I thought this was a really entertaining read! This book is about a group of investment bankers from one of the top firms on Wall Street. They meet up in a building after having gotten an email that there is a mandatory team building exercise at that location. Once they're in the elevator, they become trapped and realize that the elevator itself is an escape room. We also have another perspective; that of Sara Hall and her journey in starting to work for this company, and what happened to her.

First of all; there were definitely unlikable characters. There's 6 notable characters in this book and 4 of them are very unlikable from the start. Personally I really don't mind unlikable characters, but I know some just can't read them. Secondly, there was a lot of investment and financial stuff that went completely over my head, but I was able to get the gist of it and it didn't affect my understanding of the plot. I was pretty engaged in the story, I read the last 75% in one night! The ending isn't too hard to guess but I don't think it tries to be, and it was an interesting journey to find out all the details. Overall I would definitely recommend this as a quick summer read.

When Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam receive an SMS on a Friday evening about a mandatory team-building escape room challenge, they all rush to attend.
These competitive, cut-throat employees cannot afford to upset the company board while there are rumors of people being laid off.
However this escape room is unlike any other. It is an elevator with questions posed based on the teams personal life and the dirty deeds they have done to get ahead at work.
This book had me entranced till the very end. I could put it down and found myself reading while walking around the office (almost walked into a door too) and throughout my lunch breaks.
This is a well written book with an intriguing plot and several twists and turns that I most certainly did NOT see coming. Definitely read this. You will not regret it

The talented debut novelist, Megan Goldin delivers an electrifying new summer psychological thriller of corporate greed everyone is buzzing about —THE ESCAPE ROOM! Difficult to believe this is a debut! Look for my Blog Tour and Elevator Q&A with the Author coming Aug 12.

A creative deliciously evil high-stakes twisty game of REVENGE!

You will not be able to breathe until the elevator doors are open. What occurs inside the elevator doors, and who is behind this dangerous game? What is the motive? All these answers plus more are revealed in this "unputdownable" cat-and-mouse game of suspense.

What starts with four Wall Street investment bankers being summoned by human resources in a mysterious text to a meeting on a Friday evening. The text stated it was compulsory for them to attend. The meeting happens to be in an office building under construction.

As they enter, they soon find themselves trapped in this steel elevator, and NO way to escape. Everything appears to be a set-up game to mirror an escape room challenge. Soon they learn this is NO ordinary team-building exercise.

In the cut-throat world of finance, Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie were superstars, but needless to say, recently, they have lost some deals, and their jobs are hanging by a thread. They have their secret deals. They were named, the "Circle" which consisted of five members. However, one member, Lucy, had died, and now there were four. Since then, they seem to be losing money. How did Lucy die and who was responsible?

But little do they suspect, their jobs, their bonuses, and the millions of dollars they hope to attain are not the only focus of danger. Their lives are literally hanging in this elevator, and soon they learn this is no laughing game. Who can they trust? Will they all die, or will one turn on the other?

In a dangerous game of survival, THE ESCAPE ROOM is razor-sharp, dark, sinister, and highly entertaining! What a roller-coaster wild ride up the corporate ladder. Skillfully crafted, Goldin keeps readers on the edge-of-your-seat to the explosive ending. Who is the mastermind behind this ruthless and complex revenge plot? Who will come out alive? Who will kill and who will survive?

We all have our horrors, fears, and love/hate stories of elevators. They are mysterious, and each time you enter one, you hand over control. However, do we really know who is controlling our elevators? (read more on my blog)

VERDICT: Highly recommend! Five stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Top Books of 2019 list. We can only imagine what is coming next from this newfound talent. We will be anxiously awaiting. THE ESCAPE ROOM would make for a great movie or series. 🎬

For fans of intelligent high-stakes, adrenaline-fueled action and the movie "Elevator" (2011) where racism collides with corporate greed when nine strangers, one of whom has a bomb become trapped in a Wall Street elevator.

Readers who enjoyed Christina Alger's "The Banker's Wife," and those who have read advanced reading copies of Hank Phillippi Ryan's (8/20) "The Murder List," and upcoming Linwood Barclay's "The Elevator Pitch" (9/17) —(also a great revenge plot). Check out my upcoming Elevator Ride Interview with both Linwood and Hank on their pub dates.

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy. I also purchased the audiobook, narrated by January LaVoy, Ramon De Ocampo, which was excellent.

#JDCMustReadBooks

Let’s get a couple of things real clear. My reaction to mandatory “Team Building” within a company would look a little something like to lay on the ground kicking and screaming until they let me out of doing it and my general reaction to being forced to spend the minute it takes to get me up to my floor every morning in an elevator with even one other human attempting to speak to me is pretty much to shoot my own face off. Thus, the reasoning behind always having both a Kindle and physical book shield with me at all times . . . .

When I saw the tag line behind this book . . . .

“WELCOME TO THE ESCAPE ROOM. YOUR GOAL IS SIMPLE. GET OUT ALIVE.”

My initial reaction was this is the stuff of horrors and I had to have it immediately. What I wasn’t aware of was this was going to be a little deeper than a B-quality horror. Not only does the reader get to hear about the present where Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam are stuck in the “escape room,” but they also get the tale of Sara Hall and the company’s history. A little slashery – a little The Firm, this was a pretty good time. Unfortunately, my company was undergoing a complete system overhaul that left me a little braindead by the time I had a chance for some reading. I’m rounding my 3.5 Stars up due to that fact because I think any other week this may have been a full 4 Stars for me.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

3.5 stars, rounded up. The Escape Room has a very intriguing and "of the moment" premise, with four employees of an investment firm trapped in an elevator, thinking they are participating in an escape room for a team building activity. But the clues are oddly personal, and soon some of their bad deeds are going to come back to haunt them. And what is happening with the alternating chapters told from the perspective of one of their (apparently former) coworkers? While the "whodunit" in this story is not hard to guess, for some reason the topic of wealthy Wall Street-ers behaving badly is oddly fascinating.

Being summoned last minute to participate in a 'team building exercise' is not how Vincent, Jules, Sylvie or Sam saw their Friday night going. Unfortunately, participation is mandatory so they all dutifully arrive on time at a remote office building in a shady part of town. Greeting in the lobby, they enter the elevator together for the ride up to one of the top floors.
The express elevator ascends quickly and then abruptly stops. The lights go out and the heat cranks up. Suddenly, the team comes to the realization that this is their exercise. An Escape Room challenge where the competitive coworkers will have to put petty rivalries aside and work together in order to solve the clues needed for them to be released.
As dark secrets of the team are revealed, viciously pitting them against one another, they find themselves removed from their normal boardroom backstabbing and thrust into a definitive game of survival.
Megan Goldin's thrilling debut, set in the world of high stakes Wall Street finance is incredibly ruthless, and that's sort of my brand. I absolutely flew through this story. I could not put it down!
Following dual perspectives between our cast of characters in the elevator and flashbacks to a mysterious former team member, Sara Hall, the plotting of this is absolutely brilliant. It kept me engaged and guessing the entire way.
At its heart, a complex revenge thriller, this stoked my Slytherin heart, as I stan a character with the dedication to strategize a long game. If you don't know what I mean by this, pick up this book. This is the epitome of a painstakingly planned 'long game'.
I had so much fun reading this and it is now definitely one of my favorite books of the year. I recommend it to anyone who likes a solid, unique thriller. If this is what Goldin puts out for her debut, I cannot wait to what she comes up with next. You know I will be buying it and devouring it as soon as its released!
Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity and of course, love discovering ambitious new authors to obsess over.

I use to hear about Escape Rooms from my blogging friends, Annie. It is not a game that I have ever played so I don’t know the rules. In this story, 4 high-flying business executives are stuck in an elevator. The only way out is to crack some codes given by whoever is controlling the elevator. I remember being stuck in an elevator once. I was alone and it was pitch-dark. The entire experience took about 5 minutes but I was terrified, claustrophobic and I felt as if I was suffocating. I could definitely understand the nightmare that the 4 characters had to endure.

The story is narrated through two main timelines. One timeline is set in the present time inside the elevator. The 4 characters are struggling to stay alive with hardly any water or food and they are squeezed in that little elevator with nowhere to go. Through the chapters, we get to learn more about the 4 and the circumstances that lead to their predicament. In the second timeline, we get to follow Sara Hall’s story. I was so keen to find out how the two timelines connected. Who is Sara Hall? Why are the 4 in the elevator? So many questions led to an exciting journey towards the answers.

This was a fast-paced, twisty ride. I loved all the reveals and the journey that the author took me through. scratched my head at first trying to solve the mystery. Page by page, the puzzle pieces came together in an explosive ending.

I enjoyed this cracking thriller despite not liking any of the characters and their cut-throat business world. I am so happy that I get to work regular hours and my job so far hasn’t demanded any human sacrifices or my own soul like Wall Street seems to do. This was such a fun, captivating read. Loved it!

4 There’s More than Meets the Eyes Stars

This is a great debut for Ms. Goldin. I was immediately captivated by this story from the moment I started The Escape Room. When I read the synopsis I was drawn to the story and I needed a change wanting to read something that was truly suspenseful and this book fit the bill perfectly.

