Excellent book club material. Would be great for our next book club purchase! Will also be using The Escape Room in our library's upcoming thriller display.

Holy cow! This book grabbed me from page one! I literally could not put it down. The story line involves a game gone horribly wrong. It truly was an amazing book. It's not often that I can spend an entire morning reading a book. I kept hearing how this is going to be "the best book of 2019" and I think the reviewers are correct. This one is going to be hard to beat. Megan Goldin has been added to my list of favorites and I cannot wait for her next book to come out. Thank you for the advanced copy. I will be recommending that our library purchase this as soon as it's published!

Sara Hall feels like she's won the lottery when she takes a job in the high powered world of a Wall Street firm. But soon enough, she trades in her ethics as she becomes as competitive as her cutthroat colleagues. I recently saw Second Act (Jennifer Lopez) and couldn't help seeing the similarities in the lifestyle choices, corporate perks and hard core expectations that go along with high stakes positions. But that's where the similarity ends.

The top three achievers at the firm and their boss are asked to meet for mandatory team building, When the team gets stuck in an elevator, they assume they are taking part in an Escape the Room exercise. As conditions worsen, the team cycles through different power shifts, and things go horribly wrong. To understand how these people wound up in the elevator, we learn the back story through alternating timelines, narrated by Sara.

I spent way too much time trying to suspend disbelief at the technological skills needed to pull off the game, and stumbling over formatting issues and many typos (which hopefully get corrected in the final draft), but the story kept me engaged.

I started this book with the intention of finishing it this weekend but I just wanted to get a small taste and see if it was something that I could jump in easily. And was it! That is an understatement this book pulled me in and did not let me go. It is fast paced and it draws you in and doesn't spit you out until the end. If you are looking for a book that has a really unique plot that you have not read anywhere else and like to watch people get karma then I think this book will be on your hit list.

The pacing of this book is breakneck! Which is good, because I quite literally couldn't put this down. Sometimes when plots flip back and forth between the present and the past, I get annoyed and distracted. Goldin works the breaks in at just the right times, leaving you hanging and breathlessly anticipating how everything comes together.

You know from the get go that there wouldn't be a happy ending for everyone. They mystery is what the group stuck in the escape room did to deserve their torture. Teasing out how each person in the elevator was tied together and what led to their predicament was so well done. This was addicting and kept my interest the entire read!

This starts off as what seems like another take on The Wolf of Wall Street, with characters that initially feel like more stereotypes. It gradually unfolds into something deeper and new, giving each a past that adds nuance and motivation for their current actions. From there, it becomes a full fledged thriller, keeping the reader guessing at who is behind their increasingly intense circumstances. I was surprised by the last few chapters, though the twists were believable and perfectly fit into the established arc. What is an almost too cinched together ending is disrupted by one last small surprise, leaving the reader wondering if our cleaned up ending is really so cut and dry.

I typically read books over the course of a couple days. I started The Escape Room right in the middle of holiday season so it took me a little longer. Even if there were days between reading opportunities, I was being pulled back into the book immediately.

Sara Hall was hired at a financial firm by a form a serendipity. She explains in great detail the highs and lows of working in the cut throat financial district. We also get a view from the elevator that contains Vincent, the boss that everybody respects out of fear. Sylvie, the sexy yet brilliant gal on the team who is eagerly awaiting to see her boyfriend in Paris. Sam, who is going through some marital issues due to work and whose wife is waiting for him to join their family trip. Lastly, Jules, who is the big suck up to Vincent. The four of them are full of increasing tension the longer they are stuck in the escape room. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who was behind the escape room and what their motive was. The Escape Room analyzes what work, pressure and greed can make us capable of doing.

Be prepared to be sucked in from the start.

This book is about greed, lies, cynicism, lust, murder, back-stabbing, selfishness, cheating, exploitation, and revenge. It is an incredible thrill ride! The story is presented in two time lines with the chapters going back and forth between Sara’s point of view (the “then” part of the story) and the point of view of the four coworkers in the elevator (the “now” part of the story).

