“One of my favorite books of the year.” –Lee Child “Cancel all your plans and call in sick; once you start reading, you’ll be caught in your own escape room–the only key to freedom is turning the last page!” –Kirkus Reviews (starred) “A sleek, well-crafted ride.” –The New York Times In Megan Goldin’s unforgettable debut, The Escape Room, four young Wall Street rising stars discover the price … The Escape Room, four young Wall Street rising stars discover the price of ambition when an escape room challenge turns into a lethal game of revenge.
Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.
In the lucrative world of finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are at the top of their game. They’ve mastered the art of the deal and celebrate their success in style–but a life of extreme luxury always comes at a cost.
Invited to participate in an escape room challenge as a team-building exercise, the ferociously competitive co-workers crowd into the elevator of a high-rise building, eager to prove themselves. But when the lights go off and the doors stay shut, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary competition: they’re caught in a dangerous game of survival.
Trapped in the dark, the colleagues must put aside their bitter rivalries and work together to solve cryptic clues to break free. But as the game begins to reveal the team’s darkest secrets, they realize there’s a price to be paid for the terrible deeds they committed in their ruthless climb up the corporate ladder. As tempers fray, and the clues turn deadly, they must solve one final chilling puzzle: which one of them will kill in order to survive?
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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!
*Received ARC via NetGalley for honest review*
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!
All I have to say is just WOW! I was a bit skeptical about this one because this is different than what I would normally read. I’m actually a little upset that it took me 3 days to read because it takes me a bit to warm up to a book. Once I got about halfway I couldn’t put it down. The first of Megan Goldin’s book that I read was The Girl in Kellers Way, then The Night Swim and then this one. Each time the books got better and better.
You won’t want to stop until you finish it.
Realistic characters and twisted plot.
Loved, loved, loved this book. This was one was really a page turner. It had everything I love in a book. It is written from several points of view that gives insights into why the characters are doing what they do. The ending was spectacular. If you get a chance grab it. I’m glad I bought this one because I’ll want to read it again!
I really liked this book. It had a unique plot and certainly kept my interest!!! One of better books I have read in a while.
From my experience, I don’t know if it was realistic or not.
WOW! THAT was AMAZING! Yeah, yeah, ok I’d figured out what the twist was going to be long before it arrived, and yet…. I hadn’t quite. I hated all the people I was supposed to hate, except… was I supposed to? I was happy when the “good guy” came out on top … or did s/he? (No, absolutely positively no spoilers, I’m not even going to tell you whether the “good guy” was male or female). This was absolutely a book where nothing was as it seemed and I loved every minute of it!!
Gotta Love Revenge!
Excellent thriller!
Interesting characters and situations.
This book was excellent!!
I really enjoyed this book. See for yourself, read this book and be totally blown away! I didn’t want it to end!
Loved this book and the escape room angle. Couldn’t put it down.
Great, fast paced, interesting story … at points predictable, but generally a great story / read. Recommend.
Thought this was a great read!
Sara, an MBA graduate, needs to find a job. Her parents are in poor health and their bills are expensive. She has student loans that she must now pay. Rent is also getting the best of her. When she lands at a job at Stanhope and Sons that offers a large salary, she feels her prayers have been answered. She quickly realizes that the long hours, the expectations to look and act a certain way, and the shrewdness of her colleagues is a lot to take on however. She enjoys the benefits but struggles with the impact it has on her personal life. Is she willing to make the same sacrifices that her coworkers make for the good of the company?
When a team of workers from the company are called to a team building activity for the company, they know they have no choice but to attend. Bonus time is near and every decision they make impacts their bonuses. When the group finds themselves trapped in an elevator for an escape room game, they count down for when their 60 minutes of bonding will end. If only it were that simple…
Told in alternating narratives, The Escape Room is part thriller, part mystery. I was immediately drawn in. I found the description of the world of finance captivating (surprisingly). I also couldn’t wait to learn what the purpose was behind the escape room event.
Some people gave the book lower marks because they found several of the characters unlikable. To me, that worked perfectly. I didn’t like several of the characters. What consequences did I want them to suffer for their abhorrent behavior. Can people change? What about under dire circumstances? Does financial wealth trump everything else in life?
Great book – highly recommended.
A fast-paced thriller from page 1!
Diversity in characters- race, personalities, lifestyles, etc. (One character is on the spectrum) I highly enjoyed the array and unique qualities each character brought, complementing some, rubbing others in the wrong way. I wasn’t expecting to like these over-paid Wall Street workers, but their distrust with another was like watching an accident happen that I could not pull myself away from.
Meet The Main Characters:
Vincent- The boss of Stanhope’s financial firm on Wall Street, tough, secretive, demands perfection.
Lucy- She’s highly intelligent, on the spectrum, and socially awkward.
Sam- hard-worker, trains new-hires in the firm, All-American playboy, married to a gold digger.
Jules- (Latino?) Alcoholic, quick, single playboy.
Sylvie- Childhood model, blonde, thinks her sh*t don’t stink, previous burn victim, distrustful and closed in.
Sara- Previous waitress, caregiver to her parents, the new hire at the Stanhope firm.
I loved the way multiple POV’s were shared alternating between one character and the escape room. Every other chapter, I was singing in a Michael Jackson voice- Thriller, Thriller, Thriller. I had so many oh sh*t moments. This was thrilling and fun to read. My heart pounded in anticipation!
The first 200 pages, I cannot say enough good things about. My reading experience was absolutely amazing. That’s why I get upset with easy endings. Easy but not easy… The plan behind everything is revealed in a way that I wish would have taken a bit longer. The characters start to act sporadic, and maybe this was done intentionally to build anxiety but what happened, I was like what a great build, best thriller ever, and was a tad let down by the two ending scenarios. I wish two things would have been done a tad different, but it’s only because the rest of the book had me SO right there with it. Otherwise, this would have been a PERFECT thriller for me. That’s why I rated it four stars.
The gold cover arc was absolutely stunning, I saw a blue cover variation that looked too much like another book by this same author called “The Night Swim”. I like the gold cover best! Megan Goldin’s background in journalism keeps me intrigued to her writing. I love the suspense her writing created! I look forward to checking out “The Night Swim” as well as other future titles by her.
[ TW: sexual abuse, violence, domestic violence, death, blood, murder, suicide ]
Much gratitude to the Goodreads Giveaway Program, compliments of St. Martin’s Press for the paperback ARC I won (2019). I was under no obligation to write a review, my honest opinion is freely given.
I loved it. Very different book!!!!
The Escape Room is a well-paced thriller that gripped my attention and never let go. There were brief moments when the backstory of certain characters allowed my thoughts to drift but the author seemed to sense that and kept those chapters short so I was drawn back in. As the novel progressed I sensed each thread was absolutely being woven for a reason which made even the unlikable characters bearable. Unfortunately, most of the characters were unlikeable which is a trend that I’m sick of. It’s exhausting to invest time on people you don’t care about. That said, this one was worth it and rewarded me with a justified ending. I hate to say that it was actually a fun read because it is actually a very dark premise but I needed a revenge-read right now. I think we all do.