Thank you for the opportunity to read Linwood Barclay's latest book. I was not disappointed and had never actually thought about how prohibiting use of all lifts in a city would almost bring it to a standstill. A great theme of a fast-paced story!

Linwood Barclay is one of my go to authors and he has not disappointed me with this book. Ths book may trouble those with fears of elevators and high rise buildings as although it is an incredible plot it is highly believable at the same time.

I am mindful of giving too much detail as I do not like reviews that give too much of the story away I evolving "spoilers".

Set in New York it involves what initially looks like a tragic accident in a high rise elevator but when over the next couple of days another 2 similar events occur, it is clear this is sabotage. Simultaneously there are bombing incidents which seemingly may or may not be linked to these events.
Fears result in all the elevators in the city being shut down until they have been looked at or the perpetrators being caught. This unsurprisingly causes havoc as people are unable to work and there are a number of medical emergencies. It makes the reader consider what an event like this or similar would do to the infrastructure of a major city.

Who is responsible? is this the work of terrorists, a vengeful individual, a foreign government. A political group?
This fast paced thriller had me guessing, re-thinking but still I did not work it out with a surprising and thrilling climax. This book does hold the readers attention from the first to last page

I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for providing me with my ARC copy of the book I exchange for an honest and unbiased review

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651621-elevator-pitch#other_reviews

I really enjoyed this, the whole thing was fast paced and entertaining. I liked the characters, the twists and it had a great ending. Just the thought of Manhatten without elevators is a cardio nightmare!

When you pick up a Linwood Barclay book you know your reading what’s going to be a best seller. Elevator pitch is no different. Linwood Barclay has again managed an edge of your seat thriller with twists thrown in.
Detective Bourque is a cop who is traumatised by a shooting a couple of years ago. He is partnered with Detective Delgardo. They have been called in to investigate the brutal death of a man found on the high line walkway. Missing fingers and face beaten beyond recognition the need to find out who he is.
Barbara Matheson is a newspaper columnists on a mission to reveal the real Mayor Richard Headley.
New York is then devastated when the city’s elevators start causing deaths, people are plunging to their deaths. Matheson makes it her mission to find out what’s happening when she discovers that one of the first victims is an old colleague.
During the book we are also introduced to Arla who is Barbara’s daughter and Glover the Mayors son who is often put down in front of others.
All events lead up to the opening of The Top of The Park. The newest and tallest building in Manhattan. Whatever could possibly go wrong and who is behind the sabotage.
This is a book you won’t put down and will leave you breathless at the end.

Elevator Pitch is a fast paced suspense thriller. Right from the first chapter I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down. An excellent read with great characters.

What a ride. Took me a chapter or two to get into this book - so many characters are introduced in the first chapters - but once it got going properly it was amazing. Why would anyone cause elevators to crash on purpose killing innocent people? Are they the same people who are blowing up coastal towns?

I really enjoyed this book and the ending suprised me - I thought that I had it all worked out too!

I received a free advance review copy. This review is voluntary, honest and my own view.

Okay, this terrified me from the go as I hate lifts (I'm British) and any enclosed space really, so the premise of lift accidents is horrific to me. 'Elevator Pitch' spins together different characters and stories into one through the course of this novel. There's a great mix of personalities all dealing with the situations they are in, or the aftermath of past experiences. From a power crazed politician to a struggling, panic attack-stricken detective.
I have read and liked other Linwood Barclay books, but I have to admit it took me quite a while to get into this one, I found the initial pacing slow and found the meandering story-telling frustrating. Thankfully it develops to hold interest as the strands begin to come together in a mesh of political intrigue and plotting to gritty journalism and murder investigation officers and their lives.
I would recommend it but not my most enjoyable Barclay read - but a 100% recommended author.

A thriller about elevators? Well yes and no as there’s so much more to enjoy in this very pacy thriller by Linwood Barclay. Great title for a storyline that opens with a pitch for a script in an elevator but then the descent becomes much darker. A hard-bitten journalist, Barbara Matheson who works for Manhattan Today and who has a difficult relationship with her daughter Arla, a New York mayor with the butt-of-many-jokes name of Richard Headley and Jerry Bourque, a cop with panic attacks are the main characters but there is a supporting cast of well drawn players such as the man behind the Flyovers, a US militant group, which soon becomes the main suspect for bombings and elevator accidents and the Mayor’s closest aides which include his son Glover and a mister fixit by the name of Chris Vallans. A particularly gruesome murder on New York’s High Line is the starting point in the investigation for Jerry Bourque and his sidekick Lois Delgado but as the elevator murder victims stack up the tension mounts. This is a slick thriller with great characterisation and a really clever plot which will appeal to all fans of this genre. Thanks to Harlequin UK for the ARC.

