Thank you to Digital Reads Book Tours for my Advanced Reader’s Copy. Well, this is the first time I have actually read anything by this author. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I really, and I mean really did enjoy the vast amount of variety this author included in his mystery novel.

About the Book

An ominous blackmail letter appears at an inopportune moment. The recipient’s name is accidentally blurred out upon arrival. Which member of the Glass family is the ruthless missive meant for?

In the powerful sequel to Watching Glass Shatter, Olivia is the first to read the nasty threat and assumes it’s meant for her. When the mysterious letter falls into the wrong hands and is read aloud, it throws the entire Glass family into an inescapable trajectory of self-question. Across the span of eight hours, Olivia and her sons contemplate whether to confess their hidden secrets or find a way to bury them forever. Some failed to learn an important lesson last time. Will they determine how to save themselves before it’s too late?

Each chapter’s focus alternates between the various family members and introduces several new and familiar faces with a vested interest in the outcome. As each hour ticks by, the remaining siblings and their mother gradually reveal what’s happened to them in the preceding months, and when the blackmailer makes an appearance at Olivia’s birthday party, the truth brilliantly comes to light.

Although everyone seemed to embrace the healing process at the end of Watching Glass Shatter, there were hidden cracks in the Glass family that couldn’t be mended. Their lives are about to shatter into pieces once again, but this time, the stakes are even higher. Someone wants to teach them a permanent lesson and refuses to stop until success is achieved. 

5 Really Interesting Stars

Diversity is hard enough to come by these days in books, what I found as a first time reader to this author’s work was exactly that. I loved it, and really lapped it up. There are characters of many different ages all weaved into the Glass family, different generations which made interesting reading for me. Not only that I found that what really kept me very engaged in the story, where it was going, as well as where it had already been ( to try and work out who-dun-it), was that each member of the Glass family kind of have their own little sub-plot, and thing going on. This added to the intrigue around this mystery note that shows up, and who it’s really for.

I found that each character for me was well-developed, I was easily able to understand their ‘worry’ over the blackmail note. Either due to their actions or past dealings with others. In Hiding Cracked Glass it felt very much as I read, that everyone has a motive for wanting to blackmail each member of the Glass family, it was wonderful! As I really did not know who really is the person in the hot-seat within the family, let alone who the blackmailer really is. This added to the deeply complex, but not confusing mystery around the family.

As a reader who has not read the first book, it was easy for me to jump in on book two, and pick up three months after the conclusion and drama of book one. The author did a great job and giving just enough back story to fill you in, but not bore you and slow down the current story.

Overall, I’d say Hiding Cracked Glass is a deeply complex, well written mystery, that touches on many real life situations that people in the world may find themselves in. Not only that the Glass brothers are all really like-able, even if flawed and rightly so to keep readers interested. If you like mystery stories as much as I do, but you like them with that added bit of ‘umph’ and by that I mean, not easy to guess, predictable, or even so far removed from reality you just can’t believe the story. I’d say pick this up, because you will find a very deep story about family ties, secrets, growth, and people learning from their past in order to rebuild and move forward as a family. I really enjoyed the dynamic of the Glass family, even the dramatic parts. Five stars from me as a first time reader, I’d read more.

Here is the up close and personal interview I did with Author James. J. Cudney. Get to know him, and his other works.