I'm sorry to report, but this ARC did not format properly and was not readable. I've never had that happen before with a book through NetGalley. I tried deleting the download and reloading it on two different devices, to no avail.

My apologies for not being able to post a proper review.

I'm posting a star of rating of 4, since that tends to be my average baseline.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an early release of this book.
What a ride!! Kept me interested all the way through, great suspense and keeps on giving.
Great book.
First for me from this author will be on the lookout for more from her.

Ooh! This was fantastic! The very beginning grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end. It goes back and forth between four money/power-hungry people who work crazy hours and will do whatever it takes to keep living in the lap of luxury and Sara Hall who, once upon a time, worked with these people. What happened to her?! Both stories were excellent. They were so thick with tension. I didn't get far into the book when I just wanted it to be over - I couldn't stand not knowing anymore! Sara Hall tried her best to fit in and do a good job while also trying to do the right thing. I really liked her. She was thrown so many curveballs and worked so hard to overcome everything and stay on top. I hate to say this, but the last little chunk of the book when things unravel and we figure out what's going on is when the author lost me. I'm so disappointed I couldn't give this five stars, but it was a hell of a ride anyway!

Co-workers Jules, Sam, Sylvie and their boss Vincent are trapped in an Escape Room puzzle.

The four Wall Street team members are sent a memo from HR insisting they attend a team-building exercise late at night. After boarding the elevator, they discover they are already in the Escape Room. As they attempt to solve the puzzles to escape, their situation becomes increasingly desperate.

In alternating chapers, the story of Sara is told. Several years prior, Sara is hired as the most junior member of the team. Ignored by most of the team, Sara becomes friends with another ostrasized team member, Lucy. Lucy is a brilliant mathematician, who also is on the Asperger’s spectrum.

It is very hard to explain what I liked best about the Escape Room without releasing spoilers. Therefore, you’ll just have to take my word that it is an excellent read. The breadcrumbs to the end of the riddle are artfully interspersed within the plot with only subtle foreshadowing. Every loose end is tried up by the end. The dialogue and writing style are very cinematic making it easy to picture the story in your head (or up on the big screen where I predict it will appear soon).

The Escape Room is a great gift for any recent finance graduates to ensure they steer clear of any Wall Street jobs. It is a cautionary tale about how greed can quickly pummel any remaining ethics into shreds. It is also an amazing thriller that was impossible for me to stop reading once I started. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It was well written, suspenseful and a great "revenge" plot you didn't see coming. The chapters go back and forth between the present and the past, which I don't usually like as it can be hard to follow, but this was really well done. It wasn't confusing, to go back and forth, it flowed nicely and didn't feel like you were jumping around or really had to 'think' to follow. I look forward to reading more books by this author!

Super unique book for me. Paranoia, secrets, lies, back stabbing coworkers, murder, fast paced Wall Street lives with money, power and LIES! It’s all in the Escape Room! it was unique but good.

My family and I have been to a few escape rooms so this concept really intrigued me. Four coworkers are told to meet in a newly built building on a Friday night and get into the elevator. Turns out the elevator is THE Escape Room. Because it's a new building and over a weekend, the entire building is deserted. The book alternates chapters with these 4 people who don't trust each other but must work together to get out and Sara Hall (one of their coworkers who came on years earlier as a new hire). From Sara's perspective, you see the cut-throat competition within the financial world and how her coworkers treat others. I'm not sure if the numbers were based on facts but I was floored to find out how much financial professionals make on Wall Street! It's a novel based on revenge and I could not figure out who was behind it. This one kept me up late into the night trying to finish it!

I found this book neither thrilling nor particularly enjoyable. Five greedy people trying to undo one another’s careers made it difficult to care about the outcome. I also felt that the situation in which they found themselves was over the top for credibility, a feeling that was not assuaged by the explanation of how it all came about. Too much exposition at the end and a pat finish finalized it all for me. Two stars.

Really fun psychological thriller. Loved the main character and how the story unfolded. Received a preview from NetGalley, much appreciated. Tons of editing still needed.

Four executives are told by HR to go to a building for what they are told is a mandatory team building meeting. Once there they get into an elevator where they learn it's going to be an exercise in how well they work together to get out of an escape room. When they see that the elevator is the room, they start to have second thoughts.

Wow, this was an exceptional read for me. At first I liked the characters but as Goldin starts peeling back the layers, you see them for who they really are. Goldin also gives you a glimpse into the lives of the white collar worker, and what they do to make the big bucks. This book is told in alternating chapters taking place in the elevator and Sara Hall, who was top in her MBA class but is having a hard time getting a job. By chance she is hired on in a high powered world which she is not used to.

I was totally enthralled with this story and actually stayed up until almost 2 AM to finish it. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have always wondered about people working in places like NYC. The young ones in their suits in bars after the day closes, the ones hurrying to trains and buses to return home. How do you get to such a position and how do you maintain it?
The Escape Room answered my questions. What happens when a group of people who would most likely never be friends are teamed up in the business world?
Sara Hall comes fresh out of school to work with a narcissistic group. She works long hours to help her ailing parents. She has one friend in the office. Her friend kills herself while Sara is away. Sara is suspicious, She pays for it with the loss of her life.
The rest of the team continues with their work. They are distrustful of each other and worried about losing their jobs. One Friday night they are summoned to a new building for a meeting. Each of them have plans, but are forced to attend out of fear for their jobs. All have secrets.
They enter an elevator which becomes a sealed escape room. Cut off from the world for days they must try to figure out the clues before they die. Why are they there? Who is behind this?
I was hooked from the beginning and didn't see the end coming as it did. Each person in the elevator had a price to pay. I felt no remorse for them as their reasons to be there unfolded.
I would love to read more by Megan Goldin.

