I was hooked from the first page. Interesting characters, some I could relate to. The story moves along so fast, it's hard to put the book down. A really good psychological novel that is a little different and well written. You will be surprised how it ends.

This book was a joy ride that was amazing. The ending was so clever and so satisfying. I’m really mad that I finished it so soon.

In this book people get what they deserved. No matter how rich you are. The consequences will always come back. That’s the main thing I loved about the book.

Let’s not forget the autism rep . It was amazing to see someone in the spectrum have a job.. Lucy is legitimately my favorite character behind Sara.

Trigger warnings for sexual assault though.

But I’m so happy that I finally read it and can July 31st come here. I need a physical copy ASAP.

Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are ruthless and ambitious in their pursuit of the top rung of Wall Street finance.
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 come to light. This is no longer a game.
They’re fighting for their lives.
•
As my son would say, “Lordy child, Lordy!” I finished this book in less than 24 hours because it was so compelling and my need to know what happened far outweighed my need to do laundry. I was drawn in right away because of the “what the heck!” beginning. It has the kind of characters you love to hate. Is it bad that I had zero compassion for them and their predicament?😬 Anyway, I’d definitely recommend this great mystery/thriller!

Sylvie, Sam, Jules, and their boss, Vincent, receive a generic meeting invite to an escape room challenge on the eightieth floor of a large building. All come with little question, as they have a slavish devotion to their firm, Stanhope and Sons. They make a lot of money for the firm--and in turn, they make a lot of money for themselves. But lately, their team has failed to secure two major deals in a row, both of which have gone to a key competitor, who had inexplicably undercut them each time. The team is trouble. Their revenue is lower than it has been in years. They know their jobs are in trouble, and bonuses are being issued next week (along with notices). However, it quickly becomes clear this may be more than a typical team-building escape room challenge. The group solves a clue related to Sara Hall, a former analyst on the team who died. Locked together in an elevator, the competitive quartet starts to turn on each other.

"There was only the message on the television monitor. 'Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.'"

This was a really fun, bizarre read that I very much enjoyed. I had no idea where it was going for much of the book, but that was totally okay. It's told in very short, quick alternating chapters between members of our elevator group and then Sara Hall herself, back when she was alive and well and working at the firm. The result is a fast-paced read, as you wonder what on earth happened to Sara, whom actually seems like a human being compared to the four others. Our four trapped analysts, however, range across various levels of despicable--liars and cheaters all devoted to making money at any cost.

Truth be told, you can only feel so sorry for them to be trapped in this elevator in the dark, at the mercy of a screen doling out clues. Once in the dark, they turn violent at times: empowered against their boss, Vincent. You realize that they've sacrificed so much for their company that they basically have nothing left on the personal front.

It's a fascinating, gripping tale of what people will do to succeed, for revenge, and what they'll do when pushed to the brink. It's a really fast read. Is it a plausible story? Probably not. Is it fun, enjoyable, and full of twists and turns? Oh yeah. I could see this one as a movie, for sure. Definitely just a thrilling read to get lost in a for a couple of hours, especially if you enjoy the dark and twisted world of finance. 4+ stars!

Have you ever been stuck in an elevator with 3 people you can't trust? Getting out with their lives intact may be difficult.

The story goes back and forth between Sara's story and "The Elevator". Sara is a sad and lonely woman who thinks she has finally found success at a large New York company, only to be caught up in the mysterious death of her co-worker and friend and eventually losing her job because she asked too many questions. Her life is in ruins and it looks pretty bleak.

Jump to a year or so later and Sara's four colleagues are stuck in the company's elevator assuming they have been called there for an escape room game where they have to answer clues to get out. Little do they know, someone has found out their secrets and plans to make their life a living hell.

The characters are naive, brilliant, contemptible, and shallow. The emotions will run high when one reads about the low and backstabbing things these people do because of money and power. And some are too naive to see it before it's too late.

I was blown away by this story! It is so original and well-planned out that I was glued to it to the end. Let's just say, revenge is sweet. A chilling read that will make you look at your co-workers a bit differently. Recommend highly!

Thank you to Ms. Goldin, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book with no expectations of a positive review given.

I have been waiting for this book for so long. I love going to escape rooms myself, but love the idea of it being used as revenge or mind games on someone (obviously not the ones I go to though!). 

Unfortunately, The Escape Room starts quite slowly. You have two timelines, one of Sara Hall, a struggling college graduate who's desperate to find work in New York's banking scene, and one of the elevator, where four colleagues meet to take part in a team building exercise the firm has forced them to attend. With threats of job losses amongst the company, everyone is desperate to prove that they should be kept on.

The elevator chapters were the ones I was most interested in from the beginning, and was slightly frustrated that I kept being torn away from it to Sara's chapters. However, one you get over this initial slump, and get more into Sara's life at the company, things get more interesting. The pacing picks up, and I couldn't put this book down once I got about a quarter of the way in. 

Some twists were a little predictable, some were more surprising, but the whole concept of the personalised escape room seemed very Pretty Little Liars-esque to me (I mean the TV show, I've never read the books) and I really enjoyed it. I loved the concept and the book really pulled it off towards the end.

