Elevator Pitch, by Linwood Barclay

Do any of you have any phobias? I am extremely claustrophobic…..so as a result, elevators are quite an ordeal for me. Where possible, I’ll rather walk. Once I climbed 14 flights of stairs to an interview. Nothing better than arriving sweaty and half dead to an interview right? Needless to say, I didn’t get the job! Phobias are something else! Anyways, so when I received a review copy of Elevator Pitch, I internally started hyperventilating…. just imagining the events of the book, had me in cold sweats. Thankfully, I didn’t let that stop me from actually reading the book…maybe I’ve conquered my fears in a way? I’ll read about elevators, just don’t put me in one…..lol. Okay, what do I have to say about Elevator Pitch? Keep reading to find out…….

Synopsis

It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.

Right to the bottom of the shaft.

It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world—and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment—is plunged into chaos.

Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men in women working in offices across the city refuse leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.

Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers before the city’s newest, and tallest, residential tower has its Friday night ribbon-cutting.

My review

The storyline

As I said, I have a fear of spaces, so reading about plummeting elevators is right up there with some of my worst nightmares! Scary as I found it, I also was immediately drawn to the story line. The cover implies that somebody is behind this, so an elevator-plunging-serial-killer of sorts? That’s pretty interesting literature for me! The cover of course does justice to reinforcing that this book is about elevators….scary ones….

The characters

There are quite a few characters in this book….too many to really name them all…. but I’ll try to single a few out:

• Detectives Delgado and Bourque, working on the murder of a fingerless body. Detective Bourque has some painful history that we find out about, and this also leaves him with some health issues, that could be psychological. Detective Delgado is his partner and she seems like a cool chick to have as a partner.
• Barbara Matheson is a reporter, she’s seemingly tough as nails, and hell bent on figuring out what is going on with these elevators.
• Mayor Headley, (Barbara is not a fan) who is trying to do damage control in a city under attack.

The book is not told from any POV really, as the writing style shifts the POV for all the characters in the chapter. You’ll know who the mayor is talking to, how they’re reacting as well, etc.

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book in that it was a unique story line and had quite a few interesting characters with interesting side stories. I say that, because many authors do this, and the side story ends up having NOTHING to do with anything.

My one issue with Elevator Pitch, is that I expected more elevator action! The first scene was done so well…because the book starts with the events of that Monday…. I felt my heart racing as we built up to what we knew, as readers, was inevitable. THE TERROR. I wanted a lot more of that! I felt the other scenes scaled down a bit on the terror.

That aside though, this was a really gripping read, that was fast paced, interesting and I enjoyed all the side stories (yes, I am repeating myself). Also, a lot of suspense and smoke and mirrors….I was SO SURE I had it figured out…. so the reveal was quite a surprise to me. The ending, maybe things happened a bit too fast, but this was a longer book (though the short chapters alleviated any potential reader fatigue), so I figure Linwood had to start wrapping things up. I think we also have good character development at the end of this for a few of the characters.

Rating

Elevator Pitch has a Goodreads rating of 3.92 out of 5 stars, which I think is a very good rating. I’d rate it around 3.8 stars myself. I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future. Does this sound like something you’d like to pick up?

FINAL WORD: Don’t ever get in/or out of an elevator without looking where you’re stepping. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 

Missed my last review? You can check out my 4 star review of A Killer Choice over HERE.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Jonathan Ball Publishers for review, but all opinions are my own.