A little too predictable as to the outcome, but the "business office" theme was quite interesting. A few characters weren't as developed as I had hoped. The reach for the top in the business world, and the brown nosing is quite something. I wonder how much bullying does go on? Just not "thrilling" enough for me to garner more stars. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for sending me a copy to read!

Thank you #NetGalley for an advanced copy of #TheEscapeRoom!

If you weren’t already afraid of confined spaces or escape rooms, you will be now! This book seriously makes you feel every emotion possible. From sadness to envy to outrage to relief, Sara’s journey was a complete roller coaster but the ending was so incredibly satisfying! At times I did feel certain chapters could’ve been left out of the book as they were either irrelevant or unnecessary, but that wouldn’t stop me from reading/recommending this book. You truly get a feel for life in the corporate finance world and how ruthless people can be.

This is a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat! I could not stop reading it so be prepared to cancel all plans and stay up all night finish reading this book! There were many twists and turns that I did not see coming! You might think you know what will happen next in the story but you will be surprised! It is suspenseful and engaging!

This was so unexpectedly great and SUCH an original story. All the characters felt real and I loved the duo plots. Definitely one of my favorite books this year. I will recommend this book to many, many friends.

Thank you Netgalley for this awesome book!

I flew through this! THE ESCAPE ROOM is a thriller/mystery set in two sections: third person which features four (despicable) people stuck in an elevator escape room, and first person featuring Sara Hall, who worked with said four despicable people. The novel goes between the sections; I liked the way we didn't get too much in the elevator at once. It felt apt for a thriller: will they or won't they get out?

Most of the characters were unlikable as hell, but that felt right for the novel. They <i>are</i> Wall Street bankers. I liked Sara, and I quite liked Lucy. I wish we had got more of the latter, but alas. It wasn't meant to be.

This novel isn't particularly new or fresh, but it was enjoyable. If you're looking for a quick thriller that is a little different than the rest, check it out.

I hadn't heard much about this book or author but was excited to read it based on its description. The premise was definitely unique and I was anxious to find out what would happen and to whom. While I liked 95% of the book, the conclusion left me wanting. It seemed to come out of nowhere, especially the last two pages, and then it just ended like that.

4.5 Stars

“Death, after all, was the ultimate equalizer.”

Sara Hall has everything she needs to get her foot in the door to be one of the high paid financial advisors on Wall Street. Impeccable grades, references from an acclaimed professor, and enough determination to fulfill her dream. But money has a way of changing people, and perhaps there is a reason greed is one of the seven deadly sins. When four colleagues find themselves trapped inside an elevator in what they believe to be a team building exercise in the form of an escape room, the sins of their past link to the clues behind what really happened to Sara Hall.

The Escape Room is a thriller that will cause your heart to race and get the little gray cells working to decipher between the truth and the red herrings the author tosses out to keep the reader guessing as to who is behind this revenge driven game. Highly recommend!

This was going to get 3 stars but the ending redeemed this novel for me- I was totally surprised and it was immensely satisfying. There were a lot of slow parts that were tough to get through. However, it had one of the best endings of any book I’ve read this year. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for fair review.

Four powerful Wall Street execs are trapped in an elevator. They think they've been summoned to an office building in the South Bronx on a Friday night for some kind of mandatory teambuilding exercise—an escape-room challenge—but this is no simple game.

In alternating chapters, we read the first-person account of Sara Hall, a young MBA who is hired by the prestigious firm of Stanhope and Sons, told in flashback, and the present-day story of the three men and one woman who gradually realize they are trapped in the elevator. What's going on? What does the supposed escape-room challenge have to do with Sara, who (we find out early on in the book) is now dead? The team's secrets and lies are laid bare over the course of the book, which was a hit in Goldin's native Australia and should be poised for success in the U.S. as well. This is an unusual and compelling thriller guaranteed to make you feel claustrophobic. (As someone who has actually been trapped in an elevator, it definitely made me feel uncomfortable at times... and yet I couldn't stop turning the pages.)

A huge, hugethank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the #arc of this seriously AMAZING story!!!
I wasn't a fan..at the very beginning BUT, it didn't take me long to literally sit on the edge of my seat trying to read fast enough to find out the ending. So now I sit here, a quarter till Christmas Day and I'm BLOWN away!!! I haven't seen a book like this in a very long time!!
Cunning, smart and the best example of revenge that I can think of, is what I'm left with. I'm now a fan of Megan Goldins. I'd never heard of her before this book and I'm thoroughly grateful, for the chance to read this heart stopping, suspenseful novel!
Never underestimate a woman who's been spurned...
Merry Christmas to all of you, I hope you all have a truly blessed day!!

Wall Street meets 9 to 5 in this thriller coming out in August 2019. 4 co-workers get into an elevator and find out the doors won’t open. They have been put into an Escape Room (like the team building exercises that companies use) and have to work together to figure out how to get out. In the meantime, lots of secrets are spilled and they wonder if they can trust each other.

“How much do you trust each other?” Things can never be good when your trapped in an elevator with three of your colleagues and that is one of the questions you need to answer to escape. However, they will have to work together and rely on each other even when the veneer of camaraderie has long since dissolved between this group.

Great face paced read! I felt like I was in the elevator sweating it out with them for an hour. I really thought I could smell their fear and hear their quickening heartbeats.