The atmosphere of the elevator chapters was insane! I am not claustrophobic, but I really started feeling quite uncomfortable when reading the elevator scenes. Intense temperature changes, going from total darkness to blinding brightness, not to mention the animosity between the four trapped individuals – it created a super tense atmosphere that was palpable. I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of escape rooms, as I am sure others are. This book took the concept of escape rooms to another level!!!

The other part of the book – the investment banking/corporate side of the story – was also pretty intense. The things people do and the things people give up just to make money! CRAZY! I don’t work in this kind of atmosphere – THANK GOODNESS! It made for a great story, but I can’t imagine that lifestyle or that level of competitiveness at any expense. I wouldn’t last long at all! So I am going to put on my rose-colored glasses and try to convince myself that not all investment banking corporations function like they did in this book – this was just fiction, right?

This story well written and had a satisfying ending. My only complaint is the sleep I lost plowing through it!

This book will be made into a movie – I guarantee it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

***contains spoilers***

What an absorbing read! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and was blown away! While I figured out the Who, and the What early on, I still found it vastly entertaining and gripping to see how far Sarah was willing to go to extract her revenge. The Why was left more to be discovered later in the book which utterly shocked me. I was blown away with the fact of how thought out this novel was. You see clear motive and reasoning and honestly can't say I blame Sarah one bit for doing the things she did.

The novel goes back and forth between Sarah's pov and the things going on in the elevator in the current time. This novel keeps your turning page after page with I just have to know. I could NOT put it down. I feel like this novel focuses on money and how far you're willing to go to keep it and how far will you go to keep your social standing.

Overall 5/5 stars

Did not like the writing of this book. I had a hard time staying interested. Was not my cup of tea. I hope someone out there finds it more interesting and engaging than i did

I loved this book! It was unique, and gave quite the adrenaline rush, mixed with secrets, lies and excitement!

I was really enjoying this psych thriller - I liked how the points-of-view went back and forth between Sara Hall and the people trapped in the elevator. Then came the last few chapters when the author really rushed the ending...it was totally inelegant and didn't match pace with the rest of the story. Everything wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste.

It's hard to say exactly when and where this book didn't work for me without giving away too much of the plot. While it was an easy and entertaining read, for me it lacked tension and the twists and turns needed to make it a true thriller. What we have is four people in an escape room challenge where we slowly find out through flashbacks why each of them is not a good person. But that's not a really compelling story. We also get some other bits thrown in to make the plot more interesting, but instead of them coming across as shocking twists, their occurrences seem to be preceded by "curve ahead" road signs. Still a fun read, but with all of the thrillers coming out nowadays, it just needs a little bit more.

Publisher's Description: "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."

With the current popularity of escape room challenges, I can see where Megan Goldin's "The Escape Room" might be an interesting draw. Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are all Wall Street investment bankers at the most prestigious (and vicious) firm in New York. Their entire story line takes p[ace in an elevator where they are thought to be participating in an escape room team-building exercise. Their chapters alternate with Sara Hall's, a former employee with the firm who is the "gone but not forgotten" piece of the puzzle.

Trying not to reveal any significant spoilers, I think the story here was seriously lacking. There wasn't a single sympathetic character, no one to root for, and I didn't find the ending plausible at all. Throughout the chapters, there seemed to be so many things that didn't make sense, and the more of these discrepancies I found, the harder it was for me to accept what was taking place. As just one example, at one point, the elevator is dark and Vincent's glasses are knocked off his face and broken. Yet there are later references to him looking for things and making out pictures. Even if his eyesight isn't horrible, without his glasses, those things would be ridiculously difficult in the dark. And this is a minor example. There are others that are much harder to believe.

