The Escape Game
The Escape Game
By: Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2026]
“‘If you can help me with the missing information, I’ll plant the evidence in the finale room, which, if you’ve been paying attention, will REVEAL THE KILLER.’”
The Escape Game is a murder investigation done by youths within the context of an escape room TV show. And as a big fan of escape rooms (and murder investigations), I really enjoyed this book!
Plus it managed to mostly fool me on the reveal, which usually makes a book more interesting!
I had part of the ‘who’ figured out at 15% but I didn’t have the ‘why’ until much later so I thought it did a good job of casting doubt on different people at different times and making you second guess your predictions. There were lots of suspects with motives.
It seems like a good chunk of the more negative reviews came from people who prefer Marissa Meyer’s fantasy writing (the Lunar Chronicles are great!) or aren’t really fans of escape rooms and got tired of the descriptions and the mechanisms of solving the puzzles.
I am no escape room guru like the characters, but I love creating and solving puzzles and even created a few of my own escape rooms in my house for a group of high-schoolers to do. I would love to say I memorized the Fibonacci sequence or the pigpen cypher but unfortunately I’m just not at that level. Nonetheless, I enjoyed tagging along with team Helsing and living vicariously through them.
Reading about their experience had me itching to get myself back in an escape room soon. Freshly-finished-reading-me believes I’ve now gained vast amounts of puzzle-solving knowledge that will carry me through any escape room ever created, but future me will most likely be disappointed that sometimes fiction stays fiction.
Sure, the concept of the book seems a little far-fetched— how could a show continue after a murder was committed on set? and how could someone claim to have enough evidence to point to the real killer but is forced to sneakily reveal it to the new genius contestants because the police won’t listen to them? and why does the production company Hitflix sound like more of a boxing gym?— but once you just accept those points, I think it’s a fun and compelling situation.
The basic premise:
Season four of The Escape Game ended abruptly when Alicia Angelos was found murdered in the middle of the final escape room… discovered by none other than her sister Sierra (the chosen ‘villain’ of the season to counter Alicia’s ‘fan-favorite’ role). She was the primary suspect for the murder but there was never enough evidence to charge her.
Sierra is brought back for season five— for the drama obvs—, still the villain, and bent on ‘getting her money’… but also apparently trying to find her sister’s killer.
The book alternates between her POV and the other members of her team on the show. Each of their motives for competing and winning the show are gradually revealed, but some of them revolve around the prize: “The team who comes out on top this season will be the first members of the public to explore Victor Cunningham’s highly anticipated playground for puzzle lovers.”
The book covers the escape room competitions as well as Team Helsing’s investigative work into Alicia’s murder. Someone close to the show keeps giving them more clues and information for them to follow. Who can they trust? Who is pulling the strings? And why were they almost frozen to death in the industrial freezer in the middle of the night?
Here is our cast of characters:
Sierra- goth-like in looks, bossy in demeanor [another reviewer compared her to Rosa from Brooklyn 99 and that feels like a good choice]
“…being in a room with Sierra was like trying to decode one of the Game Master’s clues. He could tell she was hiding something. But was that something a soft, squishy interior that longed to be loved and understood? Or was that something the fact that she was a psychopath who could at any minute start stabbing people with tiny olive forks like the one she was holding now?”
Beck- transgender guy who can taste sounds and creates her own escape rooms at home
“My brain is ninety-five percent empathy and five percent confetti.”
Adi- son of a washed-up celebrity mom, Symphony (“emphasis on phony”) who only cares about herself
“He wanted the viewers to like him, but he needed the producers to… He only cared if one specific person watched.”
Kick It- Carter- lonely and insecure escape room online influencer who hides behind her very cool avatar
“It wasn’t about fame or money. It was about finding her people. Not faceless usernames, but real friends.”
Fitzy-“the show’s beloved Australian nincompoop”
I mostly liked the characters. I liked Sierra’s tenacity and Beck’s positivity and hope and ability to keep the group together. I feel like Adi was too cool for school and so I didn’t feel like I really know him very much.
Maybe I’m the only one, but I COULD NOT stop getting Beck and Carter mixed up the ENTIRE book. I don’t know if it’s because Beck was the trans character and Carter is a boy name or what, but I kept picturing the wrong person saying the lines. I wish Carter would have gotten a more feminine name so it was easier to keep straight. (some pun intended)
Carter seemed to have the most character development. But they leave this book with a hook for the next one— which I am totally game for— so hopefully we get more from Adi and Beck on their own development. Based on the ending I’m sure we will follow Adi more closely in the next one.
It seemed like Beck’s character didn’t really show any weaknesses in this book so there wasn’t really anything marked ‘for improvement.’ Everything was all positivity, empathy, and confetti. Perhaps a weakness will be revealed post haste to give Beck more depth as a character.
A couple other critiques: as I mentioned before, some things require suspension of belief concept-wise, and that’s fine, but one thing that I wish would have been different was at the end while they were in the finale game room. Apparently there was no fail-safe mechanism that allowed people to enter the room from the outside.
This makes no sense. There is no way that people go into that room and must complete the puzzles in order to get out of the game. Unless I missed something and the fail safe was tampered with or something, but I wish there would have been a better reason why they were ‘on their own’ in there.
I also think the motive for the murders seemed a little over the top but… I suppose psychopaths are rarely reasonable.
One additional observation: I was intrigued about the production part of the show and what things were changed or rigged for specific outcomes. You can’t help but think about all the ‘reality’ TV shows out there and wonder what parts are real and what are scripted.
In my heart I want them to be pure and unaltered but I also know that I’m sure without some production interference we would probably end up being bored by certain show’s outcomes. But still… I hope people aren’t being fed answers like in this book.
I would LOVE true behind the scenes information on the making of reality and competition shows. Something tells me this book isn’t quite what I’m looking for in that regard.
Recommendation
Overall, this was a fun read for me. Puzzles and solving murders is always a great combination when I choose books.
I also like that the story is going to continue into something else as we explore more of the mystery of Victor Cunningham and his puzzling estate.
If you hate escape rooms or suspension of belief concepts, then you might want to pass on this one, but I think I would recommend this to most readers.
And beware… this might inspire you to try a real escape room!
[Content Advisory: 9 f-words, 16 s-words, 3 b-words; a main character is trans but her transition is not a main plot point or really discussed at all- possible it could be in the next book; no sexual content that I remember (I’m writing this review a week late)]
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
Share this book review to your social media!