When a corporate team-building event turns into a terrifying game of revenge the story is just getting started.

I originally requested this book because I have such a love for escape rooms, any and all kinds. I will never say no to an escape room. And while I understand the title, the book is about so much more than the average 60 minutes to escape games you may have played. The story has depth, flawed characters and an intensity I truly enjoyed. It's the exact type of thriller book that's often my favorite because it has a finance and legal theme mixed with the story. There were some things that happened in the story that seemed a little out there, but in the end I didn't care, I blew through this book!

* I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

Unlikeable characters and full of greed, pettiness, dishonesty, and revenge. The storyline is implausible and slow-moving. Not my cup of tea.

The Escape Room is a fast paced, fun thriller. Four co-workers are brought into an elevator for a team building exercise. The elevator is an Escape Room. I found this novel enjoyable and was totally okay with suspending disbelief for a short time. A great summer read!

The Escape Room definitely grabs your attention and holds on. I blew through this book really quickly because I wanted to find out what happened to the misfortune plagued Sara Hall, and the elite group of ego centric, spoiled rich people who work in Stanhope and Sons. I think we can all relate to being Sara Hall in our lives at one point or another. Though this case is an extreme representation. I was rooting for her to find some justice for herself. This story also should be given credit for bringing attention to the little talked about world of workplace harassment, and the under representation of women in power positions in business. This is definitely worth taking the time to read. A definite recommended read.

I didn't like this book at the beginning. I usually enjoy altering perspectives but I found it distracting in this book since the elevator scenes were so much better then the other ones. But it all changed once I got halfway through the book. The story perspective from Sara's end became just as good as they became more intertwined. I got sucked in and then needed to know who did it and how it ended. I loved the ending, it couldn't have happened any better, but since it took me a while to get into it, I can only give it 4 stars.

I am kind of all over the place on this one. Is it far-fetched? Yes. Cheesy at times? Yes. Entertaining? Definitely yes. In the cut-throat world of Stanhope (a high stakes Wall Street firm) it's every man and woman for themselves. Sara Hall is the new hire -- thrilled to get her dream job. Her story is told in flashbacks, while in the meantime four other very unlikable Stanhope employees are lured into an elevator to play an escape room game. This one is a wild ride

You'll think twice about taking the elevator again and opt for the stairs after reading this book!

What an absolutely exhilarating, heart pumping, adrenaline rush read! The writing is masterfully suspenseful and thrilling, and the depth of description and development of not only the characters, but of their physical environments and emotional tribulations is thoroughly engrossing and riveting. I absolutely could not put this book down. My favourite thriller so far this year, and possibly my favourite book of 2019. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

Escape Room is clever and addictive. There are two parallel narratives. In one narrative, four co-workers with a New York high finance firm are trapped on an elevator, where they are supposed to be involved in an escape room team building exercise. In parallel, one of their former colleagues tells her tale of working at firm. I must admit that I was a bit turned off by the the escape room concept, but it ends up being a clever device for exploring the dynamics between these characters and their backstories. Near the end, I figured out what was going on, but I still found this one compulsively readable. It sure doesn’t paint a pretty picture of life on Wall Street but it makes for good fun suspense. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Cryptic quotations make me wonder how the quote illuminates the plot. Where is Megan Goldin going with this famous Sun Tzu aphorism: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting?” Particularly since it follows on the heels of a poignant dedication.

For every one who has ever been made to feel powerless, trampled upon, or scorned, this book is for you.

It’s the dead of night in New York City but sanitation workers, 24/7 diners, cabbies, and cops are on the job, as are security guards: “It was Miguel who called 911 at 4.07 A.M. on an icy Sunday morning. The young security guard spoke in an unsteady voice, fear disguised by cocky nonchalance.” Miguel is “guarding a luxury office tower in the final stages of construction.” It recalls London’s Canary Wharf or NYC’s Hudson Yards.

The office towers aren’t inhabitable, yet Miguel hears screams, sees the “backlit green fluorescent light of an elevator switch,” and, terrifyingly, jumps at a “loud crack” followed by two more gunshots. While the police are checking things out, they hear “the unmistakable sound of a descending elevator.” The doors open to the stuff of nightmares, especially for Miguel.

He glimpsed blood splatter on the wall of the elevator. He took one more step. Finally, he could see inside the elevator. He immediately regretted it. He’d never seen so much blood in all his life.

