Escape!

‘Stephen Fishbach writes with great energy and humor, as well as a deep understanding of human longing.’ * Jonathan Safran Foer * ‘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 * ‘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 * ‘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 * ‘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 * ‘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 * ‘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 * ‘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.’ * Atlantic *