Hold tight for this thrilling ride. The Escape Room revolves around four Wall Street employees who are summoned to participate in a team building exercise. It's told in alternate POVs. An employee who gets caught in the rat race of getting ahead to earn more money and the team participating in the team build.

Vincent, Sam, Jules and Sylvie are the high flyers who would do anything to best each other. Now that they are stuck, they have to work together to get out of the rut that they are facing. The cryptic clues are not usual and neither is their situation. Will they work in harmony to get out unscathed?

Sara is new to the firm and the treatment she receives from her colleagues is abismal. Their cruel behaviour is her downfall. Will she seek revenge or will she just accept what she has been dealt?

During their ordeal, dark secrets are revealed. The characters are immoral, over ambitious and greedy for money. The extent of their machinations is unbelievable, but what goes around comes around!

The plot on its own is unusual. The dual POVs works wonderfully well. There is greed. Victimisation. Bullying. Back Stabbing and Fraud. I like the portrayal of this story and the revelations of the true nature of the characters. The twist at the end is amazing. One that I didn’t see coming. It's a hair raising read which I would recommend to all readers. 

I was kindly issued with an eARC from Netgalley and the views expressed are my personal opinion.

Such a great book! I was hooked from the first chapter. I couldn't put it down, I had to know what was going to happen next.

I found The Escape Room to overall be a fairly entertaining read, although I did find the plot fairly predictable. The book is told from two different perspectives; present day in the escape room with 4 work colleagues and then chapters from the past that are narrated by a former employee. I would definitely put The Escape Room in the category of thriller or suspense. The plot is fairly simple and easy to follow, there are no major twists or turns. Overall, it was an entertaining read, I just am more of a fan of a different type of book in this genre.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book.

I regularly run escape rooms at my job, so I had to request this title as soon as I saw it. I was hooked right away and could not stop reading! I will never look at escape rooms the same way again.

The Escape Room is a psychological thriller about four co-workers locked in an elevator in order to complete a team-building exercise. They think they just need to complete the challenge and they will be free to go, but things don’t go as planned. What seemed like a harmless game becomes MUCH more as the participants struggle to make it out alive. 

This is far from believable but some how that didn't bother me. The utter readability mitigated that factor and I loved it. I couldn't put it down.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley. I requested it because the synopsis of the book sounded very suspenseful. The first couple of chapters I had a little trouble getting sucked in because this one does have several characters. And everyone is important to the story. But I caught on to the who's who fairly quickly and from there I sped right through it. It kept my attention and it kept me guessing. There was one thing that I felt wasn't answered in the end. But overall I enjoyed it and will be interested in future books by this author.

I read this book over a weekend. I would definitely recommend it. I was originally intrigued because of the escape room aspect. Having done a couple of escape rooms myself, I thought it sounded like an interesting premise and something I might recommend to my sisters, who have completed every escape room in town.

I really enjoyed the structure, which alternates between the escape room action in the elevator and another story. Their relationship becomes clear as you read the book, and I found it very compelling and wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next. The characters are vividly painted and the world they inhabit felt realistic and rich.

However, I found the ending a little unsatisfying. No spoilers here, but it didn't seem to live up to the momentum that had been building through each chapter. My rating would have been a 5 if it had been more consistent throughout. But pick it up and get in the elevator!

Note: I received an egalley from NetGalley. (Review posted on Goodreads.)

Welcome to the world of fast-paced, high stakes finance.  This book is told from a 3rd point perspective-- all set in an elevator, which has been changed to an "escape room" for 4 unsuspecting employees of a big time Wall Street finance firm.  The other point of view-- Sara Hall, new hire right out of college-- shows her navigating this new world and making friends with the out-of-place math genius, Lucy.  

The opening of this book is certainly gripping: the 4 people go into the elevator and are thrust into an escape room-like situation.  We know that someone ends up dead from the beginning chapter.  The rest of the book?  Silly and fantastical.  And the writing definitely left something to be desired.  Parts were so rushed; it was almost like Goldin forgot to add a plot point, and pasted a summary in last minute for it.  Overall, I would not recommend this book.

So glad to have found this author. I think I held my breath throughout this whole book! Such a GREAT read!!!

