What could be a good place to hide for some time? Bangkok it is Sarah resolves after she has stolen $200.000 from her former employer in New York. In the anonymous building “The Kingdom” she hopes to spend some weeks alone to have the situation cool down. Soon, she gets to know some other tenants, Mali, a half-Thai girl whom Sarah can never fully grasp. And there is the Chilean Ximena, a chef who dreams of her own restaurant whereas Natalie lives the life of a rich wife and sees Bangkok only as a short stop before moving to a better place. Even though most of the people keep to themselves, secrets move fast within the walls of the glass skyscraper and it does not take too long for Sarah to rouse her neighbours’ suspicions and interest.

I have been a huge fan of Lawrence Osborne’s novels for some years. Not only do his settings vary enormously – Morocco, Greece, Mexico, now Thailand – but he also creates highly interesting characters whom he confronts with challenging situations they, on the one hand, provoked themselves but which, on the other, unexpectedly get highly complicated without an actual good way out. Thus, he brings out the worst of human nature.

At first, Sarah seems a bit lost and you feel sympathy for her, but just until you learn which reckless behaviour brought her to the strange house. Yet, only for a short time do those negative feelings towards the protagonist linger since you soon realise that she is too naive and trusting for the world she entered. All other characters behave highly suspiciously and it is obvious that the young American will easily fall prey to them even though they are all quite diverse and aim at different things, whom their victim will be is more than obvious.

Just as the outer world is shaken by a political turmoil, also the inner world of The Kingdom seems to crumble. Decision have to be made and options have to be weighed quickly. Cleverly, Osborne builds increasing suspense and shows those sides of human character you never wanted to see. Threats appear from all corners, even the most unexpected, all heading to a highly tragic end.

Based in a hotel that has more secrets than she knows, Sarah is herself (we discover) in this atmospheric and alienated novel, an outlier. Not only is she a foreigner escaping for her own reasons after a life of perpetrating a fully devised con, but as an American among Thai natives in Bangkok, things are going on around her of which she has no awareness. This novel is in the grand tradition of French noir - etiolated places and time frames, and you find people are falling in with each other - everyone adrift and observant ... really splendid and utterly captivating - I wanted to know what would finally happen - would she get her comeuppance - abandoned and falling in with the wrong people ... I read in great gallops to find out. Very very good.

The Kingdom is a high building in Bangkok, where American Sarah finds her refuge and total discretion. She meets new people and one day she sees something disturbing from her window. People start to disappear in political instability. Greed, distrust, heat of the city,

Very well written and gripping novel.

The Glass Kingdom is a tense and riveting read which grabs you from the first page and really makes you feel the heat of Bangkok as the story progresses.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the arc of The Glass Kingdom written by Lawrence Osborne.

Thanks to Lawrence Osborne for writing this thrilling gripping book.

This follows an American whose named Sarah Mullins who has come to Bangkok which is the capital of Thailand, because she wishes to hide herself away. She ends up finding this high end apartment complex which is named "The Kingdom" But curiously she ends up meeting 3 other women there but she don't know them, they are Ximena who is a chef whose from Chile, Nat who owns a hotel and manages one and she is British and Mali, the most mysterious and strange of them all...

Due to political matters there was riots and violence among the streets and they try to make there way into "The Kingdom". In which makes the residents of the kingdom feeling very vulnerable and not safe, which reveals a big revelation....

This was my first Lawrence Osborne book and to say I am very impressed, I loved how modern this was, the writing was brilliantly executed it flowed very well I loved the mysteries and the revelations and secrets in which the residents hold which was like a bombshell to me but was very modern and unique so well done Lawrence Osborne

Definitely recommend
5 Stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A really enjoyable and highly thrilling novel. I loved it and I loved the amazing settings. Written really well I felt I was really there. Brilliant x

It started well - a scam, a flight to Thailand and a hideaway in a decrepit tower block. Then I was cast adrift into one big swamp of ex-pat life, scheming servants and a country falling into political instability. There was very little story, just a stifling meander through the heat and confusion of the apartment block. I did manage to finish, and there was some action on the second to last page, but it took a lot of wading through not much to get there.