Escape!

by Stephen Fishbach

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.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery, Adult, Survival, Mystery Thriller

Kindle Edition

Expected publication January 27, 2026

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

FELLOW SURVIVOR HEADS LFGGGG

our beloved fish (robbed in second chances btw) has at long last released his debut fiction book based on survivor and all the reality tv game shows we love, and it’s GOOD

we follow the process of creating a brand new reality survival game show mainly focused on a former winner of a survivor-type show who is recruited (blackmailed?) to come back to tv through this show, and a similarly blackballed producer brought onto assist with the show’s production - so we’re seeing the show play out from both the perspective of a contestant and a producer, which keeps things interesting.

what starts out as a typical survival show quickly spirals more into thriller territory and i had so much fun with the turns this story takes! you can tell Fish put a lot of his own experiences and knowledge into the book (makes me wonder what shady production tactics he’s trying to warn us about 👀) and the book even exists in a universe where Survivor is a real show (he even name drops actual contestants to give background to lore).

this was a really unique book that will especially be a lot of fun for survivor/reality show fans or if you’re just looking for a thriller that offers something more than husband and wife drama…

[Tiffany Greenwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's two-time history on "Survivor" was the initial hook—a promise of authentic, insider perspective—and I'm pleased to report that the book not only delivered on that promise but significantly transcended it.

"Escape!" is a gripping, high-octane dive into a fictional reality competition that pulls back the curtain with unflinching detail. What truly elevates this novel beyond a mere genre exercise is its masterful use of multiple points of view (POV). By allowing us access to both the on-screen contestants and the off-screen production team, the author creates a dizzying, panoramic view of the manufactured chaos. This structural choice is brilliant; it's the literary equivalent of a split-screen edit, letting us see the illusion and the mechanics of the illusion simultaneously.

The characters are commendably multidimensional, wrestling with ambition, ethics, and the corrosive nature of constant surveillance. They feel earned, not merely sketched out. However, I must acknowledge the one notable critique: the narrative occasionally leans more toward telling than showing. While this is a common challenge, particularly when an author is juggling an action-packed plot and a large ensemble cast within a tight page count, I found myself wishing for more moments of quiet, sensory immersion to truly anchor the characters' internal lives. Given the sheer density of events and revelations packed into this book, however, it’s a forgivable sin—the author clearly prioritized momentum, and the plot benefits immensely from that relentless pace.

Yet, where the book truly succeeds is in its fearless, almost hyperbolic exploration of the industry's dark underbelly. The plot is rife with shocking surprises, and the author skillfully exaggerates the already-vicious competitive spirit and ethical compromises of reality television. This hyperbole, however, never feels gratuitous. Instead, it acts as a fun-house mirror, distorting the reality we know to reveal its terrifying potential. For a fan of the genre, the ethical dilemmas and outrageous twists resonate with a deep, knowing truth; the book’s critique of the consumption of human struggle is potent and felt true to the genre even in its most outlandish moments.

"Escape!" is more than a thrilling read; it’s a significant piece of pop-culture commentary written from the inside. It cements the author as a voice uniquely equipped to dissect the drama they once lived.

[Remi · Rating 4 out of 5]

*thank you to netgalley and dutton for this arc in exchange for an honest review*

out of all the reality tv–themed novels i’ve read, this one was by far the most fun. the structure is neat and systematic: first meeting the contestants, then the production chaos. we mainly follow kent (an old star who wants to shine one more time), miriam (the nerd archetype who becomes so much more), and beck (a morally ambiguous producer desperate for her own comeback). through their eyes, the story shifts between the staged spectacle and the messy reality behind the scenes.

what really worked for me is how the novel feels like watching an actual reality show. the alliances, rivalries, the meddling, and sinister little twists build in a way that feels both outrageous and somewhat realistic. the plot is so well thought out that i found myself grinning at how cleverly it unfolded.

in a nutshell: Escape! nails that mix of entertainment and tension. it's propulsive, smart, and genuinely addictive.

[Blaiz Ferrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ 3.75/4 stars ✨
As someone who’s been forced (lovingly) to watch every season of Survivor thanks to my husband, I knew I had to pick this one up—and I’m so glad I did.

