My appreciation goes out to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this title. I love me a good tale of revenge and this is one of the best. The plot centers around four Wall Street financiers and Sara who becomes one of the them while working at the same company. In the beginning she can do no wrong and gets promoted, receives good bonuses and doesn’t have any problems paying her aging parents’ medical bills.

Then, a parallel story is told about the four Wall Street typical types who are summoned to a building under construction to participate in a team building activity in an elevator called “The Escape Room.”

That’s when things heat up. No spoilers coming from me, though. Goldin’s writing draws the reader in and puts them in the middle of the action. I literally couldn’t put this thriller down and read until 1 a.m. last night to finish it.

I had very little negative to say about “The Escape Room.” Just that a few minor details didn’t seem that feasible, but they certainly didn’t disrupt the smooth flow of the story. Highly recommended.

Pretty good story, not unhappy I read it and fairly well written but a bit predictable although not boring

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I wish I could give this more than 5 stars! This was incredible. A perfect tale of mystery, intrigue, business and sexy.

What an exhilarating breath of stale elevator air! Megan Goldin takes the reader on a wild goose chase trying to figure out who is who and who did what. The chapters alternate between a group of investment bankers stuck in an elevator in what seems to be an innocent escape room game and employee Sara Hall. The bankers assume HR planned the game to observe them and their individual skills. After all, they all received the same email, right? We also follow Sara from living in a ghetto neighborhood as a waitress and trying to scrape by and pay her parents' medical bills. Until one day, she meets Vincent, one of the investment bankers in so-called elevator escape room. As the two stories start meeting in the middle, things aren't always what they seem. People are not who they say they are and their true characteristics come out when in a state of panic. I loved the clues that were given during the game. Very creative. My nose was stuck in my Kindle the whole time I was reading this book, waiting for that oh-so-wonderful twist followed by the satisfaction of revenge. All the stars for The Escape Room!

Thank you to Netgalley, Megan Goldin, and St. Martin's Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having worked in the world of high Finance, I'm always incredibly intrigued by books set in that world. Throw in long hours, greed, tempers and jealousy and you have the stage set for drama. Now what happens when those personalities are trapped in an elevator together? Tensions rise, secrets are revealed and drama is flying - and that's all in the first minutes.

Goldin has written a really unique, suspenseful novel that had me hooked from the first page. I wanted to know what happened to Sara Hall and more importantly, what the four individuals in the elevator were hiding. I found the reveals to be well paced and the intrigue had me turning the pages well past my bedtime.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin, I really liked this book! It held my attention and I did not want to put this down till I had it figured out and finished. Great characters that you can picture in your head a good storyline and enough background on everything so it all flows naturally. Four Wall Street brokers are in an elevator doing an Escape Room challenge, or so they think...who will survive.......almost sounds like it could be the beginning of a joke doesn't it?! Nothing about this game turns out to be a joke though, far from it! A big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this ARC book and give my honest opinion.

The age old mantra about exacting revenge on your enemies is that "Revenge is a dish best served cold". And that is exactly what Ms Goldin gives us - revenge for a crime against a person and that person's cold and calculating revenge against those that hurt her.
Sara Hall is a young newly minted university graduate that is having a great deal of trouble getting her first job. The job market is temporarily depressed. She is encountering the difficulty of getting a good position when her competition are men, and she has no experience in any major position.
She gets an interview with a Financial Titan; The Stanhope Corporation located in New York City which is a major player on Wall Street. She is forced to pay her own way from her hometown of Chicago to take the interview. Unfortunately she finds that she is really not under consideration since the person doing the interviewing is set on just getting a few interviews recorded in order to hire a friend of his. As luck would have it Sara encounters a Stanhope group leader on the elevator while leaving the building. Seeing her downcast expression the manager: Vincent, gets her to show him her ID. Thinking that nothing will come of that Sara returns home and gets a second rate job to make a living. Lo and behold when several weeks later Vincent contacts her and sets her up with an interview at Stanhope which results in her getting a job with them.
Ms Goldin describes very well what it means to work for a major player in the Financial world. Backbreaking work, long hours,very little time for a social life, but tons of money with huge bonuses and perks for the effort. Sara is placed on Vincent's team where she is assigned the low end of the spectrum in terms of work for the group. But she does her share and than some and does obtain the financial rewards inherent in the industry.
A person also assigned to the group is a mathematical genus who is very introverted but her skills are used to solve problems and make a lot of money for both the group and Stanhope. Lucy finds a friend in Sara and allows her to enter the private world she inhabits.
The plot involves Lucy committing suicide and leaving most of her personal records to Sara. Than when Sara finds that Lucy may have been murdered she goes to Vincent to advise him of the possibility. Her information is rebuffed and Sara is eventually let go. The concept of an Escape room is that it is a puzzle set up to entice people to enter it and not being able to leave until they solve a mystery which must be solved with clues provided before they are released. Sometime after Sara leaves a report comes back that she has been killed in a freak accident. Soon after invitations are sent to four members of Sara's team at Stanhope to attend a meeting at an almost deserted building. The invitation leaves no room for not attending and once there they find that they must take part in an Escape room scenario or their annual bonuses will be threatened. The Escape room is an elevator in the building and the four enter.
Most of the book is a narrative back and forth between the group in the elevator and Sara Hall. The reasons for the use of the elevator as an Escape room and what if anything does the deceased Sara have to do with it will keep the reader glued to the book and changing his or her mind constantly about what is going on. Many threads dangled and very well utilized in a novel that is the mark of a top flight author guarantee that Ms Goldin will have her books always sought after.

