Four ruthless Wall Street finance executives participate in a compulsory team-building exercise. It's supposed to be an Escape Room experience in an elevator of a partially built high-rise but it turns into something much more sinister. A deliciously crafted thriller that kept me on my toes right to the last page.

If I could buy the rights to The Escape Room by Megan Goldin and turn it into a movie, I would do it right now. This will be published in August 2019 so keep your eyes open for it.

What can I say about a book that kept me up until 1 a.m. because I HAD TO KNOW THE ENDING. This book was amazing on so many levels, let me try to explain. The book brilliantly tells the story in alternating chapters from young Sara Hall’s point of view and the POV of those stuck in the elevator a.k.a The Escape Room. When Sara starts working at the financial company Stanhope, she is eager to succeed in the cutthroat world of Wall Street finance.

She willingly gives up family time, evenings, weekends, to work hard and prove herself. Her co-workers are equally dedicated but deviously willing to do anything at all to make names for themselves. Sara befriends Lucy, a quiet but highly intelligent co-worker who has Asbergers. Lucy insists they keep their friendship on the down low but Sara doesn’t understand why. When Lucy commits suicide, Sara starts to believe there is more to the story than suicide, Lucy would have never taken her own life.

Sara suspects her co-workers know something…or maybe even were involved.

While this Sara’s story unfolds, her co-workers are locked in an elevator with absolutely no way out. The temperature is rising, tempers flare, frustrations mount as they begin to turn on each other. If this is a team building exercise, it’s going terribly wrong.

I was on the edge of my seat during this whole book. When I got close to the end, I had to keep reading to find out who and what and how…this is seriously a book you cannot put down. Im bummed that it’s not coming out until August, you have to pre-order, add to your Goodreads list or stay tuned here so I can remind you when it comes out.

Here is the official plot:

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.



HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Excellent psychological thriller. Great characters, an engaging plot and a few good twists and turns. Highly recommended.

There are a few things that didn’t work for me completely. Characters that do not evoke emotional connection. Tries too hard to be a thriller but pace doesn’t match intent. Solid premise but just ended being an “ok” read for me.

Thank you net galley for letting me read this the first chapter had me hooked couldn't put this book down I highly recommend this book Thank you to the author on this good book. I plan to read more books by this author this was my first one

This was a suspenseful book with a lot of character exposition from the underbellies of the financial investment world. Cutthroat is a double entendre with the ruthless characters trapped in an "escape room". The ending has some resolution that you'd miss if you blinked which is a little startling given the rising action. Overall a satisfying read and one that will keep you interested until the end.

I loved this book. Thank you, Net Galley, for allowing me to read it.
Sara Hall is looking for a job in the finance sector. She is on her last leg when she meets Vincent in a n Elevator after a disappointing interview. She gets a job at his company and is grateful. She finds herself in the mist of vipers who will do anything to succeed.
Jules, Sylvia, Sam and Vincent. They are lured to an escape room activity in an elevator. What is going on?
This is a fast-paced book that kept me reading all night. Very well written and with detail. The story alternating with What happened to Sara and what is happening now in the elevator.

This book will be a best seller and book of the year.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In this book the main characters are stuck in an elevator which is functioning as an escape room. At first they think this is a team building exercise for their company but it quickly becomes clear that it is about more than that. I did enjoy reading this book and discovering secrets about the characters. One perspective came from an individual who used to work with all of the main characters and I found those parts the most interesting. The middle of the book was kind of slow and the ending was pretty predictable. For those reasons I would rate this book as being just an average thriller.

A hard-working young business school graduate gets an offer she'd never consider refusing for the job of her drreams. Plunged into the glamorous, demanding, and lavishly compensated world of finance, she's just beginning to feel like a member of the small, select team she's been assigned to - her peformance is praised as above par, the perks of the position haven't begun to pall, and except for the fact that she has no time to enjoy the perks, she sees nothing but success ahead of her. She makes a friend of the one team member everyone else ignores - Lucy may be "on the spectrum," as everyone agrees, but she's a math genius, brilliant at making money for the company, so her eccentricities are ignored. At least, until she commits suicide. Or.
Is that what really happened? And does
The truth eventually outs, and the perpetrators are punished in what at first looks like a team building exercise - a close-knit team and its charismatic leader, Vic, locked in an elevator with an hour to cooperate enough to solve the problem. But three days later, they're still there, and the outlines of a dramatically rendered revenge plot are filed in with bold, expertly rendered strokes.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

From the start, you hit the ground running with this thriller. It never let up - and was a fast-paced roller coaster until the last page. The quick whit and intelligence behind this book made everything believable and tangible. The characters were well developed, easy to hate and easy to root on for others. As an empath, I always feel sorry for even the bad guy, because everyone has a back story, everyone has a why. But these Wall Street money hungry people were so easy to hate! I loved it! I highly recommend this one - it’s exciting and totally badass.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was about a 4.5 star for me, rounded up because I read it in a day and couldn't put it down. This book involves 4 co-workers from Wall Street that are in an elevator for what they think is a corporate Escape Room exercise. None of the participants are at all likable and we get some background on them as the story goes on that makes you like them less. The chapters about the elevator alternate with chapters from the point of view of a former co worker of the people in the elevator. We don't really know why we are hearing her side of the story until we get close to the end.

