A sinister story of greed and selfishness. Sarah sets out to take revenge on the firm and the people who destroyed her life. The author tells a warning story about what happens when reaching for the glass ceiling becomes all consuming and destructive. It can leave you trapped or dead.

I'll start with the good. I loved the first person narration and it worked well for this novel. I also tend to really like unreliable narrators because typically they make for a good, shocking story. And at first I wanted to feel sorry for her, because her daughter was dead and she was in morning.

Unfortunately, there is not a single likable character in this entire novel. Even the dead daughter comes off as kind of bratty, probably because of her manipulative mother, cheating father, and conniving grandparents. I kept thinking I would understand why Jane Harris acts the way she does, but the deeper I got into this book the more I disliked her and the more she began to unravel.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind crazy characters. But the way she unraveled made me just want to skim through the book so I could find out who Mary's killer is.

To me there a really thin line between an unreliable narrator and a narrator that is so unlikable that you really don't care what happens to them. Throw in the fact that every other character is unlikable as well and, well, it makes it really hard to care about the book at all.

This is the first book I've read by Kaira Rouda and I'm hoping maybe I'll find something else of hers that I like better. Maybe next time!

Suspend your ‘could this happen in real life?’ belief system a bit and buckle up for the ride! This book grabs your attention and doesn’t let up until the very end!

Vincent, Sam, Jules and Sylvie work as a team in the elite, cutthroat world of Wall Street finance. They are all sent messages that they are to participate in a mandatory team building exercise. When they step into the elevator at their destination, they find that their task is an Escape Room exercise. Tensions rise, tempers flare and secrets are revealed as they struggle to escape from the locked elevator.

The story flashes back and forth between those trapped in the elevator and Sara Hall, who we first meet when she is looking for employment after graduating from college with her MBA. How these people’s lives intersect and why they find themselves in their current situation is revealed as the story progresses.

This book is a thoroughly enjoyable escapist read!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

“Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.”

With that tag line, you know you’re getting more Saw than Shakespeare.

Did I guess what was happening within 10 pages? I did. Did knowing what was happening affect my enjoyment of the story? Not at all. The characters are well-drawn, if a bit cliched. But the story zips along to a satisfying ending. A fun, fast read. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Title: The Escape Room
Author: Megan Goldin
Genre: thriller
July 30,2019
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.


My thoughts
Rating : 5
Would I recommend it ? yes
Would I read anything else by this author: yes
Fast pace, and will have you hooked after the first page, and won't let you go, it had me on the edge of my set wanting to know who and why would someone do something like this to Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam, and what did they do to end up in the predicament they was in , and the more you read the more you find out that there's a something more going on ,plus the more you read it you don't know who will come out on top the game master ( as I called him or her ) or the victims.I should say that its told in the past and future so you get the hole picture of what is going on , with that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review

I absolutely loved this book and had a hard time putting it down! Full review to come closer to release date

Loved it! Fast paced financial thriller full of treachery, back stabbing & greed. This was my first novel by Megan Goldin - I'll definitely be looking for future titles by her. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This book was so good! I love Wall Street books because of the excess, the long hours, the culture. I wanted to know more about the mystery. Then throw a "team building" exercise and you have the recipe for a great book.

I will feature this book in the Summer Reading Guide next month.

An unprecedented tale of vengeance unlike any other. The storyline follows Sara Hall and the other people at the investment banking firm at which she is employed through a scandal that ends with the senior members stuck in an elevator, fighting for their lives. This book was impossible to put down and impossible to predict the ending. It was fresh and new and unlike anything I have read before. Like The Girl On The Train, surprises are around every turn and you will keep waiting for things to happen until the very, very end. Highly recommend.

Whoa! I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I am not one for thrillers but this one just blew my away! I couldn't put it down. Great writing and great story line. I am so glad to venture out of my comfort reading zone with this book.