A thrill ride from start to finish, although you may be wary of taking the elevator (lift for us Brits) for a while!

The tension in this book is constantly ramped up as it becomes more and more clear that someone is targeting the elevators in New York, a city that relies on them more than most. Being trapped on one as you loose all control over it is a terrifying prospect.

Linwood Barclay does a terrific job of showing the effect on not only those in the elevators and their families, but also those who have to rely on them every day because they live or work in a tall building, or for health reasons.

The characters within the story were all interesting and well developed, and we learn a lot about each of them, which is surprising given how many there are.

There are a number of times I thought I had figured out who was behind the terror, but I was kept guessing right until the big reveal.

Just don’t read it while you are in an elevator!

There is something deliciously safe yet still scary reading about one of your fears isn’t there?
I cant stand lifts/elevators and so absolutely couldn’t wait to read about something I could MORE than imagine
Even if your not wary of lifts everyone knows that somersault tummy moment when the door of the lift doesn’t open quite quickly enough and you wonder......
In Elevator Pitch you meet ‘normal’ people who are in lifts whilst New York is suffering a spate of tragic accidents relating to lifts, like any good disaster film, you get to know them quickly and then they are embroiled in the disaster, same as in this book
I felt every panic, every ‘false bit of humour’ and every manic hope as these people became involved in a ‘lift event’, some survive and some don’t, it felt very realistic to me
The book then through various characters comes to solve what and why this is happening and ends on a scene to make ‘Towering Inferno’ proud!
Now, its very American, thats not a criticism just an observation, the actual descriptions of New York are wonderful, the author obviously loves it and it built a great picture of the City in my mind
The characters, from the typecast Mayor ( with secrets ) to the embittered journo trying to cause the Mayor as much hassle as she can are not immediately or in some
cases ever likeable but they play their parts well although it did take me a while to ‘get to know them’
All in all a satisfyingly chilling read with breathing space for everything to be told and come together in a thrilling ending
10/10
5 Stars

Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay is a thrilling edge of your seat contemporary suspense that will have your heart racing. It is set in New York City where the clock is ticking down as the residents are thrown into panic and turmoil.
The novel is concerned with politics and agendas – the problem with agendas is that people suffer.
The novel is about fathers – their influence for good or bad.
As the murder count rises, the reader tries to piece together the action and predict the guilty one. Once again I failed but fell for the red herrings along the way.
Love motivates action – for good or evil, as people want to equal the score.
We live in the present but beware of the past rising up to haunt us.
Family is important. We all want to know our roots.
Linwood Barclay has created an eclectic mix of characters in this fast paced thriller in the city that never sleeps. I instinctively warmed to some but not others. I could not spot the perpetrator, see if you can. One thing is certain – I will not be in a hurry to take any elevator any time soon!
Elevator Pitch was my first book by Linwood Barclay but it will not be my last. It was marvellous. I shall be hunting out more by him. I think Elevator Pitch would make a marvellous movie.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.

My thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins publishers for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. I requested this novel having read about two-thirds of Linwood Barclay’s works and found each one to be a winner. Set in New York, we have a fairly slow start with three seemingly unconnected strands which you know will become one whole eventually. There’s lots of subtle humour, much of it ironic, poking fun at the political system in the city, which is enjoyable. Sabotaging lifts is a nifty idea for a terrorist plot in a “vertical city” where everyone is forced to use elevators and modern technology is now being used to update the machinery.

As well as being rather slow I did struggle with rather too many characters. There are also one or two silly ideas in the plot, but to explain them would constitute spoilers. Maybe I’m being dense, but who exactly the protest group, “The Flyovers” were, what they stood for and what they hoped to achieve didn’t seem clear to me. It pains me to write it, but this is not one of Linwood Barclay’s better novels. Good idea for a plot but he doesn’t really pull it off. Others may disagree with me.

A fast paced thriller just as I'd expect from Barclay. Certainly kept me turning the pages until the breathtaking conclusion! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reading copy.