4 stars

Wow. What a ride! Excellent plot that I could envision as a movie. In fact I could see the entire story unfold in my mind while reading. It's a keen look into the world of high-fliers in the corporate world who get so enamored by greed and the lifestyle it affords that morals are gradually thrown out the window. From the start the book is engaging, and an adrenaline-stoking plot develops alongside the voice of a young ambitious graduate in alternating chapters. There are shocking revelations, a revenge plan that takes on a life of its own, and an ending that is the ultimate comeback. I will be open to reading another book by this author.

I wanted to like this book but after reading about 100 pages I just could not finish... I have read some of the authors other books and liked them but unfortunately could not get into this one. Sorry I just couldn't spend the time to read the balance

What happens when too much is not enough? Is it possible to navigate the greediest profession in the world without succumbing to its evils?

Set within a competitive Wall Street investment banking firm, this book highlights the cutthroat nature of a handful of investment bankers. Vincent is the team leader, blindly worshipped and followed by the rest of the group. Jules and Sam are two men under Vincent, which makes them each other's competition. Sylvie is the group's token gorgeous women, and Lucy is the underestimated, ill-fitting outcast on the autism spectrum. Last to join the group is Sara, the youngest, newest recruit, whose non-Ivy League background renders her open to criticism and doubt. Sara desperately needs her high-stress, high-volume job to pay her parents exorbitant medical bills, and this book is told from the alternating perspectives of both Sara and the anonymous narrator.

The author skillfully alternates between each character's backstory and the collective characters' real-time plot without causing confusion or boredom. I love that the book alternates between one character's perspective and an anonymous narrator's perspective, and I love that the book foreshadows the deaths of two characters early on, leading the reader to eagerly unravel the story.

And the best part of this book: the escape room! Escape rooms are a thriving business, and a fun, modern form of entertainment and "team-building". This author chose an excellent, timely topic for this mystery/thriller. The author impressively weaves an intriguing mystery within a mystery in this book. How do the characters get out of this escape room, and WHO put them there?

This book was a page-turner. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this free ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wish I could give Ms. Goldin and The Escape Room more than 5 stars because it was absolutely brilliant!! I could not put it down. When I did, I was thinking about it and I couldn't wait to return to The Escape Room that the characters were trapped in. I was absolutely hooked before I even finished the first chapter.

The story is told from 2 perspectives - "The Elevator" where Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam are following the clues to get them out of the elevator alive and "Sara Hall" once a shining star in Wall Street finance but is she truly gone?

The characters in the elevator all have places they would rather be than this corporate team-building exercise they were all ordered to attend. None is them know who set it up, they all suspect that it was Vincent but he's as much in the dark as they are.

It's while they are solving clues and arguing that the truths come out about just how ruthless each of them has been to get where they are.

Sara Hall was a smart recent graduate with an MBA who after a disastrous interview just happened to bump into Vincent in an elevator and a few weeks later given a chance to work her dream job at Stanhope and Sons, a firm that is almost impossible to be hired at. She soon learns that you don't make friends in this world, people are bullied and made to feel like they don't belong. When her only "friend" at Stanhope commits suicide, Sara realizes that it just would not be something that Lucy would do - her days at the firm are quickly numbered. She sets out to avenge Lucy's death, no matter what the cost.

I'm eagerly awaiting what Ms Goldin writes next because this novel just blew me away.

Great corporate thriller! Great characters that were easy to distrust. Very intense with a nice twist at the end!

Well this was a pleasant surprise.

I started reading around midnight with the intention of getting in a couple of chapters before I went to sleep and the next thing I knew my morning alarm was going off.

This is one of those kind of stories that you read purely for the entertainment value. This book won't win any literary awards and it certainly won't change your life, but if you're looking for an absorbing read with a unique plot featuring despicable people that get their just deserts, then this is the book for you.


Thank you Jordan with St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a book!
I was given this book from NetGalley for an honest review -
Imagine being locked in an elevator with your co-workers - provided with clues for your escape, the tensions run high, everyone gets on each other's nerves, you find out some have gotten better bonuses than you, the elevator gets hot, then it gets freezing
Why are you here? How will you get out?
A must read for an ending you won't expect!!

I am going back and forth on my review for this book. Is it 3 stars or is it 4? Is it 4 because it kept me reading and I actually enjoyed it? Or is it a 3 because I found some parts needlessly tedious and the "clues" simple and predictable?

I'm sticking with 4 because, in the end, I did enjoy the read. Four people that you hate almost at first introduction get stuck in an elevator "Escape Room". Now, you know before they even enter that someone doesn't fair well in an elevator. We get a peak at how that ends for them before it even starts. Then we get a little story telling about these people and their past. This is where the "clues" get obvious, though maybe they were obvious and easy for me only because I am reading the background in tandem (and because I do a lot of puzzles and mystery boxes myself).

While Jules, Vincent, Sam, and Sylvie are trapped in a box we get to see them from the point of view of Sara from the time she meets them until, well, the end. I loved the pacing of most of the book. Going back and forth helped that along. Sometimes it just became bogged down in details I didn't need. Yes, I got it, his wife spends a lot of money. Yes, that guy is a real jerk. Which was in such contrast to the end of the book, which just whipped us through may years of plotting and planning that I would have liked to know more about. Get why it was kept until the end, but I already figured who was behind all of this, so it was a waste. Move that along to earlier in the story and let us know more about that, the interesting part, than about how many horrible things the other characters have done. I was already convinced.

But I couldn't stop reading. I knew what was going to happen to these people, I knew who was doing it to them, and I wanted to see how they got there. That is, in my estimation, the real measure of a good story. I still wanted to go on the journey.