I liked the concept, but the execution of this novel played out more as a revenge fantasy than a mystery or thriller. Perhaps it's just not for me.

"The Escape Room" is a psychological thriller, full of characters you won't like but are still curious to know what will happen to them. Told in alternating times, the book goes back and forth between Sara Hall and her journey to and time working for Stanhope, a prestigious corporate finance/investment banking firm, and the current team doing the escape room. Vincent heads up a team, which Sara had joined just after getting her MBA, and which includes Sam, Jules, and Lucy.

Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Lucy are sent an email that informs them to report to a building for a compulsory meeting. Vincent informs them it's an escape room challenge. However, when the elevator stops, they find themselves trapped in a small, hot space with random clues. As they solve them, secrets come out and lies are exposed. In this small space full of cutthroat individuals, survival is not guaranteed.

On the other side, Sara was idealistic when she joined Stanhope and was quickly indoctrinated into the selfish and materialistic culture. Working constantly, the company takes precedence over everything- weddings, births, deaths, etc. However, the pay is phenomenal. How each person on the team has coped with it is told through small sections, giving the beginning parts of the book a character study feel. As the plot moves forward, we begin to question not only how they ended up in the elevator but the events leading up to it and the deaths in the past and potentially in the present.

While I found it fairly easy to figure out who was behind it, the journey was fascinating. It isn't often I can dislike all the characters and still want to know what will happen. This book kept me engaged and reading all the way to the end. As a warning, there is sexual assault, workplace sexual harassment, drug use, affairs, prostitution, domestic abuse, and murder within the pages. This was a different and interesting book with a unique premise. I think fans of psychological thrillers will enjoy it!

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book. I enjoyed it from page one. The fast paced setting kept me on my toes. I loved how the POV changed between the present and the past and we could learn more about each character and how they worked together. What we see as a typical escape room challenge to build team morale turns into so much more. Drama, suspense, and a thrilling ending- this book kept me way up past my bedtime on several nights. I couldn’t wait to finish it.

Wow! What a fantastic read. Twisted and satisfying. Even though you know from the beginning who is behind everything, the book makes you want to read it just to figure out the why and how. Does not disappoint!

Provocative and Highly Entertaining! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟's!

The head of his department, Vincent recievs a text with instructions to assemble his team and bring them to the eightieth floor of highrise in the South Bronx. All the team members are told that there is a mandatory last minute meeting. one that would be highly prudent to attend. Once everyone is in the lobby, Vincent reveals that they are to participate in a team building challenge of which the results will be used for 'internal consultations about future staff planning'. As there are eminent layoffs in the near future they catch the meaning immediately. The challenge is to be locked in a room known as The Escape Room, where there will be a series of puzzles to solve, which if done correctly, will unlock the door. They are lead to believe that the excercise will take an hour of their time and then they will be free to carry on with their plans for the weekend. 
When they step into the elevator to go up to the eithtieth floor, all seems fine... Until the lights go out and there seems to be no way to stop it on any floors. When they arrive at the seventieth floor the elevator slows and comes to a stop but the doors remain closed no matter what they try, including the emergency button to which there is no response. The panal above the doors that displays the floor numbers shows an E. Error
Then, on the television monitor above the control panel, a message appears. 
WELCOME TO THE ESCAPE ROOM. YOUR GOAL IS SIMPLE. GET OUT ALIVE.

********
the Escape Room by Megan Goldin is unique, entertaining, and provocative!
Megan Goldin creates the perfect odious and repulsive characters in eam members, Sam, Sylvie, Juels, and Vincent, representing the kinds of people who live in the financial world of Wall Street.
The book crackles with a continuous sense of distrust and the toxic environment of the where the end game is money, power, and greed shines through in spades!
There's an ever-present, tantalizing sense of anticipation that continues to build as we watch the events unfold in the tight confines of the elevator, all the while I was hoping that they get what they have coming to them in one way or another.
And do these four unsavory characters get what they deserve? All I will say is that the wait was worth reading every word to find out, even if it wasn't what I was expecting!