Another great page turner by Linwood
Barclay. Set in NYC this thriller had good guys, bad guys, politics and pressure. A few clever twists and overall a pacey enthralling read to be highly recommended.

Well, that's put me off lifts for life!
A new Linwood Barclay is always a cause for celebration and, although I miss Promise Falls, this was a good stand alone story with his typical multi stranded narratives and a satisfying ending. I didn't feel it was one of his best, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
Thank you to netgalley and HQ books for an advance copy of this book

I'm a big fan of Linwood Barclay and so I was looking forward to his latest. I wasn't disappointed. I.particularly love the way in which the story starts with what seems like a hundred different unrelated strands which slowly weave together to spin a complete web by the final chapter. Recommend!

I was lucky enough to get this through a wish - that has never happened to me before. As ever, Linwood Barclay doesn't disappoint. A fast pace, gripping thriller. The only thing missing for me was not lying on a beach reading it!

Elevator Pitch is the latest standalone thriller by Linwood Barclay and boy is this a good 'un!  We start with four seemingly random, unconnected people getting into an elevator (lift if you are from the UK) in a busy Manhattan skyscraper.  Within minutes the elevator seems to have a life of it's own - taking these victims to the top floor and then plummeting to the bottom killing them all.

What appears to be a random malfunction of the software controlling the elevator then becomes far more horrific and sinister as more elevators malfunction killing the occupants across New York.

Elevator Pitch tells the story with several main characters points of view.  There is Richard Headley (DickHead) the Mayor of New York trying to control the panic and fear of the citizens and ensure their safety, the two police officers who find a fingerless murder victim on the same night as the first "accident" and a determined reporter Barbara Matheson who despises the mayor and is determined to uncover who is behind the elevator murders.

This really is a thrilling exhilarating ride which keep me turning the pages and one that I highly recommend for fans of fast paced action with great characters and plenty of dead bodies.

Warning:  DON'T read this book if you have a fear of heights or elevators!  DO read this book if you love claustrophobic, atmospheric and scary thrillers - but be warned - next time you press the button waiting for an elevator you might think about taking the stairs.

‘Elevator Pitch’ is the first Linwood Barclay book I’ve read. I’m not sure how it compares do his other work, but it wasn’t really what I was expecting.
It reads like a 70s disaster movie. There’s an attention grabbing central concept (New York is hit by a string of fatal elevator failures), a diverse cast of characters, a tonne a melodrama and a bit of action. It’s all quite readable and fun, but the multiple plot lines got a bit much for me after a while. Some of them don’t really go anywhere and one, which feels like a key one at the start, ends up somewhere weird and unconvincing.
Overall it’s entertaining but it didn’t grip me like I was expecting it to.

When I saw this book on Netgalley I knew I had to have it. It sounded so exciting and thrilling. So, when I got approved for the e-arc (thank you Netgalley for my copy in exchange of an honest review) I was eager to get started.

It starts of with a dead fingerless body, followed by an elevator losing control and plunging 4 people to their deaths. There then follows a few more elevator deaths. Now, given this story is set in New York a heavily populated vertical city where people are dependent on elevators (I'm going to call them lifts from now on because I'm not American) There is a sense of fear as to who is behind all this.

But, the middle of this book just dragged and didn't do it for me, I did consider giving up but I did want to know if I had guessed correctly the culprit. I knew it was definitely down to two characters, I didn't know why with one but I was right.

It did feel that there was just too many characters in this book and not enough development to give us a connection with them. I understand that the Flyovers where put in there as a red herring, or were they because we were told quite early they were only involved in the bombings. Which was very few.

It did have elements of a good thriller. Hated mayor, a son who wanted to impress, a blood thirsty journalist, mysterious men telling families to keep quiet, a cop struggling with past troubles, the Flyover group, another man trying to impress his peer, a blossoming romance, a mother/daughter relationship that was tense. As you can see there was a lot going on, but a bit too much for one story.

So, here lies my problem this story had everything that I want in a book but I wasn't overly thrilled with it. What kept it from being a 2 star for me was the descriptions of the deaths and that very thrilling ending. They were what made the book.

Just an afterthought, a major bug bear for me was the fact that the mayor didn't recognise Barbara, just because she had in her words dyed her hair and put on a bit of weight. He only realised who she was when she mentioned her maiden name. This was very unrealistic, given she was in his life a lot hounding him and the very fact he remembered who Maude was.