by L. D. Smithson
SYNOPSIS
Everything is a clue.
Bonnie arrives on a remote sea fort off the coast of England to take part in a mysterious reality TV show. Competing against seven strangers, she must solve a series of puzzles to win the prize money, but this is no game - and the consequences of failure are deadly.
No one leaves.
Under scrutiny from the watching public, the contestants quickly turn on one another. Who will sacrifice the most for wealth and fame? And why can't Bonnie shake the creeping sense that they are not alone?
The only way out is to win.
When the first contestant is found dead, Bonnie begins to understand the dark truth at the heart of this twisted competition: there's a killer inside the fort, and anyone could be next. If Bonnie wants to escape, she needs to win...
Are you ready to play?
REVIEW
In The Escape Room, the first chapter which works like a prologue was a real shocker. It was so unexpected and hooked me in straight away. Then, the narrative switched to the present day, and focused on the ‘reality show’ part of the story which was very Fort Boyard (hopefully other people will remember this 90’s reference)!
What was clever about the way the book was structured was that as much as I enjoyed the main bulk of the story, my mind constantly went back to that initial scene and I was desperate to find out how it linked with the events which then took place.
Quite a few years ago I read Ben Elton’s book Dead Famous which was about a Big Brother style show which takes a sinister turn. It was a commentary about the dangers of reality tv. I really enjoyed it at the time but with all of the developments in reality tv that followed, that story would be a bit dated now. The Escape Room is a more modern depiction of a similar theme, but there were a few surprises too which really took it up a level in my opinion.
This was actually a lot more than just an escape room thriller. It’s packed with little challenges that you as the reader can try and crack before the characters in the book do. It’s also full of symbolism, I loved all of the references to Dante and the Divine Comedy and all of the religious elements. It’s very cleverly put together and everything is linked - there isn’t a single part of their experiences in The Fortress which wasn't important and just to reinforce that, it even states it at the beginning of the book ‘Everything was a clue’. The author is inviting the reader to play along right from the start which I loved.
It features a True Crime podcast, it references my favourite poem ’Not waving but drowning’, there’s some gaslighting elements, it’s incredibly twisty and parts of the story are written in epistolary style using tweets and podcast transcripts. It doesn’t get any better than that for me personally. A brilliant debut and one that I would highly recommend for any psychological thriller fans.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L.D.Smithson is a psychologist from Yorkshire who has published a series of Crime Thriller Novels under a different name. THE ESCAPE ROOM is her debut stand alone novel.
Thanks to Anne Cater @RandomTTours, Bantam Books @BantamBooksUk and L.D.Smithson @LeonaDeakin1 for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Mystery / Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 978-0857504807
Pages: 400pp