Escape!

Kent Duvall, a middle-aged former winner of the reality show Endure, spends his days rewatching footage of his younger self. His speaking career has dried up, and his wife, Margaret, views him with weary resignation. At a charity event for former reality contestants, Kent kisses a young contestant named Ashley Collins on a hotel diving board. A fan photographs them, the image surfaces online, and Margaret discovers the betrayal. Kent's marriage fractures, and in desperation he accepts a spot on Escape!, a wilderness spinoff in which eight contestants are stranded on a remote Pacific island and must reach an offshore islet where a growing treasure chest awaits.

The novel's other narrator is Beck Bermann, a reality TV producer haunted by professional catastrophe. While filming a cable show about surfing dogs, Beck kept her camera rolling as a bulldog named Buster drowned. The leaked footage made her a national pariah. When legendary producer Jacob Malibu offers her a last-minute job on Escape!, replacing a producer supposedly evacuated with an infection, Beck seizes the chance at redemption.

Beck arrives on the island and meets the crew, including co-producer Erika Huizenga, who greets her with open hostility. The show's story bible, a document sketching each contestant's intended narrative arc, casts a contestant named Miriam as "the Nerd," a brainy scientist destined for comic relief. Beck studies Miriam's psych profile, noting she was orphaned at 19 and lacks direction. Recognizing a kindred outsider, Beck resolves to reshape Miriam's arc from pariah to hero.

On the first day of filming, Miriam stumbles off the boat and loses the group's ferro rod fire starter in the surf. Beck later discovers that Erika snatched the ferro rod from the water, deliberately framing Miriam for the loss. Jacob defends the sabotage as necessary for story. Kent builds a bow drill fire from scratch, establishing himself as the group's provider.

On Day 2, Kelly-Anne, a returning Endure veteran, leads a desertion. She, Ashley, Carl, a fan-favorite returning contestant, and Ruddy, a scheming new contestant, abandon camp with nearly all the gear, leaving Kent with Miriam, Barb (a Tennessee school janitor mourning her son David, who died of cancer), and Bartolo, a boastful new contestant. Beck signals Kent to stay with this weaker group, coaching him toward a hero narrative.

Beck shapes Miriam through carefully produced interviews, steering her away from trusting Barb and toward viewing Kent as her protector. When Barb secretly builds an escape raft, Miriam reveals it to Kent, who destroys it. Barb is devastated; she named the raft after her dead son. Beck also coaches Kent through a challenge victory by hinting at a puzzle clue, then signals him to choose Miriam for a feast reward. During the meal, Miriam confesses she is not actually a scientist but works in marketing. She describes being orphaned at 19, and Kent shares his own sense of being an orphan.

The two groups reunite after Beck helps Kent poison the breakaway camp's water source with toxic fruit. Kent begins secretly taking Mydayis, a prescription amphetamine stolen from a castmate's med kit. Beck redirects Ruddy's bullying toward Barb, who breaks down during a monsoon describing David's death and quits the next morning. Miriam rallies the remaining contestants to build a raft, but it breaks apart in the water. That night, a venomous snake bites Kelly-Anne; Kent holds it while Miriam stabs it with a spear, her first act of physical courage. Kelly-Anne is evacuated.

Beck discovers that Erika has been producing a romance between Kent and Ashley from the start, exactly as the story bible prescribed. All of Beck's footage of Kent and Miriam will be cut. On Day 18, Beck takes Kent and Miriam up the island's mountain, where they find a fake ancient temple built by the art department. Miriam confesses she likes Kent. He cannot reciprocate, fearing their real-world selves will disappoint each other. They are trapped on the summit by a storm and cling together through the freezing night. The next morning, Ashley kisses Kent passionately, and he kisses her back.

Jacob demands more visceral drama. Beck sleeps with him, and he sends her back to her bungalow, where Erika is waiting on the porch. Beck resolves to make Miriam the hunter, supplanting Kent. She arranges a staged pig hunt, but Miriam's first throw misses and the pig escapes. Local fixer Million procures a second boar, drugged and barely conscious. Beck pressures Miriam into killing it by revealing Kent's victories were producer-assisted. Miriam stabs the sedated animal and drags the carcass to camp. Beck then shows Kent manipulated footage suggesting Ashley and Miriam are allied against him. In a frenzy, Kent catches a reef shark but is bitten in the stomach.

Kent is evacuated to the Holding Pen, a cabin for eliminated contestants. His wound becomes infected, and Mydayis withdrawal blurs the line between reality and hallucination. He finds a map and Mydayis left in his clothes, escapes to the mountaintop, and begins building a raft near the temple.

Jacob sends Beck and Miriam to confront Kent. Beck offers Miriam the stolen ferro rod and gasoline to burn the raft. Miriam refuses. Beck ignites it herself. Kent charges from the temple with a machete. Beck steps between Kent and Miriam, confessing she set the fire. Kent's machete cuts her stomach; she smashes her camera into his head. He strikes her with the hilt, knocking her down. Miriam throws the spear, striking Kent in the throat. He dies on the temple floor, his consciousness drifting through memories of his mother, his castmates, and Miriam's hand in his.

Jacob insists production continue. Beck contacts the producer she replaced and learns he was fired, not evacuated, confirming Jacob hired her for her volatile reputation. She finds hidden memory cards behind Jacob's butterfly display containing footage of Jacob secretly stoking Kent's paranoia.

Beck flees into the jungle and discovers Miriam in a butterfly-filled glade, alive after surviving two days alone. Beck confesses every manipulation: the