The Escape Room by Megan Goldin | Spoiler Free ARC Review

Title: The Escape Room
Author: Megan Goldin
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
Genre(s): Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Source: NetGalley, Overdrive
Pages: 368
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Synopsis

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.

Review:

*Huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.*

I want to preface my review by saying, I didn’t read the synopsis. I seldom do for thrillers as I never want to risk anything being given away.

That being said, I was distinctly disappointed at the lack of escape room from this book. I LOVE escape rooms and I thought the movie from earlier this year was *okay,* but I was really excited to see this trend brought into the book world. Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoyed the story, but it just didn’t go ANYTHING like what I thought I was getting into.

—>characters<—

Sara Hall – The fresh face of Stanhope learning the politics of the office.

Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam – Highly competitive members on Stanhope willing to put just about everything on the line for their success.

–>plot<–

Told in dual perspectives, this book follows Sara as she is acclimated to the Stanhope and thrust into the competition. Sara finds herself financially stable, yet working insane hours to meet the demand of the location. Sara befriends Lucy, a socially awkward girl (later learning that she’s on the ASD spectrum) who is the brains behind the Stanhope team. Lucy and Sara are not to disclose their friendship at work, due to Lucy not wanting it out in the open. As the book goes on, Sara learns more about the cost of the job than she expected.

The other perspective is that of Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam in the elevator. They are told they must attend a team-building workshop and arrive at a worksite after hours. All hesitant to participate, the four agree to show up as they think it’s what’s needed to advance their careers. Once in the elevator, they’re brought to the 70th floor before the elevator’s lights turn off, heat is cranked, and all cell reception is non-existent. With nothing but a cryptic clue as to why they’re there, the four must solve the clues and take some skeletons out of their closet to survive.

Like I said, this book did not do what I was expecting it to do at all, but boy was I on the edge of my seat. Learning more about the slimy underbelly of this corporate company and watching these characters throw their peers off the rungs to climb the ladder was so compelling. As someone that’s currently strapped for cash, watching people literally kill themselves for 6-figure bonuses is quite compelling.

This book does discuss some dark topics including suicide, murder, sexual assault/harassment, drug use, death of a parent, chronically ill parent, if any of these topics are things you’ve experienced, go into this book with caution.

Final Thoughts:

Escape room was not about an escape room. However, it was a raw look at the skeezy side to corporate jobs and how much people really will give up to be on top. While I thought the ending was a bit lack-luster, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book and it is one I will still recommend to others. It just missed the 4-star mark for me but was a wild ride and quick read nonetheless. Oh and the audiobook is a great way to consume this story! It really adds to the suspense!

Rating: