One of the best books I've read this year. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read the ARC.

This book revolves around 4 Wall Street investment bankers - Vincent, Sylvie, Sam and Jules. They all work at the firm of Stanhope & Son. They put in grueling hours and have had to work on holidays and not be able to go on vacations with family because work comes first.

When the 4 of them get a message that they have to attend a team-building, they all go. When they arrive, they get in the elevator to be delivered to their escape room team-building challenge. They quickly realize that the elevator is their escape room.

The book is written by alternating stories. One is the escape room and the other story is of Sara Hall, an employee of Stanhope who has died. The book is very well-written and pretty intense. I really, really liked this book and highly recommend it. ( )

Thriller

They work at Stanhope and Sons on Wall Street! It’s the weekend. They each have plans. Plans that do not include an out-of-the-way office building in the South Bronx. When the meeting invite comes from HR, and your team lead uses the word compulsory in a follow-up text, there is only one thing to do. Attend. That is how Sylvie, Sam, and Jules came to meet Vincent that Friday night. As a greeting, the words out of Vincent’s mouth seemed inconceivable. This isn’t a meeting. It’s a challenge. An escape-room challenge. Vincent predicted an hour of their time, and a week before bonus day seemed a smart move for all. However, not even Vincent knew the challenge would begin as the elevator doors closed.

After reading "Stay Awake," I had to read more of the author’s writing and learned "The Escape Room was her debut novel. WoW! Following the Prologue, the chapters alternate between The Elevator and Sara Hall. Sara Hall didn’t receive an invite to attend the challenge. Who is Sara Hall? What an interruption! I’m anxious to return to the suspense in the elevator. Why do I need to meet Sara Hall? To borrow another title, "Stay Awake!" Expect the unexpected—the build of suspense. The author has an answer for you. Twists never even possibilities in my thoughts as the elevator doors closed.

Don’t miss adding Megan Goldin’s novels to your #mustread list! Without a doubt, I’ll be reading more of her writing. ( )

This alternates between chapters in the past, from Sara Hall's perspective, and chapters in the present. Sara's chapters show how she became an employee at Stanhope, a big investment firm. The chapters in the present focus on four Stanhope employees, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam, who have been told to take part in a mandatory team-building exercise, an escape room. They all reluctantly agree to do it because they know their positions at Stanhope are currently precarious, but as they enter an elevator and the lights go out, it's clear that there's something fishy about this assignment. What connection do the employees trapped in the elevator have to Sara Hall, and who's behind their supposed escape room invitation?

I found this on a list somewhere that called it a "locked room mystery." Er, it's not. It does end up reading something like a mystery - you gradually discover that bad things have happened to several people connected to Stanhope, and Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam seem to be involved somehow - but there's nothing "locked room" about it. A thriller/mystery in which a bunch of people are trapped in an elevator doesn't automatically make it a locked room mystery.

Anyway, the initial setup was interesting, but also deceiving. Technically, the story doesn't include an escape room exercise, even though that's what Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam think they're going to be doing and that's how it's initially presented. They do get a few clues and puzzles they have to work out, but if you're looking for a thriller/mystery featuring an escape room, you'll probably be disappointed.

This is more of a workplace story. Sara went into business and finance because she figured it'd be a way for her to earn more money earlier in her career - an enticing prospect since both of her parents have health problems and she knew she'd be supporting them financially at some point in the near future. Unfortunately for her, getting her first job was more difficult than she expected. Her interview outfit alone was more than she could afford, and even when she finally got hired at Stanhope, she still had to buy a new wardrobe so she'd fit in.

At every step, trying to earn more money seemed to involve spending even more money, and Goldin certainly presented it as a vicious and addictive cycle. Even Sara found herself getting caught up in it. Sure, she was earning enough money to help her parents out, but Stanhope was taking up so much of her time that her chances of actually visiting her parents when she wanted or needed to weren't great.

Early on, readers learn that, at some point, Sara Hall will end up dead. The portions of the book in the present take place several years after her death, and one of the things that kept me glued to the story was the mystery of what happened to Sara. Initially, I thought that her boss (Vincent - yes, elevator Vincent) might've recruited her for suspicious reasons, or maybe she committed suicide after the ridiculous workload got to her.

I won't spoil things, but I will say that Goldin probably dragged the mysteries on a little longer than necessary. I found myself getting impatient during the last hundred or so pages, waiting for the pace to pick up. There just weren't enough new things going on in the elevator or new revelations from Sara's past.

As for the ending...I guess all the pieces fit together, and it technically worked out due a few conveniently timed events. But I don't know that it really worked for me. That said, at least I finally got to see things fall apart for several of the Worst People, although by that point I really wanted to see Stanhope itself fall, and sadly Goldin didn't go that far.

Overall, this was an okay read that would have been better if it had picked up the pace and wrapped up sooner. Also, I wish the escape room element had been a lot stronger. Still, I'd definitely be willing to try another book by Goldin.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Heel spannend verhaal. Ook wel goed uitgewerkt en bedacht.
Sara Hall kan eindelijk een baan vinden en nog wel bij een zeer succesvol investeringsbureau op Wall Street. Hier heeft ze heel lang baar gezocht nadat ze haar studie had voltooid. Ze wordt toegevoegd aan het team van Vincent de Vries. Dat team bestaat uit Sam, Jules en Sylvie en Lucy een bedeesd maar briljante IT-specialiste. Maar Sara voelt zich, net als Lucy, een buitenbeentje in het team. Als Lucy een grootschalige fraude door de 4 leden ontdekt, deelt ze deze kennis met Sara, met wie ze inmiddels bevriend is geraakt. Als Lucy onder verdachte omstandigheden overlijdt, wil Sara wraak op de rest van haar team die ze ervan verdenkt de hand te hebben gehad aan Lucy's dood. ( )