I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

The Escape Room is a fast paced story, that describes the rise, fall, and ultimate revenge of brilliant investment banker Sara Hall. Each chapter alternates between Sara Hall’s past, and the present, in which 4 bankers (Jules,Sam,Vincent and Sylvie) from Sara’s firm Stanhope & Sons, endure a grueling experience inside a trapped elevator fighting for their lives. In order to escape, they are compelled to solve clues which force them to face their awful pasts, and admit to crimes they thought were long-buried.

Highly entertaining, with a twist that isn't signalled from too early on in the piece. If you enjoyed Gone Girl, and Grisham’s The Firm, you’ll probably enjoy The Escape Room as well. A very enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I asked to read this book because it seemed like it would be very suspenseful and yet somewhat of a psychological thriller as well. I was not wrong on both counts. Sara is the main character ( she is right out of college and desperate to get a good job having to do with accounting) and yet it also revolves around four members of an elite investment banking team at the company she goes to work for.

The book involves two storylines, the first is that of Sara Hall, who is fortunate enough to get a shot at the amazing job of her dreams. While her story is told by her in the present, it also encompasses the past as we watch her rise up and get to know this horrendous bunch she calls coworkers. The other storyline involves just the coworkers as they go to what they think is a mandatory escape room challenge that is supposed to make them closer as a team. What they don't know is that the only thing they have to worry about at the moment is getting out alive. It does not bring them closer, it only makes each one see the other for who they really are and it makes them mad. Mad at each other and mad at whoever is calling the shots.

I have to tell you there were so many twists and turns involved in the storyline that at no point did I know who or what was behind the entire thing or what the outcome would be. Does anyone make it out alive?

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. --Sun Tzu

Having read several reviews prior to beginning this novel, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect. Needless to say, my hopes weren't high. But as I dived in and started reading, something amazing began...I was interested, engaged, and having fun. Fellow readers, this is a fun, compelling story.

Does it discuss the world of finance a great deal? Yes, it does. But it wasn't boring. In fact, it was fascinating learning about the type of person who works in this profession...their sacrifices, their perks, their willingness to sell their soul to the devil. All the background helped flesh out the characters and bring them to life...even if they were all deplorable.

I've read a couple stinkers recently, which took me days to finish, but I read this little gem in one afternoon. It begins by showing us a little snippet of what's to come, then goes back in time 34 hours to the moment our foursome enters the elevator...and began the fight for their lives. I find that such an effective writing technique.

Each chapter is titled Sara Hall, which goes back in time several years and tells her story, or The Elevator, which shows the reader what's happening in "the escape room." It's intriguing, friends. And while I will agree with other reviewers that the ending is pretty implausible, it's so satisfying, I honestly didn't even mind. Most of the time that would bother me...this time, it worked.

I'd say this is the perfect little beach or poolside read. And I'd suggest going in as blind as possible...it will make your time with Sara and the gang more fun.

4 riveting stars!

**Thanks to the publisher for my digital ARC.

Publication date: July 30, 2019
Review published on Goodreads: July 26, 2019

If money can buy happiness, why aren't these people filled with joy? Four members of a work team are stuck in an elevator for what they believe is a team building "escape room" scenario set up by their company. As things get dark and dangerous, they realize something sinister is happening. They are faced with the question, is all the money they make worth the cost?

Imagine going to work the night shift as a security guard. Every night is the same boring routine. When your partner calls out, you don't worry. Until you hear a scream and need to go investigate.

This books follows two points of view; Sara Hall and the Escape Room.

Sara Hall is a young woman with lots to worry about. Her father is sick and she has graduated and can't find a job in finance. Who knew the market was going to affect her hiring. Disappointed and losing hope after failed interviews, Sara finally gets a break when she meets Vincent an investment banker at Stanhope and Sons willing to take a chance on her. Sara is thrilled to have found employment but is less than thrilled with her new coworkers Jules, Sam, and Sylvia. It is clear that they are close and Sara ends up befriending the last member of her team Lucy, who insists on keeping their friendship a secret.

Vincent, Jules, Same, and Sylvia receive a message to meet at an isolated, building to meet for an Escape Room team building exercise. They all enter the elevator to head to this escape room that none of them want to participate in so they can get on with their lives. Only as the elevator is bringing them up, it stops and the first clue is revealed.

The story delves into the past and present of life with the team at Stanhope and Sons.and the secrets that they keep.

I read this ARC over a couple days. It was truly hard to put down. The plot was well written and riveting. Provocative story highly recommended read. Characters you will truly loathe and others you will be adoring.

There was some subject matter that could be triggering to certain people. I believe that part of the story was written in a way to make it the least offensive as possible but still get to the point of the subject matter.

