Reprieve
by James Han Mattson· 2021
The challenge taken on by a group competing in the Quigley House escape room takes a sinister turn when one of the contestants is murdered. On 27 April 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room made famous for its monstrosities. If the group can endure its horrors without shouting the safe word, 'reprieve', they'll win a substantial cash prize - a feat accomplished only by one other group in the house's long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.
Those who were present on that night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager uprooted from her childhood home after the loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the US in search of his former English teacher. As each character's journey unfurls, deceits and misunderstandings fuelled by obsession and prejudice are revealed - forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a catastrophe. Reprieve threads together trial transcripts, evidence descriptions, and individual narratives.
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The challenge taken on by a group competing in the Quigley House escape room takes a sinister turn when one of the contestants is murdered. On 27 April 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room made famous for its monstrosities. If the group can endure its horrors without shouting the safe word, 'reprieve', they'll win a substantial cash prize - a feat accomplished only by one other group in the house's long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants. Those who were present on that night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager uprooted from her childhood home after the loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the US in search of his former English teacher. As each character's journey unfurls, deceits and misunderstandings fuelled by obsession and prejudice are revealed - forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a catastrophe. Reprieve threads together trial transcripts, evidence descriptions, and individual narratives.