The Escape Game

By Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

Reviewed by Zewlan Moor

This book is unputdownable! 

From the very first page it features the entertaining, high energy voice of clever teens with interesting back stories and motivations, something I loved in Meyer’s Cinder, in the Lunar Chronicles. I have not read Tamara Moss’s Lintang series, but I will now. I am very grateful for her Aussie surfer co-host character, Fitzy, and reading that she is Australian explains much of his authenticity. 

Short chapters move between audition videos and third-person point-of-view scenes of the lives of the latest four contestants in Season Five of the Escape Game. The characters are Hollywood nepo-baby Adi; champion puzzle influencer Carter; well-adjusted hometown trans boy Beck; and goth Sierra. Sierra’ audition tape is the only one where she threatens the production team, but she has reason. 

She was a contestant in Season Four of the show, where she found the dead body of her sister in the final escape room in the final episode. Ever since, she has been investigated for her sister’s murder, but she knows she’s innocent. And she’s determined to find the culprit. 

The book follows the teenagers as they bond on and off set. There are multiple escape room challenges which are described in detail, with black-and-white illustrations of the escape rooms and some of the ciphers and clues. This makes it very satisfying for readers who enjoy puzzles and escape rooms themselves, but is also an interesting addition for escape room newbs. 

The plot is hectically paced and offers satisfying red herrings and clues about the murderer’s identity. The amazing thing is that the escape room setting continues nearly to the end of the book. 

Fortunately, the authors have left the story open for a sequel, and I hope they can write it quickly! 

I have promised this book to my 12 year old son, and I predict it will fly off library shelves. 

Highly recommended commercial fiction for Ages 12+

Penguin 2026

Marissa Meyer

Tamara Moss

Zewlan Moor is the author of Nothing Alike, The Bill Dup and Our World: Philippines. Her next book, Say Hello Like an Armadillo is out in the US/UK in June 2026 and Australia in Summer 2026-7. Pre-order or add it to your Goodreads Want To Read shelf now!