Synopsis:

In Megan Goldin’s unforgettable debut, The Escape Room, four young Wall Street rising stars discover the price of ambition when an escape room challenge turns into a lethal game of revenge.

Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.

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 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?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He was a sharp-faced lawyer from the risk and regulatory team, who needled me until I felt like a pincushion.

 

Two men followed me into the elevator, deep in conversation. “There’s no way that I’m getting married until I’m forty. Between you and me, my future wife is probably still in elementary school,” said the guy with short blond hair while looking at my ass as if he were analyzing a financial chart.

 

Jules was a gossip. He loved getting information and then spreading it around to see what would happen. Jules was like a kid poking a stick into an ant nest to see how the ants responded.

 

“You’re not very good at hearing the word no, are you?” I said, pushing his hand off Sylvie. “She was trying very politely to let you down easy. You’re not her type. You’re at least ten years too old and thirty pounds too heavy. Plus, you’re at least two inches too short. Probably in more than one department.”

 

My Review:

 

What a nest of vipers! I grew to deeply despise 95% of these characters – they were vile and among the worst humanity has to offer. This was a tautly written and slowly evolving tale of greed, corruption, fraud, murder, and the ultimate revenge and retribution. Written in multiple POV and sliding timelines, it took me a few beats to catch on to Ms. Goldin’s unique yet compelling writing style.   Her storylines were populated with intriguing and original characters that weren’t at all endearing yet they held and provoked my curiosity and demanded my attention.   I may need to start burying cash in the backyard, as I want to pull all my investment accounts, pronto!