Escape! pulls back the curtain on the messy, uncomfortable, and often manufactured reality of reality TV, and it was fascinating from start to finish.
I genuinely felt like I was watching a show unfold: the jungle atmosphere, the confession-style interviews, the strategic maneuvering, and the way contestants are edited into “types.” It’s sharp, self-aware, and honestly just fun. Stephen Fishbach clearly knows this world inside and out, and it shows.
Even though some sections felt a bit overdone for me—extra dialogue and drawn-out moments made the book longer than it needed to be, and it took a while to really get going- I was fully invested.
Overall, I had a great time with this one. It’s a smart, entertaining look at manipulation on tv, how far some willTV, to win and finding ones true "arc"

[Crista Falco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book very excited and with high expectations as I am a huge Survivor fan and have enjoyed Fishbach’s commentary about the show for many years. I am happy to say that this book absolutely lived up to my expectations.

This book was engaging from start to finish. I especially appreciated the multiple narratives from both the contestants POV and the producers. As someone who has always been fascinated by the ins and outs of reality television production, I found the producer's storyline particularly intriguing. While, you can definitely see similarities between characters in the book and some big characters on Survivor, the characters still feel fully realized and three dimensional.

What I was especially delighted by in this book was the amount of action. I was originally dubious when I saw the length of the book, but Fishbach manages to keep this book action packed and I can genuinely say I had no clue what was going to happen next. For someone who has consumed as many reality competition shows as I have, this was especially refreshing and fun.

I highly recommend this one! If you enjoy high stakes adventure and reality television it will not disappoint.

Thank you to Dutton & NetGalley for the eARC!

[Marissa Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Spice: 🌶️/5 (a couple closed-door scenes and kissing)

⚠️Trigger warnings at the bottom - read if you have sensitivities but skip if you don’t want spoilers

This was such a fun wilderness survival reality show thriller! The plot was full of unpredictable twists and turns. It was fun to peel back the curtain and see both the producer’s and the player’s point of view. I wasn’t quite sure if the narrators were reliable, which kept me on the edge of my seat. The writing was lush and immersive.

The author is a legendary Survivor player, and his real experience lent a lot of authenticity to what it was like surviving in the jungle.

Although the characters were compelling, I had a hard time connecting with them. I also wish the ending was more satisfying.

Highly recommend to fans of toxic characters, twisty thrillers, and reality tv!

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⚠️ trigger/content warnings: death of a dog, drug use, mental illness, injury, blood, murder

[Ry]

This will be someone’s 5 star read — alas, that person isn’t me. I simply didn’t connect with the primary characters in time for them to make an impact, and while I had fun with the first and last quarters of the book, the middle ultimately fell flat for me.

There are some insightful paragraphs and killer lines in the book, and the author’s own life experience helps to create a vivid atmosphere and lifelike storytelling…which may actually be where the book lost me. Reading about the parts of the reality show that get cut before they hit the air, while important for the plot here, is, well, a reminder of why so much gets cut. There’s drama, but it didn’t feel like it meant much in the end. That could be a testament to part of the point the book is making, of course, but maybe I just expected a genre that this is not.

The game itself seemed a bit flimsy to me, perhaps because it’s really a backdrop for the characters to move against. Then again, perhaps I’m just still busy being bitter about how terrible this season of Love Is Blind has been (I joke, although half of that is true)

I have a personal rule against submitting a star rating under 4 before a book has hit 50 reviews, but between you and I, this one was a 3.5 for me. By no means a bad book, just not my match ⭐️

I would recommend this more for a reader looking for a character-driven, multi-POV story that happens to include an interesting perspective on the world of reality TV, I would not recommend it for a reader who’s in it for edge-of-your-seat suspense or the game itself

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I’ve read several novels based on the premise of a Survivor-type TV reality show, I couldn’t resist this one as it’s written by a two-time Survivor contestant who does a decent job of pulling back the curtain to show us what really goes on behind, and in front of, the scenes.

Escape! is an escalation of Survivor: 8 contestants are dumped on a tropical island with the promise of big money if they can make their way to another island and unlock a treasure chest. They can work together or alone but the longer they wait, the more money they win.

The two main narrators are Kent, a has-been alpha male winner from a previous survival show, who is looking to regain the feeling of really living he had on that show and Beck, a producer who has been vilified because of an accidental death on a show she was working on. There are also a few chapters told from the perspective of Miriam, the nerd of the cast who is looking to change not just her life but her whole personality.