**I was provided with a digital copy of this novel, and obtained it from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect my review, which is honest.**

As has probably been the case with numerous others, this book originally piqued my interest with its title. After all, escape rooms are popular these days. I also have friends who are obsessed with them, and have done two different rooms with them.

Going into this novel, I didn't really know what to expect, other than some sort of mystery/thriller set in the trappings of a typical escape room. What I got was something somewhat different, and something that I didn't enjoy a lot at first. That said, I ended up liking Megan Goldin's latest effort more as it went along, and my rating rose as that occurred.

I still don't think it's a great book, but I do believe that it's something that will be hard to forget. Something entertaining and somewhat different.

The Escape Room is about a group of investment bankers who show some of the worst sides of humanity. They're the type of people who live to work, and who are counted on to work as much as necessary by their downright evil and sympathy free employers. Working 18 hour days with regularity, while earning insane amounts of money, has brought these folks' worst traits out in force. They're greedy, don't care about the people their deals harm (such as those who lose their jobs and livelihoods when production is moved offshore), and are willing to do almost anything to secure the deal. Not to mention to protect their own asses.

Then again, if they won't, the firm will find others who will. Others who are, perhaps, even worse.

A large part of this character study focuses on a group of traders led by an ex European military man named Vincent. Together, they -- Jules, Sam and Sylvie -- work at Stanhope and Sons as part of a team that is tasked with making deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They wine and dine clients, but spend a lot of their time in a large meeting room typing up reports and coming up with monetary evaluations, investment strategies and merger/takeover deals. Due to this work, they're together up to 18 hours a day, and hardly see their families. It doesn't help that they don't like one another.

Joining this team of money hungry, moral-free financial wizards, is a mathematical genius named Lucy and a new hire named Sara Hall. 

Half of the book is told from Sara Hall's perspective, as she strives to leave her waitressing job, gets hired at Stanhope and sees how awful the industry she so desires to be a part of truly is. We learn about her family situation, why she needs such a large income, and about both her personal struggles and her values. On top of that, we also get a glimpse at how this fictional firm treats its new employees, and how hard it can be to fit in.

If you're wondering why there hasn't been mention of an escape room, here's why. Half of the book is set in Stanhope and Sons' office, in downtown NYC. The other half takes place in an under construction condo and shopping building somewhere else in the city. There, the four main strategists (Vincent, Sam, Sylvie and Jules) have all been summoned to an important meeting that they are told is mandatory. They've been summoned by text and email, and arrived out of fear, because there have been rumours about layoffs at their beloved firm. The one they'd do anything for.

After arriving at the building, the group is told to enter an exquisite new elevator, and that's where the shit hits the fan. Said elevator is the escape room. It is not a traditional escape room at all.

It's hard to say more about this book without spoiling anything, so I won't delve further into the plot. 

I must admit, though, that this is a book that was somewhat hard to rate. I didn't like it much at first, but it grew on me. That said, it's not very plausible, and some somewhat absurd things happen within its pages. To its credit, though, it's an interesting and entertaining story that kept me turning its pages, even though part of the ending was given away from the start, and the twists were pretty predictable. 

The writing unfortunately isn't great. There are lots of stops and starts, and parts are stilted. It didn't help that this early digital copy was some sort of proof, full of 1s and 0s and improper spacing. I'd never seen anything like it, but I'm admittedly new to reviewing books. However, some words would start on one line, then continue on another after an unnecessary blank space, and there were some obvious errors that hadn't been corrected.

I'm not counting the proof's issues against it, though, because it serves its point and the problems will likely be corrected before the book hits shelves and digital marketplaces.

An exercise that is supposed to be a fun, team building event turns into a super thriller when the "team" realizes their lives are at stake.  After being locked into an elevator, the team of 4 high profile financial wizards must work together or all die together.  A unique story line with very well developed characters who must reveal more of themselves to each other than anyone wants.  As the tension builds and the story line makes a couple of 180 degree twists, Megan Goldin sets the scene for one of the best endings I've read in awhile.

