I really wanted to like this book. It starts off with an prologue designed to hook you and keep you reading. And it did! But as the book went on, I didn't buy in. The characters trapped in the elevator are all certainly unlikable, which was the design. But I didn't buy the metamorphosis of the main character into a computer hacker genius capable of trapping these people into an elevator. It is a shame because the first 70% of the book was really intriguing. But in the end, it was just too far fetched. I won't be able to recommend it.

Think 'The Escape Room' meets 'ATM'.
A character-driven suspense novel that seriously had me turning pages quicker than these four* turned on themselves!

I LOVED this one! The story follows *four high-flying investment bankers who meet up for what is meant to be a team-building exercise in a locked elevator and soon find themselves trying to escape for a whole different reason. *DUN, DUN*
This had a whodunnit/what-TF-happened type feel and I was here for it! THE ESCAPE ROOM is definitely more character-driven and I've found that I've come to love this style of thriller more this year, as well as the multiple POVs and flashbacks that were in this one. It was a mix of a thriller with its happenings in white-collar crime and it had me by the neck! Though at times it felt a bit lengthy, I can't say I was disappointed by the time I reached that sweet, sweet ending.

AND of course, *TW for sexual assault*

I was reluctant to read this book – ambitious Wall Street bankers and financiers – an escape room setting. It just did not really appeal to me. So I hesitantly put one toe in the water…then splash! I was all in by the end of the Prologue. Six pages! After that I did NOT want to put it down!

Vincent, Sylvie, Sam and Jules are living their dream. Financiers on Wall Street they make mega bucks. They are cold and ruthless. Masters of deception and intimidation. Their work is their life.

All four are “ordered” to a mandatory meeting on a Friday evening at an isolated office building under construction. Vincent knows they will be doing an escape room scenario as a team-building exercise. He thinks they will be fighting for their jobs, when in actuality they are fighting for their lives.

The four have worked together for years. They think they know each other’s secrets and lies. But now all the dirty secrets will truly come out when the elevator becomes their escape room. With no cellphone coverage they are truly isolated; their only hope lies in the clues provided within the elevator.

Hunger. Thirst. Heat. Cold. Fear. Anger. Desperation. All niceties melt away like the sweat running down their bodies. Their true characters emerge.

A story of deception and revenge, it kept me guessing. Who was behind it all? Suspenseful. Intriguing. Nail-biting.

The chapters alternate between the point of view of those trapped in the elevator and the story of Sara Hall, a former workmate of theirs. What is the link?

Megan Goldin is sure to be a big name in the publishing world with the release of this book.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing a review copy of the book.

This was a fun weekend read suspense/thriller. A little white-collar shady characters who you have to hate but wait one of the protagonists (Sarah) is one of them and you kind of like her. Duel timelines where one is over YEARS the other is over not even 48 hours adds to the mystery and the suspense. Seeing the characters through Sarah's eyes (the over years timeline) really helps you understand how they ended up in the 48 hour timeline and why you hope they don't meet a happy end.


It was a bit of a 'fluffy' suspense book to me but that is NOT a bad thing. It was a great weekend read. I don't think I will ever look at an elevator or an escape room the same way again. If I say too much more it would be spoilery so if you need a fun easy and good thriller this is a good one to read!

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

A solid escape read, The Escape Room does a lot of great things including building tension, expansion of character yarns, and a climax that, while a bit obvious, is nevertheless satisfying.

See full review on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2656009249

While I enjoyed the start of the book. I quickly found that the story of the executives stuck in the elevator to be much more boring than the story Sara. Overall the book is fine and a quick read. I do think a chunk of the elevator chapters could be trimmed to cut the book down ~20 pages.

This an engaging and gripping psychological thriller that hooked me from early on and didn't let go.

Devolving deep into the cutting throat world of the stock market, a group of collegues got trapped in an elevator with nothing common between them except lies, revenge, and deception. Told from various POVs and different time lines,what happens then? Well you have to read to find out.

Thanks Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this novel.

A gripping psychological read that will have you turning pages late into the night. What happens when four work colleagues are trapped in an elevator, armed with only lies and secrets and revenge? Told through a juxtaposition of past and present narratives, this novel will not disappoint.

Are people really this ruthless and cutthroat? Sara finally gets her dream job on Wall Street, but is it worth the cost? After her unfortunate fall from grace and death, her colleagues Vincent, Sylvie, Sam, and Jules are trapped in an elevator, where they are told their goal is to escape with their lives. But can they work together to solve the clues? Suspicious of each other, secrets start spilling out when they realize they may not escape this elevator alive. This thriller keeps you guessing who is pulling the strings behind the Escape Room. Who can be trusted? Who will survive?

In a world full of lots of thrillers, The Escape Room didn't necessarily stand out, but was a fun read. Fans of Ruth Ware and actual escape rooms might enjoy the mystery and excitement. If you've ever had to do some forced team building with your co-workers you might also relate

An interesting view of cutthroat politics in the world of Wall Street. As Gordon Gekko would say, "Greed is good." It's a story of sweet revenge and while it kept my interest, it's not a book that will stick with me. And I felt like the reader had to suspend a bit of believability in order to buy into the author's desired ending.

Thanks Net Galley and Penguin Books for opportunity to read and review.

