The Escape Room
Ratings56
Average rating3.5
I strongly suspect that the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because we all have worked in a soul-sucking company and have to put up with hostility, gaslighting, sexism and career sabotage. We rarely get to act on our fantasies of burning it all to the ground together with all the people who made work life a misery for us.
That's The Escape Room in a nutshell. Four ruthless investment bankers found themselves tricked into an escape room scenario in an elevator. Faced with clues that alluded to people who were once part of their team, their secrets boiled to the surface as they tried to solve the mystery of getting out of the room and who could have possibly set them up to this slow torture of each other's company.
This book was easy to read and hard to put down. While it required the type of suspension of belief that you need to watch most movies, there was satisfaction in watching deserving individuals get their comeuppance with no clue where it's coming from. Revenge is a dish best serve cold indeed.
ARC courtesy of NetGalley.
Now this was a fun book. I read it in a day and a half. All the characters were interesting and easy to keep apart. Original idea, well executed. Highly recommend for an easy read.
I have been meaning to read a Megan Goldin book for a while, especially because I have two, and I am really glad I finally got to this one! It was definitely exactly what I needed after last month's reading slump, where it took me over ten days to read Lie To Me. I chose this book off my shelf because I was hoping it would be fast paced and exciting and it delivered on both of those premises. The only thing I had a problem with was the ending, it just wrapped everything up way too fast and felt a little unbelievable, especially because the whole book prior felt somewhat plausible. Overall, I had a really good time with this and will be reading Megan Goldin's other books soon.
To begin with, The Escape Room is about these four workers, who work in one of the most prestigious finance firms on Wall Street. They get called to do an escape room challenge in order to bond more as co-workers and soon realize that the elevator they all got on is indeed the escape room. But who is behind this cryptic activity and what can possibly transpire in such tight confines? I thought that this plot was unique enough. The only other book I read that was similar to this one in terms of plot was The Firm and I didn't like that one much. I thought the pacing was a lot better in this one and I was hooked from the very first page. I liked how it went between the four co-workers being stuck in the elevator in the present day and then an ex-coworker's perspective of how she ended up where she did, I thought that was really well done. However, the ending felt completely rushed and whereas the pacing was on point up until the end, the conclusion completely flew off the handle and gave me a bit of a whiplash. I just thought that it was somewhat unbelievable and I felt really unsatisfied, especially because there weren't any huge revelations, only maybe one.
Further on, the characterization definitely stands out to me in this novel. Everyone who works in this firm is messed-up, to the very core- complicated and I was here for it. I loved just how despicable these people were and how far they were willing to go to ultimately get what they wanted. I feel like many authors shy away from really going there and committing but not in this case. For this reason alone, I will be checking out the other novels by this author and I can't wait. I felt like I got a look into their souls and there's not much more than I can ask for in that aspect.
Finally, the writing was my favorite kind. The thing I look for most in my writing style, when I am reading my favorite thrillers, is that the writing flow and it definitely did in this book. I raced through this book because the pages basically flipped themselves and I found myself not being able to put the book down. Also, the chapters were really short and that also helped tremendously in keeping my attention and interest as I rushed to get to the ending and the conclusion of this creative plot.
In conclusion, even though this book isn't a favorite thriller of all time for me, it did pull me out of my reading slump and I couldn't put it down. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a really fast-paced thriller, where you don't really find out what's going on until the very end. It gave me the same vibe as No Exit did, although in this case you don't find out who the bad guy is early on in the book, which was my issue with No Exit. If you're looking for an exciting read, I'd say give this one a try!
I rather enjoyed the Wall Street drama, though i was hoping the Escape Room would play a larger role.
I liked the switching narrative between the group and Sarah, although it definitely made the plot points easier to predict. Which I feel is a big loss in this genre. You lose a lot of necessary steam in Thrillers if you can see what is coming.
I enjoyed the read. It was a slow burn but kept you interested in the solution. It was a little predictable. I like that the "clues" in the elevator did not give it all away. The captives slowly figured out why they were targeted. There was one surprise at the end. Vincent survived. What happened to him? The story could have been cut 20% to speed up and an epilogue of what happened to Vincent.
This was a great read. Even though some parts were predictable it certainly kept me on my toes. I did not want to put this one down. Absolutely loved the ending. I haven't read a financial thriller before. I'm sure the realities of Wall Street are very similar to how they are portrayed here. I will be looking forward to reading another book by this author.
[b:The Escape Room 41150380 The Escape Room Megan Goldin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539265141l/41150380.SY75.jpg 60014954] Clever ReadFirst off, I want to thank NetGalley the publisher and Megan Goldin for putting out such a clever thriller. I read tons of thrillers and this one is one of the better ones written this year. I could have finished this in a day. I stretched this out into two. The story is written in the perspective of the narrator and the coworkers that she worked with. It is seamlessly written that you do not want to put the book down. You finish one section or scenario and you want to keep going until it is fully completed. Next thing you know you are still awake finishing yet another chapter. The book was suspenseful yet light making it a fun fast read. If you are looking for a suspenseful and unique storyline this book is for sure for you. A solid four stars from me.
What an incredible book!?!? I devoured this title in about 3 hours as I simply COULD NOT put it down. A new author for me, I was interested after catching that it was recommended by Lee Child and OMG am I glad I did. Megan Goldin surely has herself a new fan! I truly could not put this book down - kept me on the edge of my seat from page one!
The story takes us through Sara Hall's point of view, a recent MBA graduate a few months out of school and still looking for work. A random encounter in an elevator after the worst interview of her life leads her to her big chance to break into Wall Street Finance.
We also follow four executives participating in a required corporate team building exercise that has them trying to escape a locked elevator. When nerves start to flare and everyone ends up on edge, the real answers start to come out... secrets shared, faults uncovered and a murderer exposed.
HIGHLY recommended and I'll surely be back for more from this author!