I also feel like the author needs to do a little more research on how things work in the U.S. Sara is motivated to get a lucrative job on Wall Street to help pay her father's medical bills, which at one point in the book are suggested to run into tens of thousands of dollars when he is in the hospital for a couple of weeks. If you know anything about healthcare in the U.S., you would know that chronic medical issues and hospital stays could easily run much higher than that without insurance. There's no way that Sara would be able to pay those costs out of pocket and support herself in New York City.

The writing style in this book wasn't to my liking either. Sara's narration is much too formal, almost like a high school senior writing a formal term paper - using terms like "corridors" and "gradually through the rest of her schooling." When you're writing in a first-person narrative, it really needs to sound like someone would actually speak. The author also needs to have this edited to ensure that she's not using phrases that aren't used in the U.S. Sara is from Chicago and living in New York. Having grown up around Chicago, I've never heard anyone ask for their coffee "white, no sugar" or use the term "milk teeth" for "baby teeth."

Some of these things can be fixed in editing. There's definitely time before publication for that. Overall, though, I just don't think there's enough here to make any of the characters likable enough to give this book a decent ending. They're all greedy and vindictive, and I just didn't care about any of them.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This title is scheduled for publication on August 6, 2019.

#TheEscapeRoom#NetGalley#
Review By: I Love To Read:Librarian

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley.


A riveting read about the ruthless practices of some Wall Street investment banks where employees compete amongst themselves. A young woman lands a plum job at one of the Top Notch banks. Her invitation to interview came unexpectedly on an elevator ride. Is this a good thing she wonders trying to fit in with hostile co-workers?
Making money dreams are made of, she at first doesn't over-think about business practices surrounding her. She befriends a brilliant but socially inept team worker. She wonders why this young woman prefers their friendship remain a secret to others at the firm. This young woman's death, and the death of the girl's mother force the heroine to look around and ask questions.
What is going on? To ask questions proves deadly. Aware now and terrified the heroine plots a mind-blowing revenge.
Great characterization throughout. Truly a thriller with a fantastic ending.

I was a little concerned about liking this book before I started reading it, but I was hooked after the first couple pages. Told in alternating chapters, the story is tightly wound and doesn't lose slack in its entirety. Although the ending was pretty easy to figure out -- at least, parts of it -- the book's intensity was not lost by knowing the direction in which the story would go. I thought I would be bored because I have very little interest in the finance world, but fortunately the finance parts were easy to comprehend. This was a great book, full of intrigue, suspense, greed, secrets and karma at its finest. Definitely recommend this one!

This was a stunning page turner. I didn’t want to put this one down and the ending blew me away. Greed and ambition will sometimes be your downfall. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book kept my interest from the beginning. It is the first book I have read by Megan Goldin and I look forward to seeing what she brings to the world in the future.

I will gladly recommend it to patrons and friends.

"It was Miguel who called 911 at 4.07 a.m. on an icy Sunday morning"

Nice, sharp, clear, and intriguing opening. Excellent start author Megan Goldin.

I enjoyed the glimpse of the world of high finance. Such greedy, self centered and selfish characters! And therein lies one of my problems with the book, isnt our "hero" just as greedy, self centered, and selfish? That, combined with the unbelievable finale, and due to no "red herrings" nor possible other "suspects" you know fairly early "who dun it".

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The story is kind of like an episode of The Office gone wrong. Imagine a group of ruthless ladder-climbers who are all accustomed to being in control. Now, take away their sense of entitlement and privilege. Being trapped inside an elevator with no hope of escape is pretty much as vulnerable as they get!

By describing the scene in the elevator so vividly, Goldin created a dark and sinister mood. Her chapters alternated with a narration from Sara Hall, a young up-and-comer in the high-stakes business world.

I couldn’t help but relate to Sara. Feeling responsible for family, trying to eek out a living, and hoping for better things — it all comes with being a child from poverty. Even middle class poverty like Sara’s background can be hard to overcome.

The ending was perfect. Goldin gave a bit of background to explain how it all came together, and things wrapped up just the way I’d hoped. The Escape Room was just the book I needed for a day in pj’s.