[2] It follows the aftermath of a disturbing graffiti incident at a hotel on Vancouver Island and the collapse of an international Ponzi scheme.

Five years later, Paul and Vincent work at a hotel on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island in the fictional Caiette, which is based on the real hamlet Quatsino.

[3] Graffiti is discovered written on a window in the lobby with an acid marker, saying, "Why don't you swallow broken glass."

As she drowns, she experiences a series of apparent hallucinations (some of which have been referenced by other characters earlier in the book) of Alkaitis, Paul, and finally her mother, who disappeared herself when Vincent was a small child.

I found myself thinking, 'Who are these people who show up at work every morning to perpetuate a massive crime?

'"[4] As with Station Eleven (2014), Mandel is inspired by the "invisible world" of shipping and the "ghost fleet" of freighters off the shore of Malaysia after the global financial crisis in 2008.

[5] The Glass Hotel includes a reference to the "Georgia flu," the illness which drove the plot of Station Eleven.

Two characters from Station Eleven (shipping consultants Miranda and Leon) also appear in The Glass Hotel.

The structure is virtuosic, as the fragments of the story coalesce by the end of the narrative into a richly satisfying shape.

"[11] NPR claimed, "In Vincent and Paul, Mandel has created two of the most memorable characters in recent American [sic] fiction.