I thought this novel was a breath of fresh air as I have recently read a number of domestic thrillers that plodded along with a relatively mundane story leading to a reveal that was moderately entertaining. This story was unique and fast moving and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I see a lot of mixed reviews on this book and I have to say... I truly don't understand why. This book was great for me.

Goldin has created a realistic setting in New York City that properly portrays the corporate greed that lives within all investment bankers. Readers are immediately pulled into a world of characters being overworked, underappreciated, and overpaid. Everyone is replaceable, and no one is safe. If you think being fired from a 6-7 figure job is the scariest thing a Wall Street banker faces, then The Escape Room plans to prove to you otherwise.

The book is written with varying chapters. Half are from the third person POV of the forever increasingly greedy four (Sylvie, Sam, Jules, and Vincent) stuck in an elevator being used as an escape room in the present. The other half of the book is written from Sara Hall's first person POV in past tense, because Sara is presumably dead. Goldin managed to master switching between these two POVs perfectly so that the reader is never given too much information before needed. Readers are kept in the dark about a lot of things, and slowly Goldin gives us new information in very unique ways.

The characters are all anti-heroes. Even Sara, who is undoubtedly the most conscientious of the five listed characters. I personally found myself always routing for Sara, even before I knew what I came to know... which sounds cryptic, but hey, read the book. Lucy was probably my favorite character overall, even though we don't actually get to read from her own point of view. She's insanely smart, artistic, and real without fail. You'll see.

The story line of this book was amazingly intriguing, making it impossible to want to put down. As a reader you will always be a few steps behind the characters and Goldin, and even if you think you know what's going on... trust me, you don't. It's been a long time since I've been presented with a story that was thrilling in such a "keep me on my toes" kind of way, because I'm usually pretty good at solving whatever mystery there is fairly early into the book. However, there are so many dirty, greedy schemes happening in this corporate setting that even if you solve one puzzle, you'll just be presented with another. Don't worry, it's never too daunting though.

I highly recommend this read if you like thrilling mysteries.

I enjoyed reading The Escape Room and appreciate the opportunity to do so from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I liked the protagonist, Sara Hall, and found myself rooting for her throughout this highly original story. My only less-than-positive comment about the novel is the frequent POV (point of view) switches between first person, third person and omniscient, in addition to the head hopping from one character to another, often within the same paragraph. For me, that became an unsettling distraction. However, I loved the way the story unfolded, including its satisfying ending. The Escape Room is a fast paced and entertaining thriller.

Wow! This story was high tension from beginning to end! Escape rooms are suppose to be fun, not terror filled. Excellent, I could not put it diwn.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
‘Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.’
I had high hopes for this book, as I love thrillers. But I just couldn’t get into this one. It was a struggle from the lack of character growth to the lack of suspense. I wasn’t wowed by the ending. Just an ok read. Solid 2.5 stars

I love when they don’t see it coming like this! Such a twisted mind to come up with this plot and I ate it up with a spoon! The characters are realistic and the story is just one of the ones that take you on a thrill ride you want to jump right back on and ride again and again! Great book and great reprieve from the hum drum of late. Thanks so much NetGalley!

*3.5 stars*

Financial analysts are creepy people! I write this tongue-in-cheek, having spent several years as a financial analyst, although nowhere near the financial or prestigious stratosphere as the four bankers unwittingly participating into an "escape room" team building exercise. There are terrible things in Vincent, Jules, Sam and Syvlie's past, and all of the skeletons in their closets tumble out as they try to escape.

This is revenge novel, and while most of the characters are truly despicable, we do get two sympathetic folks: fellow analysts Lucy and newcomer Sarah. Much of the story is told from Sarah's perspective, who we're told early on is deceased. The rest of our chapters are with the four bankers trapped in an elevator, as they slowly realize how much trouble they're in.

This isn't my typical read: I'm not that into Wall Street, or the wolfish games of high-stake finance. The concept of an escape room gone horribly wrong was what drew me in, but I found myself engrossed in Sarah's world. She isn't an entirely likable character, but it's easy to understand her motives.

I think the ending happened BEFORE it should have. No spoilers, but I think some of the most interesting repercussions would happen after the last page, so to speak.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

There was never a doubt that I would finish this to discover the ultimate outcome for everyone however, it felt as though I had been reading this book for forever! Not a fast-paced thriller but enjoyable enough to keep my interest throughout.

Wow!! What a drama / suspense filled book. May I add how much I love multiple point of views as well. This book was nicely written and easy to follow . Very fast paced read. There were times my heart would race and I couldn’t stop . Once you got past a climax, you’d have another . Story of greed, money, lust, manipulation .. and revenge. This is a definite must read if you are a fan of any suspense, drama, thriller.
I felt like I was living the life of Sarah Hall and what the immense corporate world of finance and living with money felt like for the few hours I was reading this.

This book was very captivating. I was hooked from the first chapter. Five starts. I enjoyed the characters and the story so very much.