Review: THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin 
Published by St. Martin's Press on July 30, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
THE ESCAPE ROOM Review
Megan Goldin’s The Escape Room is a suspenseful thriller and just an all around wild ride. It follows four Wall Street investment bankers, Sylvie, Vincent, Sam, and Jules, who are called into the office unexpectedly after hours to participate in what is apparently a mandatory team building activity. Accustomed to working in an environment that is competitive to the point of being cutthroat, everyone is surprised and more than a little annoyed to be forced to take part in this activity. What’s even more surprising, however, is the activity itself, which is one of those Escape Rooms that are so popular now and that it takes place with them locked in an elevator together.
The clues presented in the elevator are intensely personal and appear designed to get the colleagues to turn against one another. No matter what they do and how many clues they work together to solve, the elevator doors remain locked. What do they have to do to escape what is fast becoming a claustrophobic prison and who is Sara Hall and why does her name appear in one of their clues?
Because this is a thriller I don’t want to say too much more about the plot itself except that it obviously becomes so much more than just a simple Escape Room. The characters themselves weren’t especially likeable or easy to relate to, which could have made this a challenging read for me since I do usually prefer to feel some kind of connection to the characters I’m reading about, but the story itself was so riveting that even with unlikeable characters, I still couldn’t stop turning the pages. The writing was crisp, fast-paced, and uses a dual timeline structure to advance the plot and eventually reveal what exactly is going on, who is responsible, and most importantly, why it was done. I did guess correctly on a couple of things early on in the book, so that was a little disappointing, but overall I still found this a very entertaining read.
If you’re looking for a suspenseful read that is a compulsive page turner, look no further than Megan Goldin’s The Escape Room.
GOODREADS 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.
About Megan Goldin
Megan Goldin was a journalist before she became a writer. She reported from the Middle East for the Associated Press, Reuters, the (Australian) ABC and other news outlets. She worked in Asia as a reporter and editor for Reuters and Yahoo!. She is the author of The Escape Room, which will be released in the U.S. and UK in 2019, and The Girl In Kellers Way.
A really useful review – this one has been getting some mixed reactions… I’m glad you found it a real page-turner, as the fact that there are no really likeable characters would have been a dealbreaker for me.
Yes, I was actually a little surprised that there weren’t really any likable characters at all.
This sounds like a movie!
I actually think it would make a pretty good movie!
Most of the reviews I’ve read for this book are similar to yours. It was pretty good but not outstanding. For that reason I’ll probably put this on the backburner for now.😊
Yes, it was good but I’ve definitely read better thrillers.
Your review makes this sound like a page turner! I agree that it’d be challenging to read about characters that aren’t especially likable, but the plot would definitely be one to keep me turning the pages to find out what happens next!
Yes, if the plot hadn’t been as gripping as it was, I really would have struggled more with not liking the characters.
I am a sucker for a thriller and this one does sound like it would be a good one. Great review. Hopefully my library will carry it. 🙂
I hope you enjoy it when you read it!
I only pick up thrillers now and then, usually when one seems to really stand out and catch my eye. This one sounds interesting but ultimately nothing too unique or exiting. I’ll probably pass on this one but it does sound like an interesting concept.
Having the whole book set in an elevator is probably the most unique thing about it, but I agree that there are better thrillers out there, especially for someone who doesn’t read them often.
This sounds scary. Like Angela said, this does sound like it could make a great movie. I haven’t heard of this author so thanks for sharing her book. I’ll check her out on GoodReads. Hope your summer is going great!
I think it would make for a great film too.
I was hoping to get to this ARC in July so I had to push it to August! Too bad the characters weren’t relatable. Glad to hear it was still unputdownable!
It’s an interesting one. I think it would actually make a great movie the more I think about it. I hope you enjoy it!