Nestled in a remote inlet on Vancouver Island, the Glass Hotel is a premier remote getaway for the rich looking to be close to nature, but not *in* it. It also serves as the hub for the characters of this story, who are all, one way or another, impacted by a massive Ponzi scheme. 

St. John Mandel once again hits it out of the park with this book. I listened to the audio and could hardly stop. It felt more mysterious and suspenseful than Sea of Tranquility, and certainly more rooted in reality, but deeply engaging. I went down a deep dive on Ponzi schemes while reading this book, not actually realizing it was based on a true story (I’d heard of Bernie Madoff but never really the details, similar to my knowledge of Enron I just knew it was some sort of white collar crime). What a trip though! I loved the details of the court case, and particularly how St. John Mandel wrote the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the co-conspirators and victims. The multiple viewpoints made it easy to stay engaged and interested in what came next.

Where this book is most similar to Sea of Tranquility is how effectively distances of time and space are woven together. We could spend a chapter with the mastermind on the west coast of Vancouver Island, one two years earlier with his young trophy wife in their palazzo in New York, and the next 10 years later with a victim of the scheme living in a camper in Texas, and clearly see the threads that bind them all. 

This made for my third St. John Mandel this year, and while I liked Station Eleven well enough, Sea of Tranquility and The Glass Hotel just made me want more!