Pulling the strings is the legendary reality producer, Jacob Malibu, who manipulates his crew, particularly Beck, as much as his crew manipulate the cast. Jacob seems to have a plan as to where he wants the show to go, raising the stakes and the drama to put himself back on top. But nothing goes quite as planned as each character is working with their own motivations.

The author has wisely chosen to keep his show's cast at 8 characters, all delineated types from reality TV, though the production crew is a bit less fleshed out. There's an odd loose end in the plot as we seem to be heading down a supernatural/horror path as we're told early on that the local people believe there to be a monster on the island and the contestants are warned not to go into the heart of the jungle, but this just sort of fizzles out.

We’ve seen on shows like Unreal how “reality” is more of a construct than a description and, presumably drawing from his own experience, the author skillfully shows what’s really going on behind the camera.

As things get really out of hand, we do lose touch with, uh, reality but where would be the fun in just having a bunch of contestants get along and win the money. After all, Survivor hasn't lasted 49 seasons without ensuring there’s always something to talk about, even if they don’t go quite as far as Escape!

Clearly the author has some writing chops and, while a bit trite, this slips down very easily. Perfect for the wait until Survivor season 50.

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

[LindaPf · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, I almost never watch reality TV (although I do remember Richard Hatch winning “Survivor 1” 20 something years ago). But I have read a lot (a lot!) of fictional stories where reality TV contestants either fall in love or try to kill each other. It’s almost a 21st century trope/genre in thrillers now (like true crime podcasters being stalked by listeners).

Many actual participants have written memoirs or tell-alls, but very few decide to write fictional psychological thrillers about unscripted television. I only know about Blair Braverman, of “Naked and Afraid,” and a regular contributor to “Outside Magazine,” who wrote a decent suspense thriller, “Small Game.” “Escape!” is written by a double participant (and a fan favorite) of the granddaddy of all reality shows, “Survivor,” and it’s author Stephen Fishbach’s latest career adventure. Fishbach has been both contender and producer, so he can inhabit the MC personas of both Kent (also once a fan favorite, but now much older and jaded) and Beck, the executive producer looking for a comeback after a disastrous incident on “Surf Dogs” (which qualifies as a trigger warning), who is also at the mercy of an even more unscrupulous executive. The third main character is Miriam, slotted into the cliched role of “The Nerd,” who Fishbach tells us in his Author’s Notes that he deeply sympathizes with (as a naive contestant). Beck has his eye on Miriam, too, hoping to shape/manipulate her outcome.

The story follows the three POVs and I’m pretty sure that if you are a reality TV fan, you’ll enjoy the machinations, twists, alliance, betrayals, arguments, and flirtations of the cast of “Endure.” It’s fascinating, but I kept wondering more about the author’s state of mind as he was writing three personal parts of his own experience. That sort of kept me from fully enjoying the book’s storyline. But, Grade A for effort. 3 stars.

Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

[Matthew Newport · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen Fishbach’s debut novel Escape! is an exciting read for fans of reality tv competitions. The literary thriller told from multiple perspectives describes the entirety of a survival-based competition from the viewpoint of contestants and production members. Fishbach is a two-time competitor on the long-running television show Survivor, so he is well versed in the world of reality tv.

Escape has the reverse premise of survivor. Eight contestants are stranded on an island with the objective of escaping to a neighboring island where there is a treasure chest of buried cash. Kent Duvall is a reality tv veteran and previous winner. He is hoping to reclaim his glory days competing on Escape. Other cast members include Miriam the chemist, Ashley the attractive love interest, and Ruddy the villain. On the production side of the show Beck Bermann is trying to redeem her career after a tragedy that occurred under her watch on a different show.

By sharing viewpoints of contestants and production Fishbach shows how reality shows are more than the edit that reaches the viewers. Producers compete to manipulate contestants to bring their desired storylines to the forefront.

I really enjoyed this novel. Fishbach maintains suspense throughout the story making this a page turner. There are many recognizable scenarios for fans of reality tv, like me. I am unsure if readers unfamiliar with reality tv will enjoy this story. There are numerous references to iconic reality tv moments that non-fans will not recognize. The characters are beautifully written and I enjoyed their development. As the story progresses, readers see that the contestants are more complex than the archetype they were casted to be.

Thank you, Dutton and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy for review.

