The Cage
A Novel
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4.1 • 100 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“A delicious thrill-ride of breakneck twists and turns. . . . Evoking Grisham and Highsmith, Bonnie Kistler is a masterful plate-spinner of plot, deftly weaving together the worlds of fashion, high finance and white-shoe law to reveal their seamiest secrets and shared underbellies, all via characters who live, breathe, and scare the hell out of us on every page.”—Cassidy Lucas, author of Santa Monica
“An absolutely spellbinding thriller. . . . An utterly engrossing and thoroughly entertaining story.”—Booklist (starred review)
Combining the propulsive narrative drive of The Firm with the psychological complexity of The Silent Patient, a gripping and original thriller about two professional women—colleagues at an international fashion conglomerate—who enter an elevator together . . . but only one is alive when they reach the ground floor.
On a cold, misty Sunday night, two women are alone in the offices of fashion conglomerate Claudine de Martineau International. One is the company’s human resources director. Impeccably dressed and perfectly coiffed, she sits at her desk and stares somberly out the window. Down the hall, her colleague, one of the company’s lawyers, is buried under a pile of paperwork, frantically rushing to finish.
Leaving at the same time, the two women, each preoccupied by her own thoughts, enter the elevator that will take them down from the 30th floor.
When they arrive at the lobby, one of the women is dead. Was it murder or suicide?
An incredibly original novel that turns the office thriller on its head, The Cage is a wild ride that begins with a bang and picks up speed as it races to its dramatic end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this exciting psychological thriller from Kistler (House on Fire), Shay Lambert, a lawyer at Claudine de Martineau International, and Lucy Barton-Jones, the company's HR director, get on an elevator in the fashion conglomerate's administrative headquarters in White Plains, N.Y. A power outage stalls the elevator in mid-descent. Shay's frantic calls from a cell phone that's losing power suggest that Lucy is having a panic attack. When the elevator arrives at the lobby, Lucy is dead of a gunshot wound, the gun still in her hands. With only two people stuck in a dark elevator, Lucy's death is either homicide—or suicide, as Shay insists. The police lean toward suicide, until the firm's executives show evidence implicating Shay. The executives fear Lucy left incriminating paperwork about their nefarious business practices; charging Shay gives them the chance to bury the documents. Each detail of Shay's life becomes fodder for suspicion, even the most innocent action. The suspenseful plot careens among various surprising twists toward a satisfying finale as Shay attempts to clear herself and expose the executives. Kistler is a writer to watch.
Customer Reviews
Some holes
I enjoyed this book. But, the fashion industry stuff was not realistic at all. And, there is a huge gap in the story. Never found out why main character was unemployed for so long. And what on earth was wrong with her husband. Highly educated and unemployed for a long time. Why?? Never addressed
So-so
I rolled my eyes so many times I had to reach for the Tylenol. The author’s main characters jump to so many conclusions, it becomes absurd. There are also quite a few holes in the narrative, and illogical behaviors. These are things that make it difficult for the reader to remain engaged or to take the storyline seriously. One character is a Harvard grad w/ a Masters in Business Administration and they can’t find a job for 5+ years? Seriously? Ditto an attorney from Columbia? Sorry, no. I can’t recommend this novel.
4.5
4.5