Everybody gets the story arc they deserve.
Kent Duvall, a faded reality show winner, just wants another chance at glory – to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven other contestants. Each of them has been cast as a type – Ruddy the bully, Miriam the nerd, Ashley the love interest – but everyone is more than they appear.
The contestants’ goals seem simple – survive the wild, build a raft, win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.
As the schemes and strategies spiral out, breakout camps sabotage each other and rival producers struggle to control the storyline. Soon the question becomes less about who will win than who will make it out in one piece.
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andEscape!
‘This is a really fun read.’
‘Stephen Fishbach writes with great energy and humor, as well as a deep understanding of human longing.’
‘A thrilling, emotionally affecting deep dive into the perilous world of reality television production, in all its manipulative glory. In this sharp page-turner, Survivor maven and former contestant Stephen Fishbach captures the lives of both cast and crew, offering up a gorgeously written, compassionate, but ultimately devastating portrait of the lives of the human beings working inside (and often, crushed by) the entertainment machine.’
‘Stephen Fishbach channels his experience as a reality television star into this hilarious, biting, insightful, and ultimately heartfelt novel about our fame-obsessed culture and a show that pushes its cast to their emotional and physical limits. He can turn a sentence as well as he can boil a plot, and you’ll be marveling at the story even as you’re hooting and cringing at the wild, reckless, and seemingly inescapable decisions the characters make.’
‘Captivating, insightful, and incredibly propulsive, this novel delivers the escape a lot of us need right now. With an expert eye, Fishbach will take you both behind the scenes and amidst the drama of a reality contest show gone amok, with characters you’ll root for and a plot that makes the pages fly.’
‘Fishbach has pulled back the curtain on reality television and his resulting novel is razor-sharp and darkly unsettling. Escape! manages to be both a wicked romp of a page-turner and a poignant insider critique of fame, ambition, and the human craving for connection. You definitely won’t want to change the channel on this one.’
‘Nowhere else have I seen the quasi-religious appeal of reality TV evoked so persuasively and with such compassion. Escape! is a mad romp deserving of close study, shrewd and harrowing and full of heart.’
‘A true literary novel with great characters. Adventure up the wazoo, and perspective to boot.’
‘Stephen Fisbach’s Escape! dives into the dark magic of reality television, elevating ‘trash tv’ to a deep and thoughtful exploration of the struggle for identity and meaning, while at the same time delivering wickedly sharp humor, characters to root for, and a plot full of surprise twists that will have you binge-reading to find out what happens next, all while asking: who truly writes the story of our lives?’
‘Escape! is the most refreshing novel I’ve read in years. Stephen Fishbach’s debut is funny, sharp, and wildly entertaining—a satire that follows a reality TV show as it spirals into a Lord of the Flies for our era. Fishbach writes with the confidence and wit of a seasoned pro, offering an insider’s view on reality television and our fame-obsessed culture, all while delivering propulsive storytelling. I tore through it in a single sitting. What a fantastic, fearless new talent.’
‘Fishbach’s novel stands out because it explores the complicated dynamics of self-narrativizing—and because it’s enriched by the behind-the-scenes details informed by his firsthand experience.’