[Kim McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

What sets this adventure/thriller/backstabbing drama apart from the others is the background of the author. Not only was Stephen Fishbach a contestant on Survivor but also a producer so the man has seen some stuff. We have all watched reality survival shows and wondered how much is real and how much is staged but no one prepared me for the amount of psychological manipulation on both sides of the camera. Kent is a past winner on a survival reality show and has spent time on the fan circuit but now it is looking like the end when he gets a chance to be a contestant on a new show. ESCAPE! will dump him along with the other interesting pool of contestants on a deserted island where they will fight for keys to unlock the treasure chest that waits close to shore. The idea is not to escape until the very end when there are fewer survivors and those who make it to the end will get a bigger payout. Beck is a reality show producer who lost a contestant to an accident on her last show. Disgraced she is looking to make a comeback as a top producer on ESCAPE! The reality and staged (or edits stitched together) elements begin to blur as ambition and greed take over. Filled with danger at every level and the best/worst of humans this is one island very far from paradise. Reality show lovers will eat this up as will those of us who prefer to read about danger instead of experiencing it. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, author Stephen Fishbach, and Dutton for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I am a huge Survivor fan, so I was thrilled to see a new reality tv-fiction book written by a former Survivor contestant! Escape! really hooked me in from the first page: larger-than-life characters, action-packed plot, satirical humor, and many an open-ended plot point. For most of the book, it really DID feel like reading an episode of reality tv, and I think Fishbach's personal experience really helped to flesh out the minor details. The setting is extremely descriptive, and the characters are uniquely individual. However, by about the midway point of the book, it just started to become too much for me. Pretty much all of the characters became repetitive, which made them feel flat and more annoying, and the plot rose to an outlandish height. By the time the book ended, I was annoyed by each of the main narrators and ready to escape reading the book lol. I do think this book is silly and fun in a lot of ways, and I can see how lots of readers will enjoy! There's some great aspects to the book and a fun "peek behind the curtain" into how shows are produced. I just wish that the book was a bit more concise and a bit more realistic than fantastical.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

EEEEEEE! That was me when I saw this title. Yes, I was one of those Gen-Xers who remembers vividly where I was when Sue gave her iconic rats and snakes speech and Richard Hatch took home the million dollars. Okay, I know this isn't the ACTUAL behind-the-scenes scoop on Survivor—or any specific reality show—but it sure felt like it! (Much like the what the show UnREAL did for The Bachelor.)

I was completely swept up in the adventure—like I was producing the survival show or enduring a monsoon under a leaking lean-to. Fishbach definitely has a gift for writing and for character development. The main characters, Beck (producer), Kent (former winner), and Miriam (nerd) were well-fleshed out and relatable. I also appreciated that the tertiary characters—the villain, the fool, the bombshell, etc.—embodied classic Survivor archetypes and existed only to add some flavor to the mix, much like on the show.

If you love or hate reality shows, if you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes or been skeptical of the edits and manufactured storylines, or if you've just been caught up in the spell, you will love this book! Get it! Read it!

Thanks to Dutton, via NetGalley, for this ARC.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s something about a survival setting that flips people inside out, and Escape! definitely reaches for that. The premise had all the ingredients I usually enjoy: a group of contestants on a remote island, alliances being tested, and the tension of not knowing what’s real once the cameras stop. On paper, this is the kind of setup that should have hooked me.

But the execution fell flat for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, and the narrative didn’t feel quite stimulating enough to keep my attention throughout. The slow shift from game to survival didn’t carry the emotional punch or momentum I was hoping for. Even though the stakes were technically high, I didn’t feel them in the way I wanted to.

I will say, I appreciated that Stephen Fishbach drew from his own time on Survivor and interviews with former reality contestants. You can see that authenticity in how alliances form and break. The writing is clean and focused on strategy over theatrics, which some readers may really enjoy.

Overall, though, the concept was stronger than the follow-through for me. I wanted more intensity, more depth, and more investment in the characters’ unraveling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC in return for my honest feedback.

[Skylar Miklus · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one else could've written this novel and I feel so lucky that I get to be alive at the same moment as it? Maybe that's dramatic, but I'm a reality TV fan, so it's my ouvre. I thought the question of what it means to "produce" someone -- or what it means for your decisions to be your own -- formed the emotional core of the story. We swap between three POVs, producer Beck is in 1st person past, while contestants Kent and Miriam are in 3rd person present, which I thought was a clever choice: Beck prompts the contestants to speak in present tense while giving their confessionals. Plus, as the only one on the production side, Beck is arguably the only one with agency over how the story is being told, so she's the only one who gets to speak in the "I." (Though, how much control does Beck truly have over the situation as it spirals out of control?) Be advised that the plot has several instances of animal death, and it was also hornier than I expected, if either of those affects your reading experience. Still digesting this overall but I wanted to share some thoughts as I was grateful to receive an ARC from NetGalley! I'm going to Fishbach's book tour and I will update this if I gain any insight :3

[tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to make a finale feel both surprising and inevitable (anyone who watches Survivor would know), but Fishbach managed to do it incredibly in this book. I was pulled in almost immediately by how fully the story places you inside the minds of its central characters, which creates a slow, creeping sense of tension as things draw on.

