Thank you to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

From the start, you hit the ground running with this thriller. It never let up - and was a fast-paced roller coaster until the last page. The quick whit and intelligence behind this book made everything believable and tangible. The characters were well developed, easy to hate and easy to root on for others. As an empath, I always feel sorry for even the bad guy, because everyone has a back story, everyone has a why. But these Wall Street money hungry people were so easy to hate! I loved it! I highly recommend this one - it’s exciting and totally badass.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was about a 4.5 star for me, rounded up because I read it in a day and couldn't put it down. This book involves 4 co-workers from Wall Street that are in an elevator for what they think is a corporate Escape Room exercise. None of the participants are at all likable and we get some background on them as the story goes on that makes you like them less. The chapters about the elevator alternate with chapters from the point of view of a former co worker of the people in the elevator. We don't really know why we are hearing her side of the story until we get close to the end.

I thought this novel was a breath of fresh air as I have recently read a number of domestic thrillers that plodded along with a relatively mundane story leading to a reveal that was moderately entertaining. This story was unique and fast moving and I look forward to reading more from this author.

The book starts with a scream inside an office tower, heard by Miguel whose job was to guard the building during his night shift. After calling 911, the police are there, the lobby’s elevator is opened, fires are shot and a pool of blood is displayed!

Synopsis

When four people become trapped in an elevator escape room, things start to go horribly wrong. They have to work together to solve the clues that will release them. But in the confines of the elevator the dark secrets of their team are laid bare.
Tempers fray and the escape room’s clues turn more and more ominous, leaving the four of them dangling on the precipice of disaster. If they want to survive, they’ll have to solve one final puzzle: which one of them is a killer?

One of the many things that really piqued my interest in this book was the cleverly written narrative of Sara Hall – one of the firm’s employees, who eventually becomes frightened by and curious about the mysterious accidents and deaths happening around her and sets on uncovering the secrets of the firm, its elusive and deadly history. And more questions begin to surface: Who should she trust? Who should she not?

The book goes back and forth between the four characters who got stuck inside the elevator, and Sara Hall three months earlier. And in no time we begin to get acquainted with the connection between all five characters.
As time passes, new clues begin to show up in intriguingly various and increasingly challenging ways inside the elevator and Sylvie, Vincent, Jules and Sam have to put their rivalries aside and work together to solve them.
THE ESCAPE ROOM does in a way sound like THE GIRL BEFORE by J. P. Delaney in terms of one of the main characters being introduced to a new work place where – while numerous advantages are being offered to the employees – a highly unhealthy environment exists.
This book kept me entertained from start to finish. It was filled with anxiety-inducing moments, especially as we begin to realize how this terrifying experience really is bringing the worst in these characters.
It’s amazing how the way you feel about these characters might change momentarily. Do they deserve what’s happening to them? Are there secrets about their personal lives that are yet to be discovered?
It finally seems that all of them have a number of demands and feelings bottled up, and it’s under these circumstances that they’re about to re-surface.


However, there is someone other than these five people who holds the clue to everything that’s been happening from the start. So, who is this person? And what consequences will they face?
The author wraps up with a perfect ending, and I think that this book makes up for an absolutely entertaining weekend binge-read that’ll most definitely satisfy fans of psychological thrillers!

I see a lot of mixed reviews on this book and I have to say... I truly don't understand why. This book was great for me.

Goldin has created a realistic setting in New York City that properly portrays the corporate greed that lives within all investment bankers. Readers are immediately pulled into a world of characters being overworked, underappreciated, and overpaid. Everyone is replaceable, and no one is safe. If you think being fired from a 6-7 figure job is the scariest thing a Wall Street banker faces, then The Escape Room plans to prove to you otherwise.

The book is written with varying chapters. Half are from the third person POV of the forever increasingly greedy four (Sylvie, Sam, Jules, and Vincent) stuck in an elevator being used as an escape room in the present. The other half of the book is written from Sara Hall's first person POV in past tense, because Sara is presumably dead. Goldin managed to master switching between these two POVs perfectly so that the reader is never given too much information before needed. Readers are kept in the dark about a lot of things, and slowly Goldin gives us new information in very unique ways.

