Linwood Barclay’s Elevator Pitch will have readers thinking twice about using an elevator and gravitate toward taking the stairs after this suspenseful read.

New York City finds itself in the grip of a terror-filled nightmare when several elevator accidents cause horrific deaths. People are afraid to get on an elevator in what is essentially a vertical city with its plethora of skyscrapers.

At the same time, a duo of detectives is investigating the death of a man found on the High Line, his face a bloodied pulp and his fingertips cut off to blur his identity. What’s this man’s connection, if at all, to these elevator incidents?

In town, ostensibly to celebrate his wedding anniversary, is the head of an alt-right group called the Flyovers, who are trying to bring attention to their cause.

The terror notches up higher when a taxi explodes, claiming more lives. Are the incidents connected? Is this a way to bring a city that’s a haven for finance, fashion, and entertainment to the verge of collapse?

The mayor does what he can but his own history betrays him. Not known to be the nicest of men at times, his own son ridiculed at every turn, the mayor tries to contain the panic in the city with his eye on his political future. And a hard-talking reporter with a secret of her own takes on the mayor when things start to spiral out of control and involve the one person she loves.

There are plenty of twists and surprises as Barclay keeps upping the suspense until an ending that a reader might begin to anticipate but that will turn on itself with devastating and unforeseen consequences.

Barclay invokes the backstories of many of his characters so that readers become involved in them and their outcome. Addictive and enthralling.