Escape!

Fishbach, a cast member on two seasons of Survivor, blends satire and adventure in his propulsive debut novel. Kent Duvall, winner of the reality TV survival show Endure 15 years earlier, dreams of returning to his former glory. After he’s caught cheating on his wife with Ashley, the first-cut contestant from Endure’s most recent season, his only shot at redemption is to play the hero on a new show in development called Escape (“Or maybe it’s Escape! with an exclamation point,” a producer explains. “The network’s marketing team is still debating that one”). He signs on, with Ashley cast as his bombshell love interest. Fishbach shuffles perspectives between Kent and producer Beck Bermann, who claims to care about the contestants’ real-life stories, but pushes them hard to follow planned story arcs, as with scientist Miriam, whom the show portrays as gangly and awkward for comedic relief. As Ashley, Kent, Miriam, and the other contestants face starvation, interpersonal conflict, and monsoons, the novel builds to a surprising twist. This tense tale makes good use of the author’s firsthand knowledge of reality TV. Agent: Kent Wolf, Neon Literary. (Jan.)