Escape! - by Stephen Fishbach (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A propulsive debut novel following a has-been reality TV star and a disgraced producer who get one last shot at redemption on a show set on a remote island, only to discover that the plot twists are beyond what they ever imagined.

Everyone 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.

Review Quotes

Praise for Escape!

"[An] engrossing debut novel about a reality star desperately chasing former glory -- where else? -- back on TV. The book plays out much like the genre itself, with wild twists and turns you won't see coming."
--Dalton Ross, Editorial Director, EW's Must List

"A literary thriller . . . 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."
--The Atlantic

"The novel is a wild ride that will keep readers glued to the page the same way they are glued to their screens during their favorite reality competition shows"
--Entertainment Weekly

"This is the Great American Reality TV Book we've been waiting for."
--Debutiful

"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."
--LA Review of Books

"A true literary novel with great characters. Adventure up the wazoo, and perspective to boot."
--Slate

"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."
--Emily Nussbaum, author of Cue The Sun: The Invention of Reality TV and Staff Writer at The New Yorker

"In Escape!, Stephen Fishbach shows how everything on reality television is artificial--except the humiliation, which is definitely real. It's a scathing behind-the-scenes exposé, but also a heartfelt and tender story of people being turned into entertainment, then scrambling to edit themselves back into people."
--Nathan Hill, bestselling author of The Nix and Wellness

"Stephen Fishbach writes with great energy and humor, as well as a deep understanding of human longing."
--Jonathan Safran Foer, New York Times bestselling author

"A propulsive read."
--Katie Couric Media

"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."
--Janelle Brown, New York Times bestselling author of What Kind of Paradise and Pretty Things

"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."
--J. Ryan Stradal, bestselling author of Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

"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."
--Benjamin Percy, author of The Ninth Metal, Red Moon, The Dead Lands, and Thrill Me

"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?"
--Hannah Tinti, author of The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

"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."
--Lauren Wilkinson, author of American Spy

"Propulsive and affecting, Escape! is a love letter to and indictment of the reality television ecosystem, inside and out."
--Shelf Awareness

"[Fishbach] blends satire and adventure in his propulsive debut novel. . . . This tense tale makes good use of the author's firsthand knowledge of reality TV."
--Publisher's Weekly

"Reality TV fans will relish getting an insider's peek into the behind-the-scenes production machinations, and readers who want a propulsive page-turner will appreciate the way the drama and tension unfolds and builds as the contestants battle each other and the elements all the way to the surprising conclusion."
--Booklist

"Gripping performances embody this detailed fictional tale on the ethics of reality television."
--Kirkus (on the audiobook)

"As a novel, Escape! offers a gripping story; as an exploration of reality TV, even in a fictional context, it's both insightful and humanizing."
--reality blurred

About the Author

Stephen Fishbach is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer and former television executive. A two-time Survivor contestant (voted onto the show the second time by millions of fans), he's worked on the network side as a Vice President at MTV and freelanced for a reality producers' trade group. He cohosts the Survivor Know-It-Alls podcast and hosts the literary podcast Paraphrase. Stephen graduated with honors from Yale and received a master of fine arts in fiction at New York University. His short story "To Sharks"--an excerpt from Escape!--was published by One Story, which garnered Stephen the Pushcart Prize. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two daughters.