and heroism, make her novels irresistible….Penny delicately explores the tension of an officer who may be sworn to uphold the law, but who feels compelled to do something else, in a fascinating novel that is sure to appeal to a variety of readers—whether they typically enjoy mysteries or not.” —ShelfAwareness
“An exciting, high-stakes climax.” — Publishers Weekly