The characters are all anti-heroes. Even Sara, who is undoubtedly the most conscientious of the five listed characters. I personally found myself always routing for Sara, even before I knew what I came to know... which sounds cryptic, but hey, read the book. Lucy was probably my favorite character overall, even though we don't actually get to read from her own point of view. She's insanely smart, artistic, and real without fail. You'll see.

The story line of this book was amazingly intriguing, making it impossible to want to put down. As a reader you will always be a few steps behind the characters and Goldin, and even if you think you know what's going on... trust me, you don't. It's been a long time since I've been presented with a story that was thrilling in such a "keep me on my toes" kind of way, because I'm usually pretty good at solving whatever mystery there is fairly early into the book. However, there are so many dirty, greedy schemes happening in this corporate setting that even if you solve one puzzle, you'll just be presented with another. Don't worry, it's never too daunting though.

I highly recommend this read if you like thrilling mysteries.

I enjoyed reading The Escape Room and appreciate the opportunity to do so from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. I liked the protagonist, Sara Hall, and found myself rooting for her throughout this highly original story. My only less-than-positive comment about the novel is the frequent POV (point of view) switches between first person, third person and omniscient, in addition to the head hopping from one character to another, often within the same paragraph. For me, that became an unsettling distraction. However, I loved the way the story unfolded, including its satisfying ending. The Escape Room is a fast paced and entertaining thriller.

Wow! This story was high tension from beginning to end! Escape rooms are suppose to be fun, not terror filled. Excellent, I could not put it diwn.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
‘Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.’
I had high hopes for this book, as I love thrillers. But I just couldn’t get into this one. It was a struggle from the lack of character growth to the lack of suspense. I wasn’t wowed by the ending. Just an ok read. Solid 2.5 stars

I love when they don’t see it coming like this! Such a twisted mind to come up with this plot and I ate it up with a spoon! The characters are realistic and the story is just one of the ones that take you on a thrill ride you want to jump right back on and ride again and again! Great book and great reprieve from the hum drum of late. Thanks so much NetGalley!

*3.5 stars*

Financial analysts are creepy people! I write this tongue-in-cheek, having spent several years as a financial analyst, although nowhere near the financial or prestigious stratosphere as the four bankers unwittingly participating into an "escape room" team building exercise. There are terrible things in Vincent, Jules, Sam and Syvlie's past, and all of the skeletons in their closets tumble out as they try to escape.

This is revenge novel, and while most of the characters are truly despicable, we do get two sympathetic folks: fellow analysts Lucy and newcomer Sarah. Much of the story is told from Sarah's perspective, who we're told early on is deceased. The rest of our chapters are with the four bankers trapped in an elevator, as they slowly realize how much trouble they're in.

This isn't my typical read: I'm not that into Wall Street, or the wolfish games of high-stake finance. The concept of an escape room gone horribly wrong was what drew me in, but I found myself engrossed in Sarah's world. She isn't an entirely likable character, but it's easy to understand her motives.

I think the ending happened BEFORE it should have. No spoilers, but I think some of the most interesting repercussions would happen after the last page, so to speak.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

There was never a doubt that I would finish this to discover the ultimate outcome for everyone however, it felt as though I had been reading this book for forever! Not a fast-paced thriller but enjoyable enough to keep my interest throughout.

Wow!! What a drama / suspense filled book. May I add how much I love multiple point of views as well. This book was nicely written and easy to follow . Very fast paced read. There were times my heart would race and I couldn’t stop . Once you got past a climax, you’d have another . Story of greed, money, lust, manipulation .. and revenge. This is a definite must read if you are a fan of any suspense, drama, thriller.
I felt like I was living the life of Sarah Hall and what the immense corporate world of finance and living with money felt like for the few hours I was reading this.

This book was very captivating. I was hooked from the first chapter. Five starts. I enjoyed the characters and the story so very much.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
In the world of Wall Street banking, money comes before everything and the Stanhope bankers in this book don't care who they hurt to get ahead. But after a couple deals fall through, they are invited to an escape room challenge to promote teamwork. It takes place in an elevator and as the conditions worsen and personalities clash, the truth about a co-workers' death comes out.
This book was pretty good. I liked the chapters about Sara Hall, and the alternating chapters between her story in the past and the events on the elevator made it more interesting. I thought the story lagged a bit in the middle, but the exciting ending made up for it.

Fast paced plot, but occasionally interspersed with a firehose of background information. Loved the alternating narrators/perspectives, though I didn’t necessarily like the characters. Interesting setting that somehow works perfectly with the story.

