06/03/2019
Australian author Goldin makes her debut with a riveting, if flawed, tale of greed and revenge set on Wall Street. After being called to an out-of-office meeting, four investment bankers from the Stanhope and Sons firm are trapped in an elevator on their way to an escape room challenge organized by their company. They realize that the elevator itself is the escape room when they start to receive increasingly more personal puzzles to solve on the elevator’s TV monitor. Meanwhile, in flashbacks, recent hire Sara Hall becomes indoctrinated into the firm’s culture of long hours and incredible pay. When a coworker dies, Sara wonders whether foul play was involved. Though both plots start off strong, the elevator narrative slows as it waits for Sara’s story to catch up. Lucky flukes and coincidences stretch credulity, and the unlikability of those targeted for revenge lessens the scheme’s impact. But these shortcomings aren’t fatal. Thriller fans will eagerly turn the pages to see what happens next. 150,000-copy announced first printing. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company. (Aug.)
Praise for The Escape Room:
“The pages turn themselves…THE ESCAPE ROOM delivers all that it promises. It is a sleek, well-crafted ride to a surprisingly twisty conclusion.” —New York Times Book Review
“THE ESCAPE ROOM works as the ultimate locked-room mystery…Goldin excels at illustrating the pressures of a Wall Street career.” —Associated Press
"Addicting." —Time Magazine
“There is clearly no happy ending likely for the four colleagues trapped inside [the escape room]; but fans of JP Delany and Ruth Ware will want to be right in there with them…a nail-biting tale of a corporate team-building exercise gone horribly wrong.” —Booklist
“Cancel all your plans and call in sick; once you start reading, you'll be caught in your own escape room—the only key to freedom is turning the last page!” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Riveting…[a] tale of greed and revenge set on Wall Street…Thriller fans will eagerly turn the pages to see what happens next.” —Publishers Weekly
“A shrewd, brilliantly structured thriller doubling as a takedown of corporate culture.” —Shelf Awareness
"High wire tension from the first moment to the last. Four ruthless people locked in a deadly game where victory means survival. Gripping and unforgettable!" —Harlan Coben
"Fantastic. One of my favorite books of the year." —Lee Child
"Amazing...a thriller set in an elevator [that explores] the vast territory of people's worst natures. A nightmarish look inside ourselves. Simply riveting." —Louise Penny
“A sharp, slick, utterly engrossing thriller. This knockout debut hooked me from the first page and didn’t let go.” —Cristina Alger, USA Today bestselling author of The Banker’s Wife
“Smart and compelling... I devoured this novel!” —Karen Cleveland, bestselling author of Need to Know
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03/01/2019
In this debut thriller, four hyper-competitive Wall Streeters rush to a meeting at corporate headquarters on a weekend eve and are thrown into a team-building exercise requiring escape from a locked elevator. But the exercise isn't what it seems, and soon dark secrets—and blood—are spilling.
★ 2019-05-12
Four people answer an ominous summons from human resources only to be deliberately trapped in an elevator in Goldin's debut thriller.
In the highflying world of finance, Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie used to be superstars, but recently they've failed to close too many lucrative deals, and they know their jobs are hanging by a thread. Called to a Friday evening meeting at an office building under construction, they become trapped in the steel elevator, which has been rigged to emulate an escape room. If they solve the clues, perhaps they can find their way out. At first, they assume it's just the worst team-building exercise ever—but the clues point them toward a much darker possibility. How much do they know about the deaths of two young associates? Will they be able to solve the mystery and escape—or is the whole system rigged against them? There's a Spanish proverb used by Tana French in The Likeness: " 'Take what you want and pay for it,' says God." The main characters in Goldin's novel should probably have paid more attention to the second half of that saying. Powerful, attractive, and unbelievably wealthy, they truly believe that their security and success are worth protecting at any cost. Despite the unsavory characters—or perhaps even because of them—this novel is pure entertainment. Offering a modern take on the classic locked-room mystery, Goldin strings the reader along by alternating chapters set in the past and in the present and by peppering the present chapters with riddles and word games. This is a commentary on the cutthroat, hypocritical world of finance, where one must sacrifice everything to stay on top. It provides us with antagonists we love to hate as well as a sympathetic heroine who pays the ultimate price for survival: her own sense of goodness and fair play.
Cancel all your plans and call in sick; once you start reading, you'll be caught in your own escape room—the only key to freedom is turning the last page!
Two storylines unfold in alternate chapters in this twisty psychological thriller on audio. The first features Sara Hall and is convincingly narrated by January LaVoy. An ambitious finance graduate, Sara gets the job of her dreams at an investment bank and seems at first to be doing well. The second storyline, narrated by Ramon De Ocampo, with LaVoy handling some of the voices, involves four fiercely competitive colleagues who are forced to participate in a team-building exercise in an elevator. When the doors shut and the lights go off, it's soon clear that this is no benign game: They’re fighting for survival. But who is victim, and who is culprit? As each chapter reveals more clues, any illusions about the motives of these bankers vanishes. This audiobook will keep listeners hooked right through the clever ending. L.W.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
