Megan Goldin | THE ESCAPE ROOM

Plot (via Goodreads):

In the lucrative world of finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are at the top of their game. They’ve mastered the art of the deal and celebrate their success in style―but a life of extreme luxury always comes at a cost.

Invited to participate in an escape room challenge as a team-building exercise, the ferociously competitive co-workers crowd into the elevator of a high-rise building, eager to prove themselves. But when the lights go off and the doors stay shut, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary competition: they’re caught in a dangerous game of survival.

Trapped in the dark, the colleagues must put aside their bitter rivalries and work together to solve cryptic clues to break free. But as the game begins to reveal the team’s darkest secrets, they realize there’s a price to be paid for the terrible deeds they committed in their ruthless climb up the corporate ladder. As tempers fray, and the clues turn deadly, they must solve one final chilling puzzle: which one of them will kill in order to survive?

Review:

The Escape Room is the debut novel of Megan Goldin and this one has been all over Bookstagram for months. I believe there was still snow on the ground when I received my copy of this summer thriller that promised to stun me and leave me breathless - and did it ever.

Initially when I read the synopsis to this one, I was a little concerned that this "corporate thriller" might go over my head, but Goldin has this admirable way of telling this story that explained all of the details that I needed without going too far and yet still had me wondering if I was putting the pieces together properly. With its terrifying and jaw-dropping prologue, I was completely riveted in this story and found myself feverishly flying through the pages. I was not only curious, but a little apprehensive about how I could read a 300+ page novel about four people stuck in an elevator, but have no fear because this one features....dual timelines! Not only do we get a look into the elevator as our four main characters begin to slowly but surely lose their cool, but we get an effective look into another woman who has worked with them. The contrast between the two timelines not only kept me invested, but made this one nearly impossible to put down.

While the characters in this novel weren't necessarily likable for obvious reasons, I found that they were written brilliantly. To make my little casting collage that I like to do for my reviews within the first 50 pages is what I call some fantastic character building. These are characters we see throughout different spectacles in the work place, during a panic-inducing "escape room", and through each others eyes. This made the story soar for me and left me begging for more page after page. Now, I can't say much about the rest of this without hinting at some major spoilers, but let me just say one thing - about halfway through Goldin really kicks things up about ten notches and I was well over my head within this brilliant story. I didn't even care what the ending would hold, I just loved the journey in getting there - but, once I finished that final page, I was stunned and speechless. One of the most shocking things? This is a debut novel.

Special thanks to St. Martins Press for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5