There’s quite a few moving parts in this book as it shifts POV and between past and present and Ms. Goldin did a great job on keeping all the pieces together. Sara Hall is our Heroine in this book and there’s really not a hero because she’s the main focus of this story. She’s a young woman that’s got a brand new MBA and is trying to find her place on Wall Street. I loved how the author gave us a real look at reality especially with the timeline of this book and what was happening in the finance world and how nepotistic and narcissistic that world can be.

The story is setup and moves quite rapidly and I literally devoured this book staying up way too late into the night. But it was so worth it. There’s a plot twist that’s really diabolical in nature and I didn’t expect it, which to me, is a great sign of a suspense book.

Overall, this book is definitely a must read if you like a story that’s fast moving, suspenseful, intriguing and engaging. I’m so looking forward to reading more for this author!

The Escape Room is a book that I was not able to put down from the very beginning. This is the type of thriller that I search for and rarely find. Honestly I tire of "The Girl in the..." and author Megan Goldin has strayed away from the cookie cutter mystery-thriller and given us something different.

Sarah just earned her MBA and comes highly recommended from professors and colleagues, yet she hasn't landed a job until she comes to interview with the firm at Stanhope and Sons. She lands the job in no place other than in the elevator with 'the best of the best.' From there, everything escalates. Sarah is trapped on the elevator with four co-workers in darkness with no water, no food, and in darkness. At first this is thought to be an average escape room team building scenario. However, they soon learn that it isn't just their jobs, but their lives that are on the line.

Woooow, what a ride! Honestly? This was not a book that pulled me in right from the start. Actually, it took me three tries to get past the first chapters - and then I couldn't put it down anymore.
There were times when I thought that some things didn't sound very plausible or a bit overstated but on the whole the story drew me in.

The different perspectives of those in the escalator, trying desperately to survive and Sara's story teling us about the events that led to the death of several people and might, well, let's just say that the further we get, the more we learn about Vincent and the others in the escalator, the more we realize that there is a definite chance that not all of them...or none...might be able to escape. And the more we learn about them...let's just say that I was getting more and more upset and seeing that in the present situation most of them showed character traits that didn't necessarily endear them to me either...well, I didn't feel very sorry for them. Still - I was intrigued and even when I felt that I knew what was happening or rather who made things happen, I needed to know more about it.

When all of their dark secrets are revealed, the events come thick and fast and nothing will ever be the same - not even for those who survive. If someone survives...
A well-written, intriguing and compelling story that kept me on my toes, I really enjoyed reading this book!

3.5

Four players in the financial world are told to attend a last minute mandatory meeting. Once they are all in the building elevator, everything shuts down and they are told they have to collectively solve puzzles to be released - just like an escape room. On the surface it seems that they have friendly relationships with each other. But nothing could be further from the truth. In alternating chapters, we meet Sara as she first joins the firm until her life takes a dramatic turn for the worse.

The first 3/4 of this book was fairly realistic. And while things get very crazy in the last 1/4, that is when all the action starts. I do not want to give away what happens. Suffice it to say things get crazy. The real question - who survives?

This did keep me quite entertained. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley.

You will have to suspend your disbelief for this one, but wow that was entertaining! Most of the characters are those that you will love to hate.

Sara Hall starts a job at a big Wall Street firm. Her coworkers are greedy and terrible people. The storyline flips back and forth between Sara’s story of working at the firm and the present day of her coworkers trapped in an elevator made into an escape room. What looks like a team building exercise soon starts to look like they might not get out alive.

I rolled my eyes a few times at how far fetched it all seemed but it flowed nicely and kept me picking the book back up. Let go of reality and enjoy! Perfect for a beach/vacation read!

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

Take everything you’ve heard, or experienced for yourself, about escape rooms and throw it away. This fast paced thriller is the closest book to the movie SAW thag you’ll find. Now, it’s no where near as gruesome, but the meaning behind their isolation is the same. I was hooked very early on.


I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This book is a page-turner. It's gripping, tense, and it completely took me by surprise. I devoured it in one afternoon because I couldn't stop reading until I found out how it ended.

It has a suspenseful premise: gunshots are heard inside an elevator in an abandoned building. What is going on? Let's go back to a Friday night when Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie are preparing to enjoy the weekend when they are called for a mandatory escape room. Their jobs at risk, they have no choice but to get inside the elevator. After all, it should last just an hour. But this is not a normal escape room, as they soon find out, and what happens when people are scared and trapped? Their survival instincts kicks in and things get out of control. Add also resentment, paranoia and secrets that start to come to light and you start wonder if they will ever make it out of there alive.

This part of the story is high with tension and increased my fear of elevators. I was completely captivated as tempers rose and people got hurt. However, that's not all that happens in the novel, because there is also Sarah Hall's story that kept me glued to the page. Who is Sarah Hall? She is a young woman just out of graduation, she is driven and optimistic for the future, especially after she lands her dream job in a finance company in New York. Thrown in the man's world of Wall Street were women can be counted on the fingers of one's hand, Sarah faces long hours in the office and no social life. But how is she connected to the escape room?