There’s a subtle narrative choice that I didn’t totally register at first, and once it clicked, it made everything that much better. The middle act lingers a bit and some background details blur together, but that almost feels intentional given how the narrators experience it themselves. Even little moments I wasn’t really sure about have stuck with me in hindsight.

Whether this is the start of a literary career or a one-and-done from someone with something to say, it's undeniably a worthy entry in modern pop culture's reality TV canon.

Many thanks to Dutton, the PRH team, & NetGalley for the ARC!

[Cindy (leavemetomybooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

* thanks to Dutton for the NetGalley review copy (pub date: January 27, 2026)

Loved the premise - a messy reality show producer fresh off a career-ruining (making?) mistake is sent to work on a new show on a deserted island with a potential million dollar prize. The cast is made up of reality show veterans and newbies that fit all of the reality tv archetypes (the hot girl, the nerd, the kooky older lady, the hyper-macho men, etc) and it’s fun to hear what’s happening from their varying perspectives. I loved the first half or so and thought it was highly entertaining, but it got kind of bogged down and slow for a while - but then the ending was bananas in a good way. I’m not a big reality show watcher, but I’d recommend this to anyone who likes a peek behind the camera at what’s really happening before those confessionals.


3.5 rounded down

[ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - This is a suspense novel filled with the drama of producing a reality tv show. I have never seen Survivor (I'm partial to Bravo shows only) or similar shows, but the author was a two-time contestant. Honestly, this was really interesting in a way I didn't expect. It peels back the motivations of everyone - the camera crews, the producers, the contestant, etc. and really bares the ugliness of these competing interests. I loved how much the lines were blurred between what was and wasn't real, and how fast chaos ensues. I was worried about keeping track of all the characters due to the multiple POVs plus the crew/contestants but the way the story is laid out makes it very easy to keep up. My only critique would be that I felt this could have been cut 75-50ish pages or so and kept the same value.

Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Mehva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of three people and a reality survival show. A former contestant wanting back his glory days as his life is failing, a nerd want to change and a producer who is hated for filming a tragic death, wanting redemption. the characters were vividly drawn and believable as way the setting and action. I could see this as a movie or tv show. This is a story of how they are all changed, this is mostly a story of behind the scenes of the show and all the manipulation and producing of people to get the story they want vs what is really happening. Overall interesting read, could have had a stronger ending. there is a lot of animal abuse/death that was hard for me to read, way more than i wanted to read so that is a warning

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are several works of fiction out now that are centered on reality TV. Of the ones I’ve read, this feels the most authentic, perhaps due to the fact that the author played “Survivor” twice. The setting feels real, and the challenges sound doable and watchable (whereas in other books, they sometimes come across as too convoluted). This book takes the concept of producing content in the background and manipulating contestants to an extreme which is part of what made it so entertaining.

Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Escape! was everything I wanted it to be. It’s easy to look at a book by a former reality show contestant with a level of side eye, but Stephen Fishbach has been on every side of the lens and is someone who clearly loves storytelling and television as a medium. He has created a story and characters that are refreshingly unpredictable until the bitter end. Perfect for the Survivor fan, television fan or adventure fan in your life.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew Stephen Fishbach had a brilliant novel in him and I was so right. Escape! is deliciously satisfying in its behind-the-scenes peek at reality TV and meaningfully nuanced as it grapples with our existential need to know we matter. Applause, give this one the million dollars.

[Stephen Fishbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best book I've ever written.

edit: also the only book I've ever written.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

stay tuned for a proper review! 🏝️

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy reality TV, this fictional account will give some inkling of the behind the camera manipulations. Amusing, upsetting, and well-plotted.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strong beginning, trippy ending, but the middle is so repetitive and drawn out. I needed 100 fewer pages for this to feel urgent and vital and thrilling.