Late Friday afternoon, thirty-six hours earlier, four co-workers, team-leader Vincent, Sylvie, Sam, and Jules, are told to meet up in the South Bronx. They work for a financial firm, Stanhope and Sons, where they’re all high flyers, with all the rollercoaster that that entails. They enter an elevator which inexplicably goes dark. Black humor from Jules.

“Maybe the firm is locking us up in here until we resign voluntarily,” Jules said drily. “It’ll save Stanhope a shitload of money.”

Vincent tells them it’s “an escape-room challenge” where, Sam says, “you’re locked in a room and have to solve a series of clues to get out.” It’s a corporate team-building exercise that starts on the eightieth floor… until it isn’t. The elevator stops, and a message appears.

WELCOME TO THE ESCAPE ROOM.



YOUR GOAL IS SIMPLE.



GET OUT ALIVE.

Who’s involved? What’s the backstory? Who has reason to hate them—they’ve certainly given Stanhope and Sons amazing value (hint: in Stanhope’s internal culture, the word value substitutes for money) over the years. They’re responsible for headlines like “Toys R Us: Another Private Equity Casualty” and catch-phrases like “stripped for parts.” No one at Stanhope gives a toss if the team’s high-wheeling financial machinations result in plant closures or layoffs—only the bottom-line counts. Why would Stanhope want them to “resign voluntarily?”

“Why get rid of us? We’ve always made the firm plenty of money,” Sylvie said.



“Until lately,” Vincent said pointedly.



They’d failed to secure two major deals in a row. Those deals had both gone to a key competitor, who had inexplicably undercut them each time. It made them wonder whether their competitor had inside knowledge of their bids. The team’s revenue was lower than it had been in years. For the first time ever, their jobs were vulnerable.

One senses the four have a lot in common with rats fleeing a sinking ship: they all want to be back living their heady, extravagant lives, like meeting a beau in Paris (Sylvie), or joining the family for a luxury vacation in the Caribbean (Sam), but first they must get back on terra firma.

Time to start solving clues but in the “sterile, spotless, and empty” elevator, where are they? They spot the first on a crumpled up gum wrapper. Vincent reads it: “The Latin word for nephew,” he read out loud, “is the origin of an English word for gaining an advantage. Someone you know has benefited from this practice.” Vincent quickly recalls the “Latin word for nephew is nepos,” which leads to nepotism and the career of Eric Miles, a descendant of one of the family founders: “Vincent considered him to be as sharp as a doorknob, a somewhat generous assessment,” but somehow both Eric’s job grade and salary far surpassed Vincent’s “considerably more talented” team. The clues get increasingly difficult and show a profound knowledge of the individuals, highlighting their competitiveness and mutual distrust. Things completely fall apart when they open the ultra-secret bonus letter that’s in Vincent’s briefcase. When Sylvie, Sam, and Jules learn how Vincent regards them—through the all-important prism of money—they turn on him and each other.

The temperature in the elevator shifts between freezing and tropical, they have barely any food or water, their cell phones don’t work. Inevitably, tension and hatred rachets up. The Escape Room is a classic locked-room mystery, updated by Goldin for the 21st century by setting it in an elevator. The ancient Greeks knew how to characterize the melt-down of Vincent’s team: “You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense,” Aeschylus.

See also: Six of the Best Classic Locked-Room Mysteries
The Escape Room will be mandatory reading this year—it’s part The Firm, part Trading Places, part The Ghost of Christmas Past with surprises on every page. I’m looking forward to the inevitable sequel and have already started thinking about which actors will be chosen for the movie.

The Escape Room was a fast-paced thriller. Four co-workers are participating in an escape room team building challenge..or so they think. They have 1 hour to escape the locked elevator. There's backstabbing, manipulation, secrets and lies. This was such a fun read. I love the idea of the escape room. Cleverly written.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of Megan Goldin's "The Escape Room" in exchange of an honest review.

Vincent, Sylvie, Sam, and Jules are all executives with the firm, Stanhope and Sons. At the last minute, they have been told that they have to spend the weekend together in a team building activity and they have been assigned an escape room challenge. All of them know that with the down turn of the market, their jobs could be eliminated, so they reluctantly agree.

We see other employees of the firm and how women are not treated as fairly as the men. At bonus time, that is made abundantly clear.

There is a female employee with Asbergers, but she has a brilliant mind and is an amazing artist.

There is Sara who is an MBA graduate and has just been hired by Stanhope and Sons. She is struggling to prove her worth, loves her job, and wants so much to succeed.

When some unfair dealings occur, things explode.