I retain advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This one was creepy and not in a good way. The characters are pretty stock for a finance thriller and no one really captivated in a believable way. You can skip it. 2.5 rounded up.

The Escape Room is the story of how greed and the need for power turns people against each other. The team of people at the firm in the book work tirelessly to close deals and make money, sacrificing everything to remain among the rich and elite. The story is told from two perspectives: the four long time employees from the firm who are participating in an escape room exercise and the woman who had recently joined the firm. As the two stories slowly come together it becomes clear everyone is hiding something and perhaps no one can be trusted. A solid thriller with a unique setting and surprise ending.

Escape Rooms are all the rage nowadays. Work together, solve the clues before your time is up, free yourself from the room.
In Escape Room we follow 4 main characters as they are tricked into what they think is a team-building exercise, but is actually a clever ploy by someone who wants them to pay for what they’ve done.

I really enjoyed this book. Alternating between the past, and the ‘escape room’ we come to learn the sordid details each character wants to keep to themselves. And start to unravel the mystery that has them trapped.

"The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don't want to do." (Gordon Gekko)

Megan Goldin takes us on a whirlwind ride through the financial district of ol' New York City. She sees to it that we're immersed in the ruthless, highly competitive, cynical behavior of the rich and the powerful. Stepping over the threshold to ride the money train falls to the ticketed and certainly not to the unfortunate ticketless.

Sara Hall stares down at the golden seal on her recent MBA from Chicago. Youthful ambition may only get you a cup of coffee in this town. Sara ratchets up debt on her credit card in order to purchase the almighty "interview suit" for her meeting in New York. Didn't go well at all. But it's place and timing that gets your foot in the door. Vincent de Vries spots her in an elevator after her dud of an interview and extends his card from Stanhope and Sons. It is this mere gesture of an employment opportunity that will start a wrecking ball of giant unstoppable proportions.

Hang onto your hats, Folks. We've entered into Dante's Inferno.

Sara signs on the dotted line and so begins her career at Stanhope as an investment banker. Vincent, a former military man from Holland, introduces her to The Team: Sylvie, a former teen model who knows the business world, Jules, the lawyer with liquor on his lips, and Sam, cash-strapped by an ill-tempered wife. Later, we'll meet Lucy, an autistic financial wizard whose white noise in the background may start a tsunami of things that go bump in the night.

Four members of The Team have been called to an unexpected Friday night meeting. Each individual eyes the others as it's time for the Bonus wheel to start spinning. Who gets what and exactly how will the fruits of their labors be divided? As the elevator zooms to the upper floors, it stops suddenly and everything goes dark. The Team interprets this as a team-building activity as "clues" come to light. But as hours pass by in the oppressive compartment, The Team talons will come out to play.

The Escape Room has drawn out my Gemini proclivity. On one side, I fell head first into the fast-paced drama and electrically charged storyline. The chapters revert back and forth from Sara Hall to the goings-on in that darkened elevator. A true page turner on steroids. The literary side of me was perplexed by a constant onslaught of inserted information and explanations that tended to bog down the flow with two steps forward and one step back. I was getting squirmy each time we had to go back inside that elevator with those cold-blooded individuals. But, like me, you have to know. You have to know.......And the ending will ricochet with a one-way ticket picking up hot coals in that ol' Inferno.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Megan Goldin for the opportunity.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced read in exchange for this review. 

This is one of those books where you read the synopsis and you still have no idea what is going to happen.  Vincent, Sylvie, Sam, and Jules work on Wall Street finance where deception and intimidation thrive.  They will do anything to get rich and be at the top.  They are ordered to participate in a team building exercise where they have to escape from a locked elevator.  Secrets begin to leak out.  Do they truth each other enough to escape?  Also, what happened to Sara Hall, one of the top, young prospects who disappeared?

A wild and thrilling read that's unpredictable.  I won't say too much about this because not knowing is part of the fun!

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.

There are two sections of this book and you have no idea how the two sections of the story are related right away but I enjoyed both of the sections. There was a big twist that I didn't see coming and there's a lot of interesting psychological stuff going on that you can't help but wonder if money really is everything.

Thanks to #Netgalley and #StMartin'sPress for the ARC of #TheEscapeRoom