No. Giving a third party that is trusted by both the full control of the coin is far safer than 2-of-2 multisig escrow. It's far more plausible for scammers to hold the coins hostage in this case as they'll have nothing to lose while the escrow is putting his reputation on the line. 2-of-3 could be better provided if the thirdparty is not colluding with either of them, if they are then self escrow would make it as good as a third party holding it.
Definitely there must be a middle man for escrow, if no middle man like I have explained, it will be difficult, there will be some people that will just want to wicked someone. There are some stupid people that will just want to make someone cry and depressed, they can even accept a request that they want to sell but of which having nothing, all they want is to make sure the buyer lose, the layer will lock the bitcoin in escrow, the fake seller will only be happy the buyer has lost. Someone you know but which is identity not linked can do such a thing to wicked someone.