The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

Published by Penguin Books

‘Not that long ago, she would’ve said that her favorite thing was getting into the rhythm of the room, absorbing the puzzles. But now?

“The people,” she said. “It’s so nice being around others who are as obsessed with escape rooms as I am.” ‘

(The Escape Game)

Author Interview with Tamara Moss

Thank you for speaking about your thrilling The Escape Game with Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords, Tamara. It’s absolutely gripping and twisty, and also utterly satisfying.

Where are you based and what is your background in writing?

Firstly, thank you for your kind words! I’m so glad you enjoyed the book!

I’ve lived in Perth, Western Australia for most of my life. Writing has always been THE thing I’ve loved doing, and even while employed at other jobs, I would always make time to write.

How did your collaboration with Marissa Meyer begin and how did the process work while writing The Escape Game?

Marissa and I met through Sailor Moon fanfiction about twenty years ago. We liked each other’s work and became critique partners. We had always wanted to write a book together, but the timing had to be right, and the idea had to be right. Then Marissa came up with the premise for The Escape Game and I was all in!

First, we plotted it out, then we took turns writing chapters, with each of us taking two character points of view to work on. This part of the process was easy because we’re on opposite sides of the world, so I would write when Marissa was sleeping, and then when I’d wake up in the morning there’d be a new chapter. It was such a quick way to work… at first. Then the editing started. That was waaaay harder. But because we edited each other’s chapters so much, we ended up blending our voices and hopefully made it a seamless read.

What literary or other influences did you draw on for the novel?

We pitched the book as The Inheritance Games crossed with One of Us is Lying.

What is the hook into your book?

I always start by telling people six words: Escape room reality show murder mystery.

What do you love about the book’s cover?

Isn’t it fabulous? It gives an excellent sense of the book, and I love searching through the mess to find clues about the plot. One interesting point – there’s no chess in the story, but the publishers wanted to give readers the idea that there’s a clever game being played in the background, so they had the artist, Jeremy Enecio, include a chess board and chess pieces.

Could you please introduce the Escape Game TV series that is behind the novel’s premise?

The Escape Game is a popular reality show where teams of teens compete against each other in highly stylised puzzle rooms. Only the fastest teams get through to the next round. During the finale last season, one of the contestants, Alicia Angelos, was found murdered and stuffed in a set prop. It looked like her sister (and her in-show rival) Sierra Angelos, was the culprit but the police weren’t able to find sufficient evidence to convict her.

This season, the show is back… with Sierra as a returning contestant. She claims she wants her prize money, but really she’s there to find out who killed her sister and get justice.

How have you built suspense from the start?

We start in the green room for the season four finale, where Sierra and her team are waiting to run the last escape room. Everyone is tired and crabby – astute readers will be looking for clues immediately, piecing together who says what during this scene. The disruption is a change in schedule. For a yet-unknown reason, Sierra’s team is asked to run the room before her sister’s team. When her team solves a puzzle to open the vampire coffin, she finds her sister dead inside.

Could you tell us about the season 5 contestants in Team Helsing?

Carter is the maths whiz. She’s an Escape Game influencer but is too shy to show her face. Instead, she hides behind an avatar in her videos as she breaks down the puzzles of each of the show’s rooms. Going onto The Escape Game was supposed to be a way to prove to herself that she didn’t need to hide.

Adi is the anagram and cipher specialist. He’s the son of a washed-up actress who’s using him to claw her way back into Hollywood. Really, all Adi wants is to be left alone to read his books.

Beck is a mechanical genius who makes his own escape rooms. He’s a ray of sunshine but has his own secret reasons for being on the show.

Sierra is the team leader. She relishes the role given to her by the producers to be the show’s villain.

Why is Sierra such a prickly character?

Sierra has had a horrific and traumatic childhood. She survives by keeping people at arm’s length.

Who is your favourite of the Escape Game main characters, Why?

Who are you most worried about? Why?

My favourite character to write during this book was Sierra. She’s got so much depth and trauma beneath that angry exterior. That being said, a different character stole my heart in book two!

I’m going to answer that second part by telling you who most readers are worried about, which is Beck. He is the naïve darling of the story, and everyone I’ve spoken to is scared for him. It’s the whole precious-cinnamon-roll scenario.

Beck has a type of synaesthesia where sounds taste like flavours. Which character’s voice that he experiences as flavours do you find most interesting or appealing?

The most distasteful?

While I can’t be one-hundred percent sure, I believe I was the one who gave Sierra the “blue Kool-Aid and sherbet” taste. I love blue flavoured things!

But Marissa made Fitzy tasted like (yuck) shellfish… I wonder if that’s because she relates Australians to the ocean?

Could you tell us about the Australian connection in the novel?

Speaking of our Australian! I definitely wanted an Australian in the book. I liked that surfer boy vibe – the sun-bleached hair, the dimpled smile, the laid-back attitude. I was thinking of Australian MTV/Channel V hosts from several decades ago when I wrote Fitzy, who is our game show host.

The puzzles, clues and codes are inventively clever. How did you or Marissa discover or plan one or more of them?

Marissa wrote all the escape rooms in the book except one. She meticulously planned out the rooms, using diagrams and spreadsheets. I, however, had the characters walk into the room and I worked it out along with them. The good thing is, no one ever picks which room I wrote. So obviously both methods work.

What escape room have you played for research? What did you enjoy about it?

Find frustrating about it?

I’ve done plenty of escape rooms, but the most frustrating thing is when there are too many unnecessary elements in the room. And when the ambient noise is too loud for you to hear audio clues.

The best escape room I did is actually my first one, which was a pirate one. We had to shoot a kraken with a Nerf gun!

Marissa and I have done two escape rooms together. One was a wizard one and one was an open plan one, where we walked around the entire space, having to go into other escape rooms to find our clues. It was a unique experience.

What is the thrill of an escape room?

The satisfaction of solving the puzzles! Realising how things fit together, deciphering clues, seeing how cleverly it all works. When something in the room moves on its own, or when you tap something that unlocks a box nowhere near you. I especially love when you solve a puzzle and a random door opens to reveal a whole new space.

What Escape Room scenario would you have liked to include but didn’t make the cut here?

I wrote a second escape room that our team did as a practice run outside the studio that got cut to reduce the word count. Luckily, we were able to use elements of it in the second book.

Without spoilers, could you give us a glimpse into the sequel, The Traitor Game (coming in April 2027)?

The escape rooms are going to be bigger, better and more physically demanding than anything our characters have seen before. Think: Disneyland-style resort for puzzle nerds. You’re in for one heck of a ride.

What else are you writing?

My next book, Five Voices, comes out September 1^st. It’s another YA mystery where a group of five friends have a popular podcast, but the most inflammatory member is murdered and it’s clear one of his cohosts is the killer. Guaranteed to make you cry.

Thank you so much for the interview!

The Escape Game at Penguin Books

Tamara Moss’s website

Marissa Meyer’s website

Next read: Two Can Play That Game by Leanne Yong

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