"Megan Goldin is the bestselling author of "The Escape Room", praised by Lee Child as "one of my favorite books of the year", as well as "The Girl In Kellers Way", a critically-acclaimed domestic noir thriller nominated for Australia's leading crime fiction awards."

I have the paperback edition of "The Girl In Kellers Way" on my shelves and now I'm wondering why I haven't read it yet! You can be certain that I will be reading it in the very near future!

**With thanks to Jordan Hanely, Marketing Manager at St. Martin’s Press, Megan Goldin,  and NetGalley for providing me with this advanced uncorrected digital copy to read and review.

Loved this juicy thriller. Escape rooms are such an enticing concept. Locked door type of situations. It's most scary because it could happen! I like it when an author makes it feel like something that could happen to you.

Let the page flipping begin...

A chess game of survival for those trapped in an elevator!

I had so much fun reading this one! It was both intriguing and suspenseful as the "rules" of the game unfolded. Four rich and greedy investment bankers find themselves stuck in an elevator with someone delivering " clues and cryptic messages "on how to get out. Will they turn on each other? Who is responsible for setting them up? And..... can they get out alive?

Someone has an ax to grind and playing along in this shell game was highly entertaining. A dose of back-stabbing office politics, tension and an ending that was highly satisfying!

Don't miss this one if you love a locked room mystery with a sinister plot.

I'm claustrophobic, so I would have freaked out in The Escape Room. Otherwise, I like the revenge of the whole thing. I do agree that you must have a little suspension of disbelief to read this book. It's interesting to see the story unfold backwards. The unraveling of the mental states of the characters in the elevator was awesome. It's well written and the pace is good. The heroine is way too naive though. She needed more gumption or life lessons or something. It's a good suspenseful thriller that keeps you guessing from beginning to end. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Silly but fun is my main feeling about this book. Is it deep and meaningful? Not on your life. Is it a right rollicking read? Absolutely!

This book was thrilling! I will say believability is pretty low, but overall it was a entertaining read and kept you guessing until the very end. I truly was on the edge of my seat. It was fast paced and kept my interest throughout. A great thriller!

This book is AMAZING! The storyline is fabulous and I definitely appreciated the time jumps between the escape room and Sara’s story. While I wasn’t quite surprised with how it all turned out, I absolutely loved it. Certain people got what they deserved although I’d have preferred they all see the escape room creators end game. I flew through this book and absolutely recommend it as a must read!

This book is not scheduled to be released until late this Summer but I was so excited that I had to read it right away. The story is told in alternating view points. Every chapter is told from either the viewpoint of the 4 people locked in the elevator or from Sara Hall's P.O.V. I was surprised by a lot of things that happened in this story. I wasn't actually able to guess who the mastermind was until the last couple of chapters of the book. I was in a complete bubble while reading this book. I'm not even kidding, I think my phone rang at least 20 times and I never heard it nor did I hear my family yelling at me that dinner was done. I had never read anything by this author before but now I am absolutely adding her name to my list of favorites. This story just reaches out and grips you and won't let you go until the very end. This is my first 5 star review in quite a while and it has set the bar high for other thriller writers in my opinion.

Thank to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a free advanced copy of this book!

I must start by echoing someone else's sentiment. Great book, but no way this could ever happen. Believability is low. However, set it all aside for this. If you can do that, you will truly enjoy this book!

What I loved: The depth of the characters. Each character has a backstory and they were well done. Sometimes, we hear a back story on the character and it is almost like the author forgets it halfway through the book. They make the characters do things they wouldn't or act quite out of character. Goldin does the complete opposite. What I also loved is the suspense. Though I figured out who was doing this to our four players in the escape room, the overall story was just well written.

What I did not love: The ending left me with a question that I cannot post here without spoiling. But I need to know. So, Megan Goldin, please DM me on Instagram :) @pagestoreadfl

Four people who work for a Wall Street firm are summoned to a construction site where they board an elevator . Early on it seems the reason might be for a team building exercise and that the elevator is to be an escape room. All they have to do is find their way out of it. Quickly, it becomes obvious that the elevator is no ordinary escape room and the occupants find themselves in a harrowing situation. Can they survive and who has done this to them?