I loved how the author presented the characters, how the twists took me by surprises, and the claustrophobic setting is simply perfect. I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't realise I finished reading it until I read "acknowledgements from the author". If you are looking for a fast-paced, entertaining, and compulsive read, then you are going to love THE ESCAPE ROOM.

I was very Fortunate to be able to participate in the Blog Tour for this Fantastic book. The Escape Room by Megan Goldin was a book I could not put down. It was honestly really one of the Best Books that I enjoyed. I will not give any spoilers as I want you to try to feel what I felt when I read it.

It was a total Insane Thriller. I felt that way. I also felt like I could in my own ways relate to the characters as well. This book is probably not what you would expect... it’s even better. It sucks you in where you don’t want to put it down until you can’t read no more or until daily life calls. Once you get to the last chapter of this book, you will be sad it’s ended it hooks you in hook, line, & sinker. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope you will as well.

Favorite Quotes:

He was a sharp-faced lawyer from the risk and regulatory team, who needled me until I felt like a pincushion.

Two men followed me into the elevator, deep in conversation. “There’s no way that I’m getting married until I’m forty. Between you and me, my future wife is probably still in elementary school,” said the guy with short blond hair while looking at my ass as if he were analyzing a financial chart.

Jules was a gossip. He loved getting information and then spreading it around to see what would happen. Jules was like a kid poking a stick into an ant nest to see how the ants responded.

“You’re not very good at hearing the word no, are you?” I said, pushing his hand off Sylvie. “She was trying very politely to let you down easy. You’re not her type. You’re at least ten years too old and thirty pounds too heavy. Plus, you’re at least two inches too short. Probably in more than one department.”


My Review:

What a nest of vipers! I grew to deeply despise 95% of these characters - they were vile and among the worst humanity has to offer. This was a tautly written and slowly evolving tale of greed, corruption, fraud, murder, and the ultimate revenge and retribution. Written in multiple POV and sliding timelines, it took me a few beats to catch on to Ms. Goldin’s unique yet compelling writing style. Her storylines were populated with intriguing and original characters that weren’t at all endearing yet they held and provoked my curiosity and demanded my attention. I may need to start burying cash in the backyard, as I want to pull all my investment accounts, pronto!

The Escape Room is the 90's "The Firm" on steroids. Sara Hall joins Stanhope, the Walstreet firm of her dreams. The salary and bonuses are more than she could have imagined. However, as she becomes close to a coworker, she begins to realize that dissent will not be tolerated.

Mail biting suspense! Recommended!

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are high-rollers in the world of finance. They are relentless in their pursuits and are masters of their craft and their lavish lifestyles are proof of their successes. But this life of luxury comes at a great cost—a gruelling schedule and oftentimes unrealistic expectations and deadlines.

The four are called in for an after-hours meeting on a Friday night. Given the out-of-the way location, and their recent failure to close on too many lucrative deals, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam fear that they've been summons as a result of their poor performance and that they are going to be made redundant. Vincent informs them that they are actually there to participate in an escape room challenge. Agreeing that it is smart to be on their best behaviour before bonus day, and their competitive personalities getting the best of them, they pile into the elevator. But when the doors shut and they are plunged into darkness, it quickly becomes apparent that they are trapped.

Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.

What starts off as a game turns into survival. Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam need to put aside their differences and work together to solve clues in order to be freed. But when the game reveals the secrets they've been hiding from one another, they realize that the terrible things they've done to get them where they are come at a high price. The final puzzle: which one of them will kill in order to survive?

Goldin's debut is a stomach-dropping ride. Alternating between past and present, the cast of characters are completely ruthless and will stop at nothing to succeed. They are fuelled by the rush that comes with making high-profile deals and will do anything that the company asks of them. Despite the unlikeable characters, or in spite of them, this story is totally compelling.

There are a few times where the reader has to suspend their disbelief and in this case, I'm willing to overlook it because it was so enthralling! Also, there were pockets in the narrative where it got repetitive and a touch (dare I say) predictable. But because it was so entertaining, I was completely captivated.

Whether it is a commentary on corporate finance or greed itself, the writing is clever and razor-sharp and I can't wait for more from Megan Goldin.

Overall I kind of liked this book, yet hated it at the same time. It took me quite a while to finish it. I was bored with the story at times & the characters weren't likeable.

This thrilling novel had me guessing from the very first page. The different timelines and points of view, which are very popular in books today, were handled masterfully. The characters were mostly well rounded although a couple seemed just thrown in. The settings and situations were realistic and relatable. The ending, although marvelous in its delivery, left me a bit unsatisfied without really knowing why; despite that, a must read!