This book kept my attention pretty much throughout the entire story--the author feeds you little crumbs that keep you interested. We are taken back and forth between what is happening to an unsavory bunch of investment banker creeps stuck in an elevator and Sara Hall as we see her struggle. She faces problems as a new MBA candidate looking for a good job while trying to help her sick and ailing Father and Mother.
This was almost a five star read for me.. The end just was not satisfying enough--I just don't think it was plausible. In any event, I would still read another Megan Goldin book-I have always like stories that deal with revenge.

Thank you Net Galley and publisher for the chance to read and review.

Great book for a mental escape. It engaged me from the first page and kept me guessing throughout. The four high earners trapped in the elevator gradually reveal their true selves and the paths they took to end up in this trap. I enjoyed the view into the cutthroat finance industry and the way it transforms “good” people into ruthless minions. The ending was very satisfying. I encourage you to take this along on your next vacation or beach day.

This book was absolutely amazing, truly one of my top ten thrillers ever. 10 stars if possible, because it was absolutely intense and so original it draws you in and takes you for the ride you have been longing for in thrillers. A must read for thriller fans, it will blow you away!
Will highly recommend to the members of Chapter Chatter Pub.

Ah! I wanted to love this book, as I work in this field, but it was confusing and slow at times.....I think a bit more editing and revising the book would really help make it more suspenseful.

Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Escape Room is a great captivating book. 4 people in a team building activity, in an elevator...Good psychological thriller!

I could not put this book down and when I had to I was annoyed! I loved the back and forth between Sara Hall and those trapped in the escape room. I will definitely read anything this author publishes. Highly recommended!

Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are working in the financial district and their work brings them grueling hours but high dollar paychecks. As their rich lifestyles become their norm, they are willing to make to business deals at any cost with no regard for the lives their contracts destroy. Competition is fierce for an upcoming possibility of a promotion and the four of them are called to a mandatory team building meeting. The find themselves locked in an elevator escape room. They have to solve the clues to escape. As time goes by, they begin to wonder if they will ever get out but teamwork proves to be a daunting task as secrets and betrayals are revealed. Things spiral out of control as tempers flare and desperation takes over.

This was a fast moving, suspenseful novel. The character development was fantastic. Overall, I loved the book but I was expecting a conclusion with a little more bang (although I still did enjoy the ending) so I rated it as a 4.5. I highly recommend this book.

I received this book through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley.com, to St. Martin's Press, and to Megan Goldin for this opportunity

The Escape Room was a twisting thriller, leaving me hanging until the very end to find out how four associates came to be trapped in the “escape Room.” It started out as a team building exercise, or so they thought put on by their firm. The story went from the elevator to different perspectives leading up to the elevator.
Vincent, Jules, Sylvia and Sam work for a prestigious Wall Street firm. The more money they made, the greedier they became.
I found this to be a super unique, page turner! I would definitely recommend it!
Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this advanced copy.
This will appear on my blog December 10, 2018.
www.colecampfireblog.com
LanaLCole@yahoo.com

The idea of this story was interesting as I've never read anything like it. However, I did find it to drag and be slow in some parts.

Four investment bankers walk into an elevator... This could be the start to a really corny joke but instead is the beginning of a gripping, engaging, stay-up-all-night suspense thriller from Megan Goldin. The bankers are told that the elevator meeting is an escape room exercise, and their jobs may be on the line. However, once the activity gets started, they realize more than their jobs may be on the line. In fact, their very lives may be in jeopardy, and everyone has a secret.

This book is told along two separate timelines, one from the individuals trapped in the elevator, and one from a former colleague of theirs. I found this setup heightened the experience of the novel, because it left the reader with no idea as to what happened in the past or why the individuals were actually being tortured in the elevator. 

I personally loved the voice that Goldin brought to this novel. Her writing kept me intrigued with this book and propelled me through the pages in record time. The puzzles in the escape room were also refreshing. The ones that didn't require background knowledge of the characters were fun to figure out before the participants could. In fact, I wish there had been more, I had my notepad out ready to decipher codes (have I mentioned I love escape rooms?). 

I found myself wanting a little more from the ending and the resolution of the mystery, but I feel like the build-up made up for it. I suppose I wanted a more shocking conclusion, it all happened so suddenly. Regardless, I recommend this book as it was a wild ride from start to finish and I look forward to seeing what future works come from Goldin. 

*I would like to thank the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of The Escape Room (from NetGalley). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a thriller! I thoroughly, AND I MEAN THOROUGHLY, enjoyed this novel. Brilliantly written, this book keeps the reader just barely out of accurate prediction-making range! Intelligent, yet naive, Sara gradually became one of the stronger characters that I have become acquainted with in a while! This novel is full of enough suspense and drama to really entertain--I finished it in just two days' time. (I needed to finish it once I assembled enough foreshadowing of impending events and at the same time was able to spare a few solid consecutive hours.) It might be worth considering making this book into a movie! I think the deception and backstabbing alone would draw the the attention of the general public...That being said, I will keep an eye out for future novels from Megan Goldin!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Megan Goldin for the ARC!

WOW!!! Talk about a game of patience. This person was definitely playing the long game! I’m not going to give it away by telling you who it was or what all happened.

I will say, I think I would have gone crazy while being locked in an escape room with no sure fire way to get out.

I want to try one, but I do believe I will stick to the ones I know are scripted and manned. You know, like the ones you find in a mall or other shopping areas.

Definitely a terrific read!!

I received an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book had me on the edge of my seat the whole time! It was definitely a book that kept you thinking! I would definitely recommend this book to fellow readers. Thank you!