Count this one as an emotional roller-coaster. For openers, it's the first book in a long time that's held my attention so well that I simply had to finish it in one day (almost in one sitting). Wow - can't wait to find out how it ends, I kept muttering to myself as I hurried along. Then I got there. And it felt as if I'd smacked into a brick wall. Let me start at the beginning, with a prologue in which a night shift guard in a building not yet open to the public hears noises and what he fears were gunshots coming from an elevator. The cops rush in with weapons at the ready, and when the elevator doors open, there's no mistaking the gunshots. There's no further explanation; the scene shifts to the first chapter, in which readers are taken back to 34 hours earlier as investment firm higher-ups Vincent, Sylvie, Sam and Jules have been ordered to meet at the aforementioned vacant building to take part in an "escape room challenge." They've all been worried about losing their jobs, and they're sure the outcome of the challenge will seal the future of their employment.
Switch then to the story of Sara Hall, a recent MBA grad who's having trouble landing a job and barely making ends meet with a waitressing job. Resume in hand after leaving another unsuccessful interview, she gets into an elevator with Vincent, who eyeballs the resume (and her) and inexplicably offers her an interview at his firm. Of course, she says yes - and after a rather grueling series of interviews, the firm says yes to her. Thus begins an even more grueling job so high-stress that it leaves precious little time for anything resembling a personal life.
Then it's back to the elevator saga; by now, it's clear that the elevator itself is the "room" from which they must, as a team, figure out how to escape. The elevator zooms up to the building's 70th floor, where it stalls with doors locked, lights off and a digital readout on a wall to provide occasional clues. As one might suspect, the longer the "team" is involuntarily sequestered with no resolution to their dilemma, the more the ties that bound them together will start to unravel.
As the story and tension among the stranded employees escalates, readers learn much more about the firm, each of the team members (plus a few other key employees) and, of course, Sara. As I alluded to earlier, my excitement built up page by page as well; I swear my Kindle-swiping finger developed a callous in my hurry to get to the end. But even amid the constant excitement, the last few chapters - pages in which my suspicions turned out to be pretty much spot-on - were a rush to the finish that made me feel like I was in that elevator during a free-fall. And although the who and why were revealed, the how simply defied credibility.
So what's my verdict? Well, I cannot in good conscience bash any book that is so well written that I literally was unable to put it down. Besides that, I'm sure not everyone will share my dismay over the ending (pre-release reviews in large part have been positive). That said, neither can I give it a rave review; so 4 stars is my compromise. I do, however, thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy. Quite a heady experience!
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin (St. Martin's Press, July 2019); 361 pp.
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