From start to finish, The Escape Room is a gripping and captivating psychological thriller The complex narrative is tense and filled with unexpected occurrences. The author has crafted a remarkable and memorable story. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St, Martin's Press through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Four corporate financiers receive a text to attend a mandatory last minute meeting on Friday night. When they arrive at the office, they are told they will be working together in an escape room challenge on the eightieth floor. They are told it's a corporate team-building exercise, one they assume will determine their fate with the company. When they enter the elevator the lights go out and the elevator ascends forty floors and then stops trapping them inside. Suddenly a message appears "Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive"...

The Escape Room is a mystery/suspense in which four corporate rivals, each with a dark secret, are suddenly trapped in an elevator where revelations about their past will be revealed. The novel begins with the aftermath of the elevator and then rewinds so that the mystery can be solved. Although we don't really get to experience a traditional escape room, we do get to see the characters turn against each other as their secrets are revealed. Overall this was an entertaining read that ends with a twist.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for a Advance Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Great Story. Is it a believable story, heck no, but its a fun one which made it a great read! This honestly reminded me the Christopher Pike novels that I loved as a kid only more mature. Like it was written by Pike's parents.
This book will not change your life, nor will it leave a lasting impact. It's a fun thriller that deals with 4 coworkers basically trapped in an escape room that is actually a elevator. Team building at its best right.

I thought The Escape Room was very entertaining and pretty thrilling to read - I would give it 5 stars for that. All the characters in this book are horrible - they are workaholics that are self-absorbed. They don't care about anyone else in their lives and just want to get ahead in their careers to make more and more money.

We are introduced to Vincent, Sam, Jules and Sylvie when they are trapped in an elevator to play a corporate game of Escape Room... or so they think. We are also introduced to one of their colleagues, Sara Hall, to get her perspective on all of them and the corporate games they all play. It gave a disappointing view of consulting work, and how cutthroat and demanding the job could be.

I'm not sure how plausible this is in today's current environment of workplace ethics and harassment, so that was a little difficult to get past for me. Although I know some people are pretty horrific in how they treat people at work, especially when they will do anything to get ahead. I enjoyed this author's writing style and ability to keep the reader engaged in the story.

This book kept me reading late into the night. I had to see how it all ended for main players and what exactly set in motion the "Elevator Escape Room". This book was packed with twists and turns and was told from a few different characters perspectives from the past and present. It would be shameful to give any of this suspenseful thriller away so I will just say for fans of high flying thrillers, this is a must read. My one recommendation is that reader should "suspend their disbelief" at the door for this one and simply go for the ride.

This is a fast paced and intriguing book, but I had some issues with formatting, with no indentations and numbers randomly between paragraphs, which I found distracting. I am sure this will be ironed out for the final version, and that aside, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it!

It’s taken me a while from the time that I finished reading this book to leaving a review because I have been trying to decide on what I want to say. Because I always like the book better, I always try to make a point to read imthe book before I watch the movie, but my twelve year old son begged for me to bring him to go see it, so I did, and before reading the book. Now, after seeing the movie and reading the book, I can for the first time say that I liked the movie better. I LOVED the movie. I loved it so much that I can’t wait to see it again. That being said, I had the idea in my head that I would love the book just as much, if not more, because the book is always better. To my surprise, it wasn’t, at least for me. I feel really bad saying this, because the book wasn’t bad, I did like it, but it was nothing like the movie. The characters, the scenes, the plot, even the twists and turns were all different, there weren’t any similarities, and I was disappointed that I wasn’t reading about them. However, I love people, I love psychology, I love sociology, and I love being sucked into a book and facing unexpected twists and turns that leave me slack-jawed and speechless, and that is what the book is full of. So, yes, I liked the book. Yes, I enjoyed it. But this time, I went into the book expecting it to be like the movie and felt disappointment that it wasn’t. It really wasn’t fair to the book that I went into it with a jaded perspective already... I think you should read it. It’s different and unlike any other book I’ve ever read.