The Escape Room is a highly recommended debut thriller by Megan Goldin.

Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are high rolling investment bankers from the Wall Street firm Stanhope and Sons. The four are called to a meeting by the human resources department that ends up being an escape room team building challenge. The ambitious four become increasingly agitated and hostile as they look for puzzles to solve while locked in an elevator with no lights. It seems that this is no ordinary escape room challenge and might be a game of survival.

Alternating chapters follow the present and the past. Present day chapters are set in the elevator where clues seem to point to two deceased employees, Sara and Lucy. Chapters set in the past are from the point-of-view of Sara Hall. Sara was a recent MBA graduate who Vincent hired to work on his team with the other three leading team members and Lucy, a brilliant mathematician on the spectrum who kept to herself. The four, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam, are obviously the ones in charge and they make sure Sara works long hours and does all the tedious tasks the others avoid. Sara's chapters with the backstory explain what happened to her and Lucy, and how the four ended up in the elevator.

This is an entertaining debut thriller that starts out strong and basically holds your attention throughout. The elevator scenes do slow down and become a bit tedious while alternating chapters following Sara become much more compelling and interesting. This lag happens as the past catches up to the present day chapters. Sara and Lucy are both are both protagonists you will support and have empathy for, while the four bankers are clearly antagonists from the start. You will have to suspend disbelief with the plot, but the sheer entertainment value will make that easy.

Once you get the the end of the novel, the narrative is a long explanation of how and why the four ended up in the elevator. The long game of getting them there requires setting skepticism aside and just going with the action. Even while I knew the plot was stretching credibility, I kept reading for the entertainment value.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press.

http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/07/the-escape-room.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2910749290
https://www.librarything.com/work/22043625/book/171275820
https://twitter.com/SheTreadsSoftly/status/1154459194491203584?s=20
Amazon and Barnes&Noble after publication

I’m honestly at a loss for words with this book. Not only am I confused as to what exactly the point of the majority of the plot was but also, it’s so incredibly far-fetched.

I had a lot of issues with this one, and overall, I’m just disappointed with how it turned out.

Great, fast moving, puzzle of a book. It really did seem like the typical team building exercise every business person has to go through. An Escape Room is fun! And only an hour out of your busy life. But not for these 4 over achievers. This book kept me up way past my bedtime. Thanks for the ride.

It's hard to rate a compelling book where most of the characters are amoral. This is a story of greed, competition, and revenge. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through Netgallery. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. Four competitive people enter an elevator believing that it is a compulsory team building activity, but it is instead revenge. This book is written alternating between a third person view from the people in the elevator and a first person view of a young woman who joins the financial firm. Both styles add to the story. It is a dark story in that individuals are seduced by the firm into a greedy, amoral, and workaholic lifestyle. The book is well written and I didn't want to put it down. On the negative side, I didn't like any of the characters. Even though the book wrapped up well, I don't like how revenge affected everyone. That is why I gave this book just 3 stars.

I really loved this book!!!! It was dark and twisty and unpredictable. I read half of this book in one day and that is super hard for me to do usually with 3 little ones. This was a really great mystery, definitely read it!!!

Thank you #netgalley and #stmartinspress for an advanced copy of this book!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Escape Room did not live up to the hype for me. I wouldn't call it a thriller nor is it even an escape room. It starts with four awful co-workers, Vincent, Slyvie, Jules and Sam--summoned to what is supposed to be a team meeting. It turns out that they think this is an escape room challenge--which it is clearly not.
Then, the next chapter shifts to Sara Hall, and I am thinking, "Who is this person and why do I care about her?" The chapters go back and forth between Sara's POV of how she came to work at the firm with the four co-workers mentioned above and that of the people in the elevator. I didn't mind it as I found some chapters more exciting than others. A whole bunch of Sara's chapters could have been omitted and/or shortened. I didn't care to read about the high finance world of getting this deal or that. I thought the elevator chapters would be more exciting, but that wasn't the case. The clues were few and far between and it got a little boring. The suspense was lacking. How many times could it be mentioned that it was extremely hot in the elevator?

The ending was so far-fetched, ridiculous and unreal. I felt a little let down when I got to that part. I'm giving it three stars, because I did finish the book, though it was so not what I wanted or expected it to be.

The Escape Room is a psychological thriller about a group of four coworkers who are trapped in an elevator. They think they are there to participate in a team-building, escape room type activity. Except that's not what is going on. Each chapter alternates between telling what is currently happening in the elevator and what happened back in time when a former coworker started working for the company.

