The desire to treat life as a narrative—and then control that narrative—is the subject of Stephen Fishbach’s debut novel, Escape!, a literary thriller that follows a single season of a fictional reality survival show from casting to airtime. Fishbach writes from experience: He was a two-time contestant on Survivor and co-hosts a Survivor podcast. To inform his book, he interviewed many other reality contestants and crew members. The result marries the plot twists of a competition show with compassionate portraits of the people involved who are searching for identity and meaning. It’s both an examination of how the reality-TV sausage gets made and a reminder that people can sacrifice their humanity if they focus too much on making the plot—of a television program, of life itself—exciting.