This is a fascinating book. It was difficult for me to compose some teasers without giving out spoilers. Suffice to say, I found this to be a fabulous story with characters that I’m betting “walk among us” every day. Prepare to be glued to this book, it’s going to take you on quite a ride.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book Review: The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

With an exceptionally crafty plot, this financial thriller is loaded with a heavy dose of corporate drama and high-tech gimmickry, builds up intrigue as the development of characters unfold chapter after chapter, and keeps the reader on the edge in suspense through the finale, such that divulging the "real" protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) in this review would be a spoiler.

While the story may be in parts implausible, the quality of writing is high and consistent to make for an entertaining read. It certainly whets the appetite to be on the lookout for future creations of Ms. Goldin!

Review based on an advance reading copy provided by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

The Escape Room is definitely a fun beachy/poolside read. This is a story about a team building activity gone terribly wrong. It's a story about success and greed and conspiracies and backstabbing and revenge. It is not a realistic story, and most of the characters are beyond repulsive, but it's a compelling page-turner never-the-less.

I received an uncorrected digital galley in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the chance to read and review.

This novel was very entertaining, however the basic plot elements did not give the illusion of reality. When reading psychological thrillers I always look for elements that make it seem like everything could be real and that is what I needed from this book.

I wasn’t sure where this book was going at first. When I see “escape room,” I think of the “for fun” rooms that are so popular right now, so I guess I was expecting that. While there were hints of an escape room, this wasn’t the way I pictured it. In some ways, it was much more interesting. I liked how the author alternated time frames, so I was kept off-balance. Once the first reveal occurred, I shifted into trying to figure out the connections. From that point, the author did a great job of leaving hints along the way as the characters also tried to figure out what was happening. My only complaint was that the ending seemed a little bit hurried, especially given the length of the setup. However, I liked that those who were “powerful” had to scramble, while those who were on lower rungs truly held power. That was a significant aspect of the story. I would recommend this book as a good page-turner. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for a complimentary, pre-release digital ARC of this book.

The idea of being stuck in an elevator is terrifying for me. Regardless of the people I would be surrounded by, this is one of my biggest nightmares. Therefore, I had to read it, lol.

The premise is simple. Four banking executives are summoned to participate at a team-building activity that looks shady from the start. I would have not gone, but their firm, Stanhope, is an elite NY finance entity which demands every minute of your life at any given time. These four souls find themselves in an escape room (AKA elevator) situation that proves to be quite different than what they expected it to be.

The characters in the book are all rotten and despicable. That may sound like a bad thing, but I enjoyed reading how their competitive traits and ambition unfold in the story. It may sound far-fetched, yet some part of me imagines there is some truth on how that world operates. These are some mean, ruthless bastards!

We are told the story in alternating chapters between the elevator, and from the narrative of another character. I found the pace to be excellent, and I drank the kool-aid. Some parts require you to allow yourself to just let the story flow without questioning if this or that would be able to happen in real life. Just let it go and have fun with it. It's a quick read, perfect for summer. Darker than you expect it, but Golding's narrative pushes you to flip the pages to peek--almost morbidly--into these awful people's lives.


I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate your generosity.

I was SO frustrated when my Kindle died at 95% of the story. Paper books would not do that to you. Lesson learned. I must keep track of my Kindle's battery.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin was a high-octane ride that will make you want to right all your wrongs for fear of future repercussions. It was well-written and the characters were fully developed. However, I was disappointed that this book wasn’t more about the actual escape room but more about the individual’s lives and how they wound up in the escape room. I was hoping to see more action in the actual escape room. Other than that, it was a good read that you will enjoy.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was an entertaining read, with unlikable characters and murder. The idea of an escape room challenge as the plot for this book is what interested me as I had no read any other book with that premise. But I do think this is the place where the author dropped the ball. The escape room aspect was very minimal.

I wanted to like it but for me this story fell flat. I never connected to any of the characters, and when I did it was because of how much I disliked them. Even Sara, the protagonist. There were times when I liked her and she's certainly sympathetic (as is Lucy) but I was rooting for her more because I disliked everyone else than because I liked her.

I will admit, it's an addicting read. The pacing is fast and the chapters leave off with the reader wanting more as it switches POVs. But I couldn't help but feel that, like the polished characters, there was some surface I couldn't break through. I think the ending is fine, what it should be, though I didn't really feel like those who came out on top completely deserved it. I do think it's a strong revenge thriller for those who enjoy the genre; it just wasn't for me.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher St. Martin's Press, and the author Megan Goldin for the opportunity to do so.