The locked room by Adam Cece

Adam Cece’s The Locked Room is an engaging and adventurous book that features four teenagers who are trapped in an escape room. Sixteen-year-old Andy is locked in that room with three other students from school: the boy who had bullied him for the past year, the girl he has a crush on, and a girl who he has seen around school. The biggest question is whether they will be able to escape before choking gas is pumped into the rooms?

What I found especially interesting about the novel was how the teenagers had to work together despite their complicated relationships with each other. The escape room is designed with a complex sequence of red and green doors, and the characters must look for patterns and clues to survive. This forces them to communicate and rely on each other’s strengths, even if they did not trust one another at first. The story is told from a third-person perspective, focusing mainly on Andy.

One of the best things about this book is the suspense. Adam Cece creates a lot of tension, making you want to keep reading to find out what happens next. The puzzles in this book are creative and clever. The characters are different from each other, making it interesting to see how they grow and change throughout the book.

 At times, the story could be a little hard to follow because there were so many twists, but I think this adds to the mystery and thrill. Overall, I would recommend The Locked Room to people who enjoy mysteries and puzzles.

Themes: Teamwork, Puzzle Solving, Trust and Deception, Isolation, Survival

Kiarra C. (Student)