Elevator Pitch (Hardcover)

Reviews

"My review" by Breakaway R. - 2 October 2019

Barclay never disappoints. Some book titles can leave you bewildered. Not this one, Elevator Pitch goes to the heart of what this book is all about. Here’s how... In Manhattan, a group of people are waiting for an express elevator in an office block, including a budding script-writer who is trying to get his script accepted by a top-level showbiz producer. The passengers all select their floors, but the elevator continues non-stop to the top, 40th floor, then plunges, to the bottom of the shaft with fatal consequences. Meanwhile, the mayor of New York, Richard Headley, is holding a short press conference when news of the accident reaches him and he rushes to the scene. He takes his entourage and offers a ride to a surprised online reporter, Barbara Matheson, who has plagued him in her previous reports. En route, he asks her to ghostwrite his memoirs. After she turns him down, she uses this request against him in her next article. On the High Line, a body is found, and detectives discover all fingertips have been cut off and the face left unrecognisable. The search team get a break when a single fingertip is found, and the police can identify the victim. When they interview his wife, who has already reported her husband missing, they find, after extensive questioning and probing, that his job was – an elevator repairman. More elevator ‘accidents’ occur with more loss of life. Homeland Security appears on the scene to see if any of these incidents are terrorist-related. A domestic U.S. terrorist group, the Flyovers, are hovering around the perimeter of events. Things soon spiral out of control, and the mayor finds himself besieged on all sides. Never very popular with the press, he is hounded because of his inability to control the crisis. How will the people of New York, one of the most vertical cities in the world, cope if they can’t trust the elevators? Linwood Barclay is an accomplished author of many thrillers. This is another melting pot of intrigue and possible domestic or international terrorism. Take this and put in some New York characters and their wisecracks, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable book. A frightening scenario, which seems all too probable in these troubled times. A worthy five stars. Mr Bumblebee Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book for review