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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I liked the book very much but it's not about an escape room.
What happens when 4 assholes get trapped in an elevator under the guise of an escape room? A roller-coaster of a book. There’s not much more I can say without spoiling things but I tore through this in one sitting. Very well done and satisfying ending.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
Honestly a little disappointed with the kind of anticlimactic ending, but I was so entertained throughout that I had to give it 5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
I really liked the build up in this, the two plot lines, the interesting twists and turns! The ending was a little unrealistic but I liked it!
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I saw a review of this book that said it was "utter bananas" and I have to agree. But I also read this entire book in one day, so that's a testament to at least being a very fun kind of bananas.
The book is told through two vectors: Sara, a recent MBA recipient with dreams of joining the top tier of Wall Street, and four prominent investment bankers trapped in an elevator. We follow Sara's slow rise and inevitable fall (just like an elevator - ha!), which aligns with every psychological thriller on the market (if you read a lot of psychological thrillers, you'll know exactly what this means). But then we have the elevator. It's really such a clever idea, revealing the basic outline of the ending for our elevator crew in a weirdly lengthy prologue involving a character who is important for exactly nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the elevator scenes themselves unfold dramatically and believably (at least based on what Sara tells us of these characters). It was such a fun read, compulsory.
My only critiques have to do with logistics. The real reason for the drama comes in very late in the game and very suddenly, making it a little less believable. The perspectives of our elevator characters fluctuate a lot. It doesn't quite feel like omniscience, so every shift from one character's head to another's is a little jarring. I also had some questions about the passage of time; it was unclear just how much time was passing between the events in Sara's vector, and a lot of things felt rushed or sudden but were actually simply years apart, which probably ought to be clarified. When Sara starts talking in terms of years instead of weeks, I was a little bit lost.
All in all, this is a fun ride. There's a really nice balance of psychological thriller with Sara and the tension and fear in the elevator.
I saw a review of this book that said it was "utter bananas" and I have to agree. But I also read this entire book in one day, so that's a testament to at least being a very fun kind of bananas.
The book is told through two vectors: Sara, a recent MBA recipient with dreams of joining the top tier of Wall Street, and four prominent investment bankers trapped in an elevator. We follow Sara's slow rise and inevitable fall (just like an elevator - ha!), which aligns with every psychological thriller on the market (if you read a lot of psychological thrillers, you'll know exactly what this means). But then we have the elevator. It's really such a clever idea, revealing the basic outline of the ending for our elevator crew in a weirdly lengthy prologue involving a character who is important for exactly nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the elevator scenes themselves unfold dramatically and believably (at least based on what Sara tells us of these characters). It was such a fun read, compulsory.
My only critiques have to do with logistics. The real reason for the drama comes in very late in the game and very suddenly, making it a little less believable. The perspectives of our elevator characters fluctuate a lot. It doesn't quite feel like omniscience, so every shift from one character's head to another's is a little jarring. I also had some questions about the passage of time; it was unclear just how much time was passing between the events in Sara's vector, and a lot of things felt rushed or sudden but were actually simply years apart, which probably ought to be clarified. When Sara starts talking in terms of years instead of weeks, I was a little bit lost.
All in all, this is a fun ride. There's a really nice balance of psychological thriller with Sara and the tension and fear in the elevator.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wall street is toxic.