It takes a lot to make me miss sleep on work nights - but this book was one of them. I’d say the majority of readers will want to finish this in the one sitting like myself. It peaks your interest from the very start and plays to stories parallel until they collide at the end. A must read for any thriller fan, highly recommend.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable and brilliant book.  The revenge scheme was masterful.  The book centers on a top financial firm, Stanhope, were only two things matter to the executives and the high-flying financial analysts -- appearance and making lots of money, regardless of who might be hurt in the process.  One of the high-flying teams is composed of Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie, although their luck and that of the firm had not been the best lately and layoffs were pending, with all of them hoping it was not their head on the line.  Late on a Friday afternoon they are told to attend a last-minute evening meeting at an out-of-the-way office building.  Upon arriving, Vincent, the leader of the group, informs them that the four of them are participating in an escape room challenge.  The escape room turns out to be the elevator of the office building, which starts ascending and then suddenly stops with the lights off and a message on a small TV monitor welcoming them to the escape room.  However, this is not the standard one-hour escape room challenge where everyone gets out at the end whether you succeed or fail. This is a finely crafted work of psychological terror.  

The book alternates between the events in the elevator and events at Stanhope in past years, focusing on the lives and deaths of two female employees (Lucy and Sara) who had been part of the same team, but not really members, both being taken advantage of by the four high-flyers.  

I predict that this will be a very successful book.  Not only is the plot creative and the revenge scheme masterful, but many people have worked with or for individuals like Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie -- people who use and abuse their influence and power to live a high-flying lifestyle, taking the credit for the hard work of others who are below them in the corporate/office power structure (and whose actions often prevent costly mistakes by the high-flyers), ignoring those they consider beneath them, and not caring about how their actions will affect others so long as they continue receiving bigger bonuses and better perks -- and many people will enjoy reading about their downfall. 

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

***4-4.5 Stars ***
Publication Date: July 30, 2019

I read this entire book in one sitting during a long flight because I just couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. Not so much suspenseful but I took such an interest in Sarah Hall and needed to know how everything plays out. Sarah Hall is an only child, trying to get a six figure salary in the financial industry to help pay her parents medical bills. She eventually finds an entry level position with a desirable financial investing firm and thinks she has achieved her dream goal however, we shortly see the corrupt and manipulative behaviors of her colleagues. The story flashes back and forth between Sarah's journey with the company and her 4 colleagues stuck in an elevator that they believe to be an escape room adventure. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting a fast paced story that you won't be able to put down until you find out how this ends!

Special Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first began the escape room I was not sucked in but as the story progressed I could not put it down. The author does a great job of writing a suspenseful read that keeps the reader guessing. 

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

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I thought this would be a fast paced thriller. It started out on the intense side, but then fell off the tracks. The setting is the very competitive world of finance. The employees think they are about to do a team building exercise in the form of an escape room.  It turned into murder and twists. I had to know the end, but it felt like it took me forever to get there.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin is the "wow" thriller of the year for me!  What a story.  A group of fast living rich business folk become trapped in an elevator with one another.  They soon discover that this is an escape room game, but there are serious results about.

As the story moves along we learn about the main character, a young college graduate who joins an exclusive firm and what she faces as she tries to climb the corporate ladder.  Eventually with nepharious poweder plays leading to a couple of deaths, the woman also finds herself out side of the system.

Now the players are trapped in the elevator. What is happening to them?  Who is controlling this?  All of these questions and more are  told in a well crafted thriller.  I cannot wait for this author to compose more novels.  Not since John's Grisham's The Firm as a book grabbed me as completely and satisfyingly as this one did!

What a phenomenal book! Early on we learn of the death of several characters, and we anxiously await to see how it all plays out. I really enjoyed the alternating timelines, and the suspense build as to when they would converge. The ultimate story of revenge, 5 stars to The Escape Room!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

Compelling glimpse into the cutthroat world of high finance. It's Lifeboat, in an elevator. Well drawn characters and an ending worthy of the movies.

The title caught my eye, who doesn't love escape rooms?! Then the description hooked me and I had to start reading. Was unsure how an elevator escape room could span an entire book, so glad to have the backstory to keep things interesting. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, I will definitely recommend to friends and continue on with other books by Megan Goldin.