Booktails Spring 2026: Escape!

Escape!

By Stephen Fishbach

Last month, we hosted a poll over on our Patreon asking members to vote on March’s Booktail selection, and I couldn’t have been more excited about the winning title.

It’s Survivor season, and Escape! by Stephen Fishbach is the perfect pairing for the next few months filled with idol hunts, brutal challenges, and endless drama as contestants battle to outwit, outplay, and outlast one another.

I promise Escape! stands on its own as a sharp, exciting novel. But if you’re not a Survivor fan, you may not love it quite as much as I did as the book is packed with clever nods to survival competition shows. For those of us who grew up watching Survivor with our families, though, this story is a wild ride that will have you staying up far too late to read “just one more chapter.”

Fishbach’s debut is thrilling, dynamic, and wildly entertaining, all while exploring timely themes of identity, performance, and the psychological toll of living life on camera. It’s rare to come across a novel that feels this fresh and original—especially in an era when so many wonderful stories are published each year. Somehow, Escape! manages to feel both contemporary and wholly unique.

The novel follows a washed-up reality competition winner and a recently disgraced producer who are each offered a final shot at redemption on a new survival show set on a remote island.

Kent Duvall has been fading into obscurity ever since the spotlight from his big win on Endure burned out. Convinced he’s destined for more, and reeling from a scandal that cost him his marriage, Kent latches onto an opportunity to be cast on a new reality show as his chance to claw his way back to fame. This is his shot at relevance again and he’s willing to do whatever it takes.

Beck Bermann is a producer publicly shamed and fired after a tragic accident occurred under her watch. Just as she begins to believe her career is over, legendary producer Jacob Malibu calls with an offer: a production role on his ambitious new jungle survival competition, Escape! Beck seizes the opportunity, viewing it as her chance to regain control of her narrative and give the contestants—and herself—the story arc they deserve.

Fishbach himself is a two-time Survivor contestant, co-host of the Survivor Know-It-Alls podcast, and a former network executive and reality producer. His deep knowledge of the genre shines through. In preparation for Escape!, he interviewed fellow contestants and crew members, and that behind-the-scenes authenticity is woven seamlessly into the book’s production details and fully realized characters. The result is the most realistic, outlandish survival competition show experience a reader could ask for.

If you’re curious about how reality TV is actually made or if you’re interested in an exploration of what we sacrifice when we start living “for the plot,” Escape! is a must-read.

Pick up your copy at Bookshop Benicia or place a hold at the Benicia Public Library. Better yet, gather your Survivor watch-party crew and turn this into a tandem book club read alongside Season 50.