I liked the alternating chapters. I thought it kept the story moving, as I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened and how the two stories merged. Most of the characters in this story are not likeable. At all. They are a ruthless bunch, and I most definitely would never ever want to work for this company! I don't mind reading books with unlikeable characters though, and this group was fascinating to me with just how awful, selfish, and ambitious they were. Do people like this really exist??

For a thriller, I didn't find this book to be overly suspenseful. It was entertaining but not super chilling or scary. I was not necessarily on the edge of my seat, but I did want to keep reading.

In the end, I enjoyed it and was entertained by the story. I don't think it is one that will stick with me for long though, but it is also an easy read. I would recommend it if you are looking for a fun and quick read and if you are okay reading books with unlikeable characters.

I would give this book 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4). Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Escape Room
by Megan Goldin

Hardcover, 368 pages
Expected publication: July 30th 2019 by St. Martin's Press (first published May 28th 2018)


Goodreads synopsis:
Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are ruthlessly ambitious high-flyers working in the lucrative world of Wall Street finance where deception and intimidation thrive. Getting rich is all that matters, and they'll do anything to reach the top.

When they are ordered to participate in a corporate team-building exercise that requires them to escape from a locked elevator, dark secrets of their team begin to be laid bare.

The biggest mystery to solve in this lethal game: What happened to Sara Hall? Once a young shining star—”now gone but not forgotten”.

This is no longer a game. 
They’re fighting for their lives.

***

4.5 Stars

This book begins with us getting a good look into the life of Sara Hall. Her struggles and worries as she tries to get a job at Stanhope and Sons financial firm. She needs the money to help pay her dad’s medical bills. Her first interview at Stanhope is a bust and while in the elevator leaving she meets Vincent. She takes a chance and gives her resume to him and weeks later she finally has her dream job. Vincent is the leader of one of the financial teams in Stanhope and Sons. His team consists of Jules, Sylvie, Lucy and Sam. This is a tight knit group and getting along in Stanhope is all about business and image. It is cut-throat and her co-workers are not her friends. It is like working in a pit of vipers.

Lucy is the lone standout of the group. She is super smart and is probably the single person keeping the firm making money. She has a sixth sense about how money works. Sara befriends her. But they can only be friends out of the office. Them knowing she and Lucy were friends would not work out well for either of them. When Lucy is found dead from an apparent suicide, Sara knows there is definitely something wrong at Stanhope.

The Escape Room jumps back and forth between the story of Sara Hall and the four members of Vincent’s team being stuck in an elevator doing what they believe to be experiencing a team building challenge. They are in an escape room. Stanhope is notorious for throwing challenges at them at any time of the day or night. But this challenge turns deadly as the clues they uncover lead them to distrust each other more and more. If any of them survive by Monday morning it would be a miracle.

This is a suspense-filled roller coaster ride. UN-PUT-DOWNABLE! I spent over half the book wondering what Sara Hall had to do with any of what was happening in the secondary storyline. I had no clue. But I knew what I wished would happen. I wished Vincent had been a nicer guy. I wished he and Sara had gotten together romantically. But that wasn’t to be for this book and in this world. The ending is worth waiting for and I marveled at how long it took to not only set it up but the patience of making the escape room trap perfect. I almost wish there was a book two. After the Fallout of the Escape Room.

Great read. Check it out.

Highly recommended.

This is a story about four pretty unlikable people, all work colleagues, who are trying to escape from an elevator. A decent read but very cheesy at times.

Well, that was a surprise. I did somehow expect that this book would be all about the escape room. It is, in a way, but it is also the entertaining story of Sara and her rise in the world of finance.

There are two storylines. The first one is in the elevator where five colleagues are trapped. They soon learn that this is not an ordinary Escape Room game. The riddles are very personal and soon everything gets nasty. The second one is where we meet Sara. Sheer luck earns her the job of her dreams. She joins a team of investment bankers. She is grateful and blinded by all the money that suddenly comes her way. Megan Goldin gives us an insight in the merciless world of corporate finances where greed rules and sexism is the normality.

The entertainment factor of this book is immense. But you have to abandon your expectations for plausibility. The end is a bit rushed. But the fun wins here and I enjoyed it very much.

Vincent, Sylvie, Jules, and Sam all cheerfully bartered their souls in exchange for outlandish financial success at a cutthroat Wall Street firm. However, lately their team has been underperforming, making them desperate enough to prove their worth that they all show up for a late night team building exercise at a construction site. The supposed escape room is an elevator stocked with riddles that seem to have less to do with finding an egress than stoking their mutual loathing. Alternate chapters from a former coworker reveal their toxic backstory. Wildly improbable, but still fun.

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!

