Elevator Pitch
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3.9 • 86 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
**INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER**
The #1 bestselling Linwood Barclay returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach—a heart-pounding tale of terror and menace that will make you think twice the next time you hit Up.
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, nonstop, to the top. Once there it pauses for a few seconds, but the doors don't open. Instead, the elevator begins to descend floor-by-floor. Then it plummets.
Right to the bottom of the shaft.
It appears to be a random accident. . . . But on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And then Wednesday brings yet another tragic high-rise catastrophe. In only three days, 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 succeeding. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men and women working in offices across the city refuse to leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment towers go unanswered.
Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? Are these deadly acts of sabotage somehow connected to a fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist race against time to uncover the truth before the city's newest, and tallest, residential tower has its ribbon-cutting on Friday night.
With each diabolical twist, Linwood Barclay ratchets up the tension, building to a shattering finale. Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill you to the bone.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this gripping standalone from bestseller Barclay (A Noise Downstairs), an elevator in a Manhattan office building falls from the top floor to the bottom of the shaft, killing all four occupants. The next day, a similar fatal elevator incident occurs in a residential high-rise in another part of Manhattan. The day after that, a third falling elevator throws the city's populace into a panic and normal activity all but ceases. Mayor Richard Headley, who's running for reelection, must put campaigning aside to find out who's behind the elevator sabotage and why. Meanwhile, NYPD Det. Jerry Bourque investigates the murder of a jogger, whose mutilated body was found on the High Line, the old elevated railroad that's now a walkway. Barclay does a good job dramatizing the family dynamics of multiple characters, including the emotionally damaged Bourque, while building suspense as he slowly reveals how the jogger's murder ties in with the elevator deaths. Readers who live on high floors will glance nervously toward the nearest stairs as they tear through this exciting thriller. Author tour.
Customer Reviews
Great thriller
You’ll think twice about getting into an elevator after reading this book. Loved the journalist character Barbara. Would love to see her in another book.