Melissa reviews THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin, St. Martin’s Press, 2018, 356 pages.
Escape rooms serve plenty of purposes. They test people’s endurance, challenge their critical thinking skills and motivate them with the singular goal of winning. But if the goal in question is “getting out alive,” one can’t help but wonder if the escape room has become a hunt for the most dangerous game.
Despite living extravagant, decadent lifestyles that come with being members of the Wall Street elite, our four protagonists’ mutual distrust for each other threatens to sever the connection built on narcissism, greed and their eager willingness to crush anyone who gets in their way.. The majority of the book takes place in an elevator where we get to know our main players: Jules, a wise-cracking, alcoholic lawyer recovering from a brutal divorce; Sylvie, a former teen model whose beauty and brains have been a blessing for her career and a curse for her love life; Sam, whose all-American looks and personality have gained the trust of many clients and investors; and Vincent, whose pragmatic thinking and experience as a former lieutenant in the Hague has made him the de facto leader of the team.
When the elevator shuts down and traps them all inside, the coworkers are given a series of clues that get more personal as time moves forward. In thirty-four hours, everything that was buried, covered up or erased is pulled to the surface and everyone is willing to make sure that what happens in the elevator stays in the elevator–permanently.
Megan Goldin dedicated The Escape Room to “everyone who has been made to feel powerless, trampled upon, and scorned.”
I would like to dedicate this book to those who fail to understand that karma can, and will, come for you when you least expect it.