Publication Date: 7/30/2019

Rating: 3.5 / 5

"Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive." THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin captured my attention with this tagline. I have often wondered how well I would fare in an escape room situation. I love puzzles and word games and the like, but tend to fail under pressure which is definitely an element of an escape room. Generally beating the clock in an escape room is good for bragging rights, but in this book it is life or death!

Facing the escape room scenario are three coworkers, Jules, Sylvie and Sam along with their supervisor Vincent. They aren't entirely clear as to why they have been summoned to this office building, but they are all used to working impossibly long hours in a cutthroat business to get ahead. Knowing that their recent performance has been less than ideal, they feel they have no choice but to reschedule plans and put their lives on hold to attend this mandatory meeting.

Following instructions to go upstairs, the foursome find themselves trapped in the elevator with clues to interpret which hint at a mystery in their past. The stress of the situation and their extremely competitive natures begins to slowly reveal the cracks in the professional veneers of these individuals.

Interspersed with the story of the four escape room participants are chapters written from Sara's point of view beginning years before the present day. She begins as an eager young new recruit, happy to have work and a steady paying job along side her more competitive coworkers. She is of course conspicuously absent from the escape room, and the reasons for that are revealed as the story progresses.

The strength of this book was in the character development. Goldin begins with a very limited perspective with four people trapped in a very nice, but very cramped elevator car. Through the flashbacks and the way the characters deal with the clues they are given we see their backstory and their personalities fleshed out.

The chapters which focus on the escape room are written in a third person omniscient point of view, giving insights to each of the four characters' thoughts and feelings as their experience progresses. Sara's chapters are written in the first person, giving an additional outsider's perspective which changes over time from an eager and perhaps naive beginner to a more experienced and knowing point of view. I wasn't always sure if I liked the changes in point of view between chapters and characters, but overall I appreciated the insights it brought.

The thriller aspect of the story is somewhat limited to the time focusing on the escape room which took up a relatively small portion of the story. Sara's chapters and the flashback portions of the elevator chapters was more about a slow build up of suspense. There are major questions to be asked which kept me wanting answers. Who set up the escape room and why? What will those trapped in the elevator do to survive?

This is a book that had me hooked from the dramatic prologue and kept me wanting to read more to figure out the mysteries at the heart of this story. There isn't a lot to root for with the four main characters in the elevator, but Sara's perspective offsets that nicely and she is a character I could definitely side with.

If you are looking for a good, slow burn suspense story with some thriller aspects mixed in, this definitely is a book you'll want to check out when it is released on July 30, 2019!

This review will be posted as follows:
* on dgreads.home.blog on 7/24/2019
* a link to the blog post will be posted on twitter (@dg90247) when the post goes live on 7/24/2019
* a slightly abbreviated version of this review will be posted on my Instagram account (@dg_reads) on 7/24/2019
* a publication day reminder will be added to my Instagram stories on 7/30/2019
* posts will be made to Amazon and Barnes & Noble after publication

I will come back to provide direct links to the posts after they go live.

I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5. It was a fresh new concept. Lately, everything has been about spouses and/or cheating, secret lives, etc. Every book I read has one of those themes. I loved the detail in this book and how everything just came together. The different perspectives made it all that more compelling. When I started reading this book, it seemed a bit slow. But boy did it pick up! I went from 10% read to finished in about 24 hours. I would have finished sooner had I not had other things that I had to do.
Most of the characters were horrible people. But what can you expect from the corporate world.
The plot twist made my jaw drop. Though, I did sort of see something like that coming, but I wasn’t exactly for sure. I gave the book 4.5/5 instead of 5/5 because I would have liked to have learned what happened to Vincent. And if Sara found out about the result of what she had done. Other than that, I loved it!

highly recommend this novel.! The Escape Room kept me on the edge of my seat! This was a true page-turner.!

I absolutely loved the mystery of the coworkers being trapped in "an escape room" and I loved going along with them on the ride and wondering who did what to put them where they are? I also Really enjoyed the thrill of this novel.! It is fast-paced and really enjoyable. I never found myself bored or wanting to put it down. I actually stayed all night just to finish it!

My only personal gripe is that there is a true lack of much needed diversity. There was a lot of talk and complaints from one of our main characters about diversity and the lack thereof at their firm but she seemed to only mean in gender. Again, this was a personal thing for me that would have pushed this book to being 5 stars for me. But maybe this book is very realistic of the fact that in the Wall Street world and in the top 1% there isn't much diversity in terms of race. *shrugs*

Other than that, I really adore this book and found myself reading aloud from it on several occasions to my husband and then once to my brother. And we both agree that it'd make for a fantastic movie.!