Book Review – Escape by Iain Rob Wright

First published, 2019

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

And I’ve been gone for way too long. What to tell you? Well, aside from an awesome writing retreat in Scotland during September (seriously, any time you get to spend with Anstey Harris is time well spent), 2023 has been a bit of a nightmare for me. Of the hiccuping disaster type. No sooner do you think it’s done with, it comes back to kick your arse, that kind of year. So I really haven’t had the time that this blog and you readers deserve. I will strive to do better in the coming year and that starts now because, again, adios 2023, you’ve been real, into the bin with you.

I really like Iain Rob Wright. He writes very compelling, often flawed, characters so well. His dialogue is on point and his horror ticks all the boxes. I have noticed that many of his characters roll their eyes with alarming regularity but actually, I think that adds to the charm of his stories.

So, Escape. Escape is set in that most-appalling of all settings: the team building exercise for a group of work colleagues. I know there are worse things in life and they’ve all happened, but team building with workmates feels, to me, rather like having to respond to the words, ‘So, tell us a little about yourself.’ All I can do is shake my head and plot my intrepid journey to the nearest exit and out to freedom and, if possible, a donut.

But, all is not as it seems. For indeed, this team building exercise is an escape room. A friend of mine had an escape room for her hen do. I missed it. Traffic. As such, my experience is limited, but this particular escape room is a series of shipping containers, buried underground. And as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the members of the team have more than a few secrets, some of them deadly, all of them dangerous, and when the clock reaches zero, there’s no guarantee the doors will open.

I really enjoyed this story. There are some difficult subjects covered and some very grisly moments─I had to look away from the text at one point to blink the image away─but Iain Rob Wright is so good at this genre of fiction. If you enjoy horror, you should be reading him.

https://shorturl.at/wzIQ7