The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

The elements of a very good mystery or thriller are there, and the book takes us into the greed-filled, dog-eat-dog underbelly of the financial world in New York City, which was very interesting to experience. The setting seemed incredibly real, and it was clear the author either had experience within the world of finance or had done her research, or both. Plus, the book has a great title and hook for a thriller. 

Unfortunately, this almost seemed like an early draft to me, and it made me wish there had been much more rigor during the revision process, so that exposition was trimmed to the essentials, and whatever was left was woven into the action or conveyed through dialogue. There were large portions of exposition or backstory in this that seems like the type of thing that you might see when a writer is first jotting down ideas, without yet finding a way to bring them to life. And while the main character, Sara, and a supporting character, Lucy, were very specific and well-defined, the other characters seem to fall a bit flat.

The book’s summary: In the lucrative world of Wall Street finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam are the ultimate high-flyers. Ruthlessly ambitious, they make billion-dollar deals and live lives of outrageous luxury. Getting rich is all that matters, and they'll do anything to get ahead. When the four of them become trapped in an elevator escape room, things start to go horribly wrong. They have to put aside their fierce office rivalries and work together to solve the clues that will release them. But in the confines of the elevator, the dark secrets of their team are laid bare, leaving the four of them dangling on the precipice of disaster. If they want to survive, they’ll have to solve one final puzzle: which one of them is a killer?

This summary sounds amazing, but I wish that the story had fully lived up to its promise. For me, this book would be closer to a 2.5. Still, it was a fun read, and I think the author has a lot of potential to write great thrillers as she grows in her craft.