#NOESCAPE

An escape room competition turns deadly when contestants start dying one by one.

Seventeen-year-old Persey and seven other young adults qualify for the first annual escape room All-Star Competition for a chance to win a cash prize of $10 million and become ultrafamous. The competition, formerly run by Escape-Capades (now under new management after a scandal led to the murder-suicide of its previous owners), has high stakes and supposedly impossible-to-break puzzles and only the best of the best—Persey included—are competing. Persey can certainly do with the money if she wins, but it’s obvious that something is very wrong with the competition, as people start getting killed in the increasingly dangerous rooms, with no option left but to go forward. The survivors need to work together and cooperate, but suspicion abounds, as one of them may be the killer. The question is why? This stand-alone prequel companion to McNeil’s #MurderTrending series combines inventive, geeky puzzles; twisted locked-room(s) murder mysteries; and vengeful horror. Flashbacks to Persey’s abusive childhood are interspersed throughout the narrative and give insight into her frame of mind and motivation; other characters are less well fleshed-out. Although the main plot twist is telegraphed, it doesn’t ruin the fun of its gory puzzle-break-or-die premise. Persey is assumed White in a diverse cast.

Gory and campy horror, perfect for the Halloween season.