Firstly, I want to thank the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. This book was one big WOW from beginning to end. So many guarded secrets. Who is a friend and who is foe? An excellent, engrossing story that I highly recommend!
Genre: Financial Thriller, Psychological Thriller
Book Description:
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?
WOW! This is one of the most memorable psychological thrillers I’ve read all year. Megan Goldin is a new author for me and I was excited to read a book recommended by Lee Child. Needless to say, I couldn’t put it down. Easy to read, this is a rollercoaster ride you can devour in one afternoon.
Sarah Hall’s point of view was fascinating and you can’t help liking her from the outset. In a bid to help her ailing parents, she embarks on an exciting career at Stanhope. After much a laborious job search, she has a chance encounter with a future employer. Too good to be true? You bet it is. As an ambitious MBA graduate breaking into the vicious cut-throat world of Wall Street Finance, she is immediately thrust into a corrupt and hostile environment, where greed and revenge are at the forefront. At the very start, the mood is one of high-wire suspense as millions are at risk and Sarah must navigate a smart route through the tensions and wiles of high-powered investment bankers. At times, I wanted to shake the naivety out of her, and the irritating willingness to trust. Aren’t the collusions and maneuverings of Wall Street life taught to all MBA graduates before embarking on such a career?
Vincent, Sylvie, Sam and Jules are the four game players, served to the reader in an alternate point of view. Summoned on a Friday night for a team building exercise they are expected to play the Escape Room game. But the room is a locked elevator with no cell phone service and no emergency call button to alert security. Nothing can be more frightening than being trapped in an elevator, especially with people you loathe. Clues are found to assist their escape but the longer they are confined, infighting and tension builds, and confrontations are inevitable. When past transgressions are revealed, can one person rectify the abuse that has been dished out to the most vulnerable?
The first three quarters of this book is a steaming read and I particularly enjoyed the resonant backstory set in such a small setting. But at no time did I get the impression Sarah would overcome a bunch of sociopathic analysts in quite this way. Where she suddenly got these additional skills beats me. I gave the book five stars for originality and for the staggering pace.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #StMartin’sPress for the ARC of #TheEscapeRoom in exchange for an honest review.
Book details
Print Length: 361 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1250219655
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (July 30, 2019)
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Sold by: Macmillan
Links:
USA
UK
What people are saying:
Praise for The Escape Room:
“The pages turn themselves…THE ESCAPE ROOM delivers all that it promises. It is a sleek, well-crafted ride to a surprisingly twisty conclusion.” ―New York Times Book Review “THE ESCAPE ROOM works as the ultimate locked-room mystery…Goldin excels at illustrating the pressures of a Wall Street career.” ―Associated Press
“Addicting.” ―Time Magazine “There is clearly no happy ending likely for the four colleagues trapped inside [the escape room]; but fans of JP Delany and Ruth Ware will want to be right in there with them…a nail-biting tale of a corporate team-building exercise gone horribly wrong.” ―Booklist
“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)
About the author
Megan Goldin is a best-selling Australian author whose novel The Escape Room will be published in the U.S. and UK in 2019. Megan’s domestic noir thriller The Girl in Kellers Way was published in Australia in 2017. Megan was a reporter based in the Middle East for the Reuters news agency, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Associated Press.
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