Oh yes, this was one of those books that I went into blind and so glad I did! One of my biggest (not very rational fears) is being stuck in an elevator, so when this happens to several members of a law firm, I was already tense and out of breath. Then when they discover it's actually an Escape Room and they'll have to solve a series of clues to get out, things get really dicey! Enter Sara, a new hire--"dead but not forgotten--and the novel becomes a puzzle the reader must also solve in order to figure out who has designed this creepy scenario which pits colleague against colleague until the final realization of who has set it up! Gripped me until the end!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Excellent book club material. Would be great for our next book club purchase! Will also be using The Escape Room in our library's upcoming thriller display.

Holy cow! This book grabbed me from page one! I literally could not put it down. The story line involves a game gone horribly wrong. It truly was an amazing book. It's not often that I can spend an entire morning reading a book. I kept hearing how this is going to be "the best book of 2019" and I think the reviewers are correct. This one is going to be hard to beat. Megan Goldin has been added to my list of favorites and I cannot wait for her next book to come out. Thank you for the advanced copy. I will be recommending that our library purchase this as soon as it's published!

Sara Hall feels like she's won the lottery when she takes a job in the high powered world of a Wall Street firm. But soon enough, she trades in her ethics as she becomes as competitive as her cutthroat colleagues. I recently saw Second Act (Jennifer Lopez) and couldn't help seeing the similarities in the lifestyle choices, corporate perks and hard core expectations that go along with high stakes positions. But that's where the similarity ends.

The top three achievers at the firm and their boss are asked to meet for mandatory team building, When the team gets stuck in an elevator, they assume they are taking part in an Escape the Room exercise. As conditions worsen, the team cycles through different power shifts, and things go horribly wrong. To understand how these people wound up in the elevator, we learn the back story through alternating timelines, narrated by Sara.

I spent way too much time trying to suspend disbelief at the technological skills needed to pull off the game, and stumbling over formatting issues and many typos (which hopefully get corrected in the final draft), but the story kept me engaged.

I started this book with the intention of finishing it this weekend but I just wanted to get a small taste and see if it was something that I could jump in easily. And was it! That is an understatement this book pulled me in and did not let me go. It is fast paced and it draws you in and doesn't spit you out until the end. If you are looking for a book that has a really unique plot that you have not read anywhere else and like to watch people get karma then I think this book will be on your hit list.

The pacing of this book is breakneck! Which is good, because I quite literally couldn't put this down. Sometimes when plots flip back and forth between the present and the past, I get annoyed and distracted. Goldin works the breaks in at just the right times, leaving you hanging and breathlessly anticipating how everything comes together.

You know from the get go that there wouldn't be a happy ending for everyone. They mystery is what the group stuck in the escape room did to deserve their torture. Teasing out how each person in the elevator was tied together and what led to their predicament was so well done. This was addicting and kept my interest the entire read!

This starts off as what seems like another take on The Wolf of Wall Street, with characters that initially feel like more stereotypes. It gradually unfolds into something deeper and new, giving each a past that adds nuance and motivation for their current actions. From there, it becomes a full fledged thriller, keeping the reader guessing at who is behind their increasingly intense circumstances. I was surprised by the last few chapters, though the twists were believable and perfectly fit into the established arc. What is an almost too cinched together ending is disrupted by one last small surprise, leaving the reader wondering if our cleaned up ending is really so cut and dry.

I typically read books over the course of a couple days. I started The Escape Room right in the middle of holiday season so it took me a little longer. Even if there were days between reading opportunities, I was being pulled back into the book immediately.

Sara Hall was hired at a financial firm by a form a serendipity. She explains in great detail the highs and lows of working in the cut throat financial district. We also get a view from the elevator that contains Vincent, the boss that everybody respects out of fear. Sylvie, the sexy yet brilliant gal on the team who is eagerly awaiting to see her boyfriend in Paris. Sam, who is going through some marital issues due to work and whose wife is waiting for him to join their family trip. Lastly, Jules, who is the big suck up to Vincent. The four of them are full of increasing tension the longer they are stuck in the escape room. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who was behind the escape room and what their motive was. The Escape Room analyzes what work, pressure and greed can make us capable of doing.

Be prepared to be sucked in from the start.

This book is about greed, lies, cynicism, lust, murder, back-stabbing, selfishness, cheating, exploitation, and revenge. It is an incredible thrill ride! The story is presented in two time lines with the chapters going back and forth between Sara’s point of view (the “then” part of the story) and the point of view of the four coworkers in the elevator (the “now” part of the story).

The atmosphere of the elevator chapters was insane! I am not claustrophobic, but I really started feeling quite uncomfortable when reading the elevator scenes. Intense temperature changes, going from total darkness to blinding brightness, not to mention the animosity between the four trapped individuals – it created a super tense atmosphere that was palpable. I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of escape rooms, as I am sure others are. This book took the concept of escape rooms to another level!!!

The other part of the book – the investment banking/corporate side of the story – was also pretty intense. The things people do and the things people give up just to make money! CRAZY! I don’t work in this kind of atmosphere – THANK GOODNESS! It made for a great story, but I can’t imagine that lifestyle or that level of competitiveness at any expense. I wouldn’t last long at all! So I am going to put on my rose-colored glasses and try to convince myself that not all investment banking corporations function like they did in this book – this was just fiction, right?

This story well written and had a satisfying ending. My only complaint is the sleep I lost plowing through it!

This book will be made into a movie – I guarantee it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.