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A review by millennial_dandy
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
If you're 'looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6'5'', blue eyes', then you've come to the right place, and by all accounts your man's name is Vincent. Certainly, our ‘everyman’ POV character, Sarah Hall, seemed to think he was her savior when he plucked her out of oblivion to work on his hot-shot Wall Street team.
But working in finance is pretty brutal as it turns out (who'd have thunk?) and everyone is awful to each other, constantly trying to jostle for position on the top rung of the corporate ladder, stepping on whoever they have to in order to get there, be that a co-worker or some faceless blue-collar workers in a city they'll never visit that they've just forced to lose their jobs.
'Escape Room' isn't some hidden masterpiece of literature, but for all that it's more Christopher Pike than it is Vladimir Nabokov, author Megan Goldin had a fun, compelling tale of revenge she wanted to tell, and it worked.
For the most part, Goldin tries to ground 'Escape Room' in reality: the reality of working a brutal. pressure cooker job with punishing hours and uncaring higher-ups, the reality of being a woman trying to make it in a man's world, the reality of being groomed to be a cutesy little materialist within a hyper-capitalist system that you help uphold. These sections could sometimes be a little on-the-nose, but in the end it's not like Goldin is wrong about any of it, so she might be loud, but at least she's loud and right. And boy does she make you want to eat the rich by the time the whole thing is over. Or, at least, she makes sure you're not particularly sorry when a team-building exercise gone wrong (or is it?) leads four such deplorable people to be trapped together on an elevator over the weekend.
The mystery at the heart of 'Escape Room' turns out to actually be pretty heavy and horrifying, but is, alas, also representative of something I have no doubt could happen at a company like the one she builds this one up to be: a playground for overgrown frat bros.
That is to say: 'Escape Room' gets a big ole trigger warning for sexual assault in the workplace.
After that, the novel evolves from a 'what is going on?' type of thriller to more of the 'I Spit on Your Grave', feminist revenge plot.
Or is it?
Does <i>anyone</i> come out of 'Escape Room' looking good? Or is the one pulling the strings ultimately just as selfish and horrible as the four people they lock on the elevator? You decide!
Now listen: after staying pretty plausible for the first 2/3, for the climax Goldin just went 'fuck it' and let her imagination and love of heist movies run wild. And honestly, love that for her. Just know that after 'the big reveal' you're not supposed to go over anything else with a fine-tooth comb -- you'll only be stopping yourself from having fun if you do because none of it will stand up to scrutiny and that isn't really the point anyway.
It was a fun read, and my favorite part is that the puppet-master character's end game and what actually happens on the elevator aren't completely in-synch and I loved imagining them finding out what actually happened after the end of the book.
If you know, you know!
But working in finance is pretty brutal as it turns out (who'd have thunk?) and everyone is awful to each other, constantly trying to jostle for position on the top rung of the corporate ladder, stepping on whoever they have to in order to get there, be that a co-worker or some faceless blue-collar workers in a city they'll never visit that they've just forced to lose their jobs.
'Escape Room' isn't some hidden masterpiece of literature, but for all that it's more Christopher Pike than it is Vladimir Nabokov, author Megan Goldin had a fun, compelling tale of revenge she wanted to tell, and it worked.
For the most part, Goldin tries to ground 'Escape Room' in reality: the reality of working a brutal. pressure cooker job with punishing hours and uncaring higher-ups, the reality of being a woman trying to make it in a man's world, the reality of being groomed to be a cutesy little materialist within a hyper-capitalist system that you help uphold. These sections could sometimes be a little on-the-nose, but in the end it's not like Goldin is wrong about any of it, so she might be loud, but at least she's loud and right. And boy does she make you want to eat the rich by the time the whole thing is over. Or, at least, she makes sure you're not particularly sorry when a team-building exercise gone wrong (or is it?) leads four such deplorable people to be trapped together on an elevator over the weekend.
The mystery at the heart of 'Escape Room' turns out to actually be pretty heavy and horrifying, but is, alas, also representative of something I have no doubt could happen at a company like the one she builds this one up to be: a playground for overgrown frat bros.
That is to say: 'Escape Room' gets a big ole trigger warning for sexual assault in the workplace.
After that, the novel evolves from a 'what is going on?' type of thriller to more of the 'I Spit on Your Grave', feminist revenge plot.
Or is it?
Does <i>anyone</i> come out of 'Escape Room' looking good? Or is the one pulling the strings ultimately just as selfish and horrible as the four people they lock on the elevator? You decide!
Now listen: after staying pretty plausible for the first 2/3, for the climax Goldin just went 'fuck it' and let her imagination and love of heist movies run wild. And honestly, love that for her. Just know that after 'the big reveal' you're not supposed to go over anything else with a fine-tooth comb -- you'll only be stopping yourself from having fun if you do because none of it will stand up to scrutiny and that isn't really the point anyway.
It was a fun read, and my favorite part is that the puppet-master character's end game and what actually happens on the elevator aren't completely in-synch and I loved imagining them finding out what actually happened after the end of the book.
If you know, you know!