Oh wow. Put some time away for this book. It has all the ingredients for a terrific psychological thriller.

No spoilers from me. Book is great with lots of lies, deception, tragedy, and twists. Also, loved the unpredictable ending. Can't say enough great about this. Read it today!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

This was an excellent book. I was not sure who was going to be the villain until very near the end. It all tied up very neatly.

This is a novel that actually had me in suspense the entire time I was reading.
Sara Hall has gotten her dream job. Working in a high pressure financial firm on Wall Street.
Everything comes with a price. Sara has lost her personal life for the money, power and prestige that come with this opportunity.
It's a cut-throat business and "there are no friends".
Four of the other investors in the company are also caught in the fast pace of their career and the pressures.to be #1 at Stanhope and Sons.
Upon receiving and invitation for what appears to be a "team building" opportunity, these four get caught in an elevator with the goal of survival.
It becomes anything, but friendly. There is jealousy, anger, paranoia, and guilt as the togetherness continues in a "tight situation".
Great plot, and nicely woven together!

This is one of the best books I've read this year. That's a bold statement to start a review but I really liked this book. I knew nothing about the author and very little about the story when I started reading. The more I read, the more impressed I was with the writing. The characters were skillfully constructed, each with their own rationalizations to explain their behavior. The story is told in two viewpoints that smartly advanced the story without giving away anything about what was to come. The Escape Room has a number of great moments throughout the book. It ends with perhaps the best last two sentence conclusions I've read.

I don't want to give away anything about the story because reading the book without knowing anything was such a great experience for me. However you read this book it will be a great experience. I believe it will become a best seller. It's scheduled for publication August 6, 2019.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley.
#TheEscapeRoom #NetGalley

At first I thought the Escape Room was your typical 3 star entertaining book, but not something that you had to pick back up and read one more chapter. Ha! Eventually the two stories of Sara and of the team she worked with come together in a way that I had to keep reading.

Small town woman gets a job with a big finance firm in NY where money is no object. Can you imagine spending $14,000 on gifts for your coworkers for holiday gifts? All is not well in a corporate environment where work hours almost never leave time for sleep. Or kindness. Or maybe ethics.

I'd give this one 4.5 starts and look forward to more from this author. Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin is the type of novel that once you begin reading it you just have to continue to see what will happen to the major characters in the book. Sara Hall is a recent graduate in finance who is looking for a job. She has been turned down many places and is getting desperate when she is interviewed at Stanhope & Sons. She really wanted this job and felt she was qualified with her MBA from Michigan State. She doesnt get the job but gets a call from one of the managers that she met when there.. SHe is hired, makes lots f money and gets engaged to be married.Then everything falls apart for her. SHe loses her job and is desperate.
Their is a subplot within the novel and it describes how several people who she used to work with her locked into an elevator for several days. This story runs parallel to Sara's story. I won't say more because I think everyone who reads this book will be as surprised as I was at the end!

When I read the blurb I was super excited I mean this was a new concept, but unfortunately it didn't keep my excitement. I found it dragging and it couldn't keep my interest all that much, I was a expecting a thriller and didn't feel like I got that. Don't get me wrong I didn't hate it and I would still recommend you giving it a try but don't expect a whole lot. I didn't care about the characters they were not the greatest of people.

If we all know the truth, it would bring out the worst, most primitive instincts. We would turn into feral animals. We'd consume one another.

The best description I can offer this story is The Wolf of Wallstreet meets Saw. While our characters work for a financial firm, they certainly give Jordan Belfort a run for his money in regards to behavior and deviancy. While on the other hand, we have a group of characters forced into a room with a few clues that will determine their fate for freedom while slowly turning them against one another. Do you want to play a game?

Lets start with a little overview of the story. We have a few main characters and narrators during the course of this novel. These views are differentiated by The Elevator chapters and Sara Hall chapters. The Elevator chapters include four teammates for the Stanhope firm: Sylvie, Vincent, Jules and Sam. These co-workers were sent by their job to do a little team building exercise that turned into an experience that could equate to their demise. What starts off as an escape room challenge slow burns into a fight for survival. And survival of the fittest is all that matters here. The other chapters mentioned surround Sara Hall's experience being hired into the firm and her personal experience at Stanhope & Sons. A little look into an outsider's ticket into an exclusive life that she isn't prepared for. These two combos equate to quite the thrill.

In all honesty, this isn't a great novel. The writing at times felt lazy. And some of the descriptors made me roll my eyes and want to scream, "WE GET IT!" As well, The Elevator chapters switched up the narrator during the middle of paragraphs which could be confusing. We would be reading from Vincent's POV and halfway through the same paragraph Sylvie was narrating. The switch was sudden and not very smooth. But I ended up really enjoying it. First, it has a unique type of premise with the trending escape room experience. Second, it was fun as hell! And that was why I enjoyed it so greatly. The book was actually really amusing and entertaining despite the flaws mentioned above. Characters acting animalistic and being downright wild is amusing to me. Maybe there is a little animal in all of us?

Also, the story is a slow, cryptic build. We know these characters are all fairly shady in their behavior. They would stab their mother in her heart if it meant getting ahead. And as we get a peak into their dirtiest secrets about what they've done to get where they are, it really amps up the novel. I really love a story where the authors give me an amuse bouche before the feast. I must compliment Goldin, she mastered the slow build tease.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the approval and advanced copy. I think this book is going to be a pretty big hit for readers in the year 2019. It is just so much damn fun. While reading this story, I was reminded of how much I love and truly enjoy reading.

All I can say is WOW! This is such a great book. It kept me on the edge of my seat flipping pages. Such a clever engaging story of power, greed, and suspense in the elevator. I can not wait to share this book with my patrons in August!!