“Escape Room” by Megan Goldin is a story of greed, mistrust, and revenge. It opens with a frightening event. A security guard calls 911 on an icy Sunday morning because he hears the unmistakable sound of gunshots. “He’d never seen so much blood in all his life.”
The scene shifts to thirty-four hours earlier. Sylvie, Sam, and Jules are part of Vincent’s crack multi-disciplinary team at a prominent Wall Street firm, and the four are in the elevator on their way to a “mandatory” meeting late Friday. The elevator stops, and the doors do not open despite frantic pushing of every button. Then the message is revealed.
“Welcome to the Escape Room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.”
Vincent calmly asks, “Who here has done an escape-room challenge before? It will take an hour.” Some of the group had done escape room activities with disappointing results, leading to fake deaths. No one seems ready to “play.” They are in an elevator, sterile, spotless, and empty. However, they just have to make it for an hour or in the worst-case scenario, they will be found on Monday morning, cranky but alive and well. After all, how much trouble can four investment bankers get into in a locked elevator?
They find the first clue; “Dead but not forgotten. ASLHARLA.”
Chapters alternate between the current scene in the elevator and a first person present-tense narrative by Sara Hall. Her time-frame is not defined, but she is just out of college and applying for Wall Street jobs with little, if any, luck.
In the elevator, the significance of the first clue becomes clear. “If you rearrange those letters,” Jules explains, “It spells out Sara Hall. Dead but not forgotten. Sara Hall. It fits, right?” Sara now becomes much more interesting to readers. In Sara’s narrative, Vincent offers her a job, and she embraces it all with the unbridled enthusiasm of the young and ambitious.
Back in the elevator, the group finds another clue and deciphers the name that goes with it, also someone no longer with the firm. As more and more time passes, tensions mount, secrets are revealed, and nastiness breeds nastiness. In the dark, suffocating world of the stalled elevator, the rules are different. Then, the group makes a frightening discovery; someone has a Glock, and it is loaded.
Goldin’s use of alternating voices enhances the tension and suspense. Those in the elevator are not the only ones with cryptic clues to decipher. Readers know Sara is “Dead but not forgotten,” but are wondering not only what will happen to those in the elevator but also just how everyone got into that situation. Of course, lurking in the background is all that blood in the opening.
“Escape Room” is a non-stop story of power and ambition. To quote Sam, “There are winners and losers in this world…Success is not for the squeamish.” Some participants are smart; some think they are smart, and some are very stupid. Readers are left to sort it all out. I received a copy of “Escape Room” from Megan Goldin and St. Martin’s Press. Surprising secrets are revealed page by page. Readers will not be able to put this book down until the shocking end. (Oh, and may never ride in an elevator again – ever.)

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

This book was insanely hard to put down. Once you get past the beginning where everything gets introduced, you get pulled into this web of deceit and lies and bad behavior. It's like watching that train wreck -- you can't tear your eyes away even though what you're seeing is awful and shameful and terrible.

I really liked this book. It was a great story, chock full of the things that make thrillers what they are. Overall, it wasn't even super thrilling - you can totally predict the end if you're paying attention, and much of the stuff that happens isn't "edge of your seat" material... but it's so compelling that it's still fantastic.

I think the only negative for me in regards to The Escape Room is that, well, there isn't all that much "escape room" stuff in it, and since that's what it is being marketed as containing, I was a little disappointed in that one aspect. But mainly, WOW. Great book.

4.5 stars!

It has been my experience that very few books start off kind of muddy and get better, however this one really does. It's a far fetched premise, in my opinion. However, once I got into the swing of the novel, it flowed really fast and furious. The book is a fun escape for a summer read and I read it super quickly. The details are vividly written, and I could see it as a movie. I was even casting it in my head. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

The Escape Room is a psychological thriller about four co-workers locked in an elevator in order to complete a team-building exercise.It grabs my attention from the very beginning.I thoroughly enjoyed Megan Goldin's writing style , it was refreshing and unique!

The Escape Room

An entertaining read that will have you on the edge of your seat until that elevator door opens again.

SUMMARY
Working at the Wall Street firm of Stanhope and Sons is like winning the lottery. Stanhope handles the biggest deals in the world and has the most prestigious clients. The pay is fabulous but along with it comes expectations: you have to be attractive, dress a certain way and you must bring value to the firm by closing lucrative deals. Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are a ruthless ambitious team of high flyers at Stanhope who fit the mold. To them, getting rich is all that matters, and they will do anything to reach the top. Other teammates, like Sarah and Lucy have come and gone, not quite fitting in at Stanhope. But what is the real story behind their departures?

Lately, the team’s deals have fallen short and their jobs may be at risk. When they are ordered to participate in a corporate team building exercise that requires them to escape from a locked elevator, dark secrets begin to be revealed. When it becomes apparent they cannot solve all the clues to escape the elevator it is no longer a game. But it was never really a game to begin with. Temperatures are soaring and Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are fighting for their lives. Who will make it out alive?

REVIEW
THE ESCAPE ROOM is simply great entertainment that you will want to read. I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages. Stanhope is a heady cocktail of money, gifts, and prestige. Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam have been there long enough to drink the money kool-aid, and will do whatever it takes to get more, more, more. They are the epitome of greedy and selfish characters you’ll love to hate. They don’t care who they step on to get what they want.

The atmosphere of the formidable and overly demanding Stanhope firm and the claustrophobically hot escape room elevator were both deliciously documented and described. I could not help but feel the heat, anger and hopelessness from being in that elevator with Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam.

Megan Goldin weaves a wonderfully descriptive and skillfully crafted tale alternating between the present and the past. The story is riveting and her writing is smart. I absolutely loved the epigraph in this book. It says it all...”For everyone who has ever been made to feel powerless, trampled upon, or scorned, this book is for you.”

Author Megan Goldin worked as a journalist for Reuters, the Australian ABC and Yahoo! News before writing her debut psychological thriller The Girls in Kellers Way. The Escape Room is her second novel. Thanks to Netgalley, Megan Goldin and St. Martin’s Press for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher St. Martin’s Press
Published July 30, 2019
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

The Escape Room is different from all the the other books out there. The book is all about power and greed. The lengths to which people will go to to achieve it. It was so interesting to see how the culture and work environment can shape a person’s moral compass. The book was incredibly sad at some points. This is not a feel good book. It’s originality keeps the reader engrossed. I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

Author Megan Goldin has created a double thriller, weaving two stories together and simultaneously bringing them both to a nail-biting climax. It was nearly impossible to set this book down.

Ms. Goldin expertly creates the convincing story of Sara, a recent grad student who gains employment with a high-flying investment company. The excitement of gaining a prominent job soon evolves into endless days and weeks of mind-numbing work. We are brought along, barely noticing the darker elements slowly mixed with the plot until, just like Sara, the danger has begun to envelop us.

The point of view shifts with each chapter, first with Sara and then with the members of her team at Stanhope. They are in the midst of a work crisis, and are worried for their jobs. The mandatory meeting scheduled for late Friday quickly evolves into a challenge, one the coworkers have no choice but to participate in as unwilling partners.

This is a gripping read, one that should engage your senses as the mysterious thriller unfolds. The plot shifts unexpectantly more than once, and even though I guessed part of the ending, I did not realize everything and I finished the book satisfied with how everything turned out. Four stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a complimentary copy of this book.

This is a fun, wild, romp of a thriller. It’s not believable, the characters aren’t deep, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable.

The book alternates between two scenarios. The first is told from the perspective of Sara Hall, a recent MBA grad looking to make her mark in the world of investment banking. The second follows the four bankers who end up in an escape room as some sort of team building exercise. But this isn’t your standard escape room. Their goal is to make it out alive.

The author doesn’t have any love of investment bankers. “We didn’t realize we were being wooed for a long, heady love affair with greed.” These are the people you love to hate. Gordon Gekko would fit right in here.

By the 33% finished mark, I had the perpetrator narrowed down to two possibilities and by the 50% mark, had it correctly sussed out.

It’s an easy read and I sped through this in a day. It’s that entertaining. It’s the perfect vacation read.

My thanks to netgalley and St Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

Absolutely amazing! This book had me hooked from the beginning!

Imagine being invited to take part in a team building exercise with your co-workers, who are just as hard working and cut throat as you are? Who will all do whatever it takes to get to the top of the corporate ladder? All 4 co-workers are trapped in an elevator, in what starts off as a seemingly innocent fun game of the classic ‘escape room’ that quickly turns into a much darker, sinister game that is not quite as fun as they expected. The elevator doors lock, the lights go out, and cryptic clues are revealed, that turn more sinister than the previous clue. It quickly becomes clear to the 4 colleagues that something much darker than they anticipated is happening.

As members begin the panic, and confusion creeps in about what exactly is going on, paranoia kicks in and things turn deadly serious. Will the colleagues be able to work together to escape and get out alive, or will they slowly but surely begin turning on one another, to ensure they escape with their lives?

What would you do if you were faced with this deadly game? Would you do whatever it takes to get out? Would you do whatever it takes to survive?

The Escape Room had me turning the pages trying to figure out the fate of the 4 on the elevator. Instanly intrigued on how the story of a dead girl, Sarah Hall, played into the story. Magnificent writing, never saw the twist at the end coming!! Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity read this ARC! Looking forward to more books by this author!

Wow, just wow! This book was an enjoyable read!

I loved how it flips back and forth between the past and present, slowly giving out information detailing murder, coverups and illegal activities. Without giving away any spoilers, I really enjoyed how the author was able to give a slow buildup.

The downside was the ending. Again, without giving away spoilers, the door is left open for a possible series. Fingers crossed that happens!!!

I just finished this book and I don’t know how I feel about it. The story kept me interested, but I don’t know how I feel about how it ends. It left me up in the air., like I’m looking over my shoulder, waiting for something to happen. reminds me of how I felt after reading Gone Girl.

The Escape Room is a breath of fresh air in the thriller genre. Extremely original and a blast to read. Definitely recommend this for everyone!

I really enjoyed this book. The plot was something new and fresh. The story was suspenseful from the start. This was a great book!