Ami has always been into puzzles and loves a challenge, so when her dad buys her a ticket to the best Escape Room Puzzle available, she’s looking forward to it.

To begin she is faced with a building entirely made of glass. Finding the front door seems to be her first challenge, but she is quickly inside. Facing an unoccupied desk she finds her name tag, and then other people arrive one by one. They all look just as keen to begin.

One girl named Adjoa instantly looks like fun with her beaming smile and positivity, but another member of their ‘team’ is surly, cocky, and dismissive of the four people alongside him. His name is Oscar, and Ami is rapidly aware he isn’t interested in working together – preferring to ransack, smash and bully his way through anything facing them.

Their mission is set – Save the World – Find the Answer.

Their first challenge is set in an attic full of old tech and covered with a thick layer of dust. They’re arguing in minutes, not sure what they are looking for or how to find it. One thing they all quickly agree on – this is no game. Seeming to have failed their first test, they are surrounded by fire that is scarily real.

One challenge after another is thrown at the five, and when members begin to vanish, Ami wonders what her dad was thinking when he bought the Escape Room ticket.

A spooky library, a Mayan temple, a space shuttle high above Earth. Chess, fire, dancing bones, and extinct animals with gnashing teeth all are flung at the team until only Ami is left. Will she survive this nightmare?

Beginning with anticipation of a fun activity, but rapidly turning into a nightmare among strangers, this game turned thriller is an intriguing read. The ending completely threw me, and I won’t spoil it for you. There may be a strong message flung at the reader, just as the characters are heartlessly flung into danger, but it’s a message worth thinking about.

This is my first Christopher Edge novel, and it has made me want to seek out more.

The final curve ball is worth putting up with one obnoxious side character who I wanted to silence. However, our world is full of people like this and maybe he is part of the jigsaw of the message Escape Room is showing the reader. 

Author – Christopher Edge

Age – 9+

(2022, Nosy Crow, Allen & Unwin, Challenge, Puzzle, Questions, Danger, Fire, Escape Rooms, Team, Courage, Selfish, Twist in the story, Future of Earth, Problem, Teamwork, Unravel, Extinct, Space, Ocean, Environment, Find the answer, Solution, Action, Mystery)