I really enjoyed this book, it wasn't super fast past, or super fun to me, but it grabbed my attention and kept me going. The parallel between past and present was pretty easy to distinguish. The world building was pretty good, the only thing I wasn't really fond of was the constant switch between third person and first person. The book kinda crawled until the last 25%, then it sped through super fast like the author realized how many pages she already had and didn't want to write any more. I also wished there was a little bit more of a reveal in the ending, but at the same time, I like how it ended, perfect getaway type situation.

Great book! the ending is the only reason I didn't absolutely love it enough to grant it 5 stars, but it was still a really good book

Thank you to the St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an ARC of this book for my honest opinion.

This book is a little out there and far fetched especially the last 1/4 or so. But it is a fun ride along the way. This would make a great movie!! It is truly unrealistic and the characters are kind of caricatures of the people they are supposed to be but its fun and fast paced.

Oftentimes one hears the phrase "page-turner." The Escape Room is the real deal. Characters that you might not like, but you definitely remember, a plot that has more twists and turns than a labyrinth, and an ending I never saw coming. I could see this being turned into a major picture, and it should be.

The Escape Room has me anxious to see what the author has up her sleeve next. I can't wait!

I quite enjoyed this one, it's basically my candyfloss literature for the brain. You know when you need somethng silly and fun and doesn't take itself too seriously? Well, this was it for me.

Interesting premise and a good revenge story. There isn't a single redeemable character in this book so I wasn't rooting for anyone to come out on top. Instead I closed the critical part of my brain off and just went along for the ride. A silly, unbelievable ride, but one that was fun all the same.

Wild and crazy ride that takes place in a locked elevator! The characters are all terrible people and that makes the book even more fun to read! So much madness packed into a tiny space. You will be flying through this one

Sara Hall thinks that she has lucked out with her new job; great pay, benefits, and high power in the finance world. These benefits even make the long hours and commitment to the job worth it.

Years later; Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam, her co-workers are spending a Saturday in a team-building escape room when things start to go really wrong.

How are these two things connected, especially since Sara has been dead for years?

This book is pure mystery and adrenaline, going back and forth between Sara's life and these 4 characters trapped in an elevator. Between the two stories the gaps are slowly filled in as you get drawn into the mystery and care more and more about what is going on.

I love the speed and pacing of this book as I found it perfect for keeping me super interested and invested in the story, but also really well done in how fast information is revealed.

This is a great mystery/thriller and one that I truly raced through to find out what happened.

LOVED THIS BOOK! WHAT AN AMAZING DEBUT!!! So different from any other thrillers with this plot. Trapped in an 'Escape Room' would be my nightmare and clearly this scenario was for the characters. Sara was so relatable, I loved how each chapter went back and forth between Sara and the other four, it definitely kept me guessing until the end!

I really got caught up in this book. Wasn’t sure how I’d like the back in forth but ended up not minding it so much. It wasn’t predictable which is good! I didn’t feel the end was enough but would recommend the book! It was enjoyable and entertaining!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an arc copy of The Escape Room in exchange for an honest review

YES PLEASE!! I am all for this book! I love any thing with escape rooms so this one did not disappoint.

The Escape Room by about a game gone horribly wrong. As any escape room, It turns into survival for your life but this is with colleagues and all the while trying to escape a work exercise. I truly enjoyed this book! I was emailed about being put on the blog tour but life got crazy and I think I have missed the tour dates for this but I love this book!

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What a book. When I decided that I wanted to read this book it looked like a great book. The book was on my kindle for a while before I actually started reading and then I wondered why did I choose this book, it just does not look as good as I thought.
The answer soon came to me. This book sucks you in, you want to find out more and more, what makes these people tick, what circumstances brought them together... This book has lots of questions and just as many secrets that are being kept. All of the secrets are revealed in the lift.
What I loved is the past and the present coming together, the characters as well as the story merging from past to present.

This was a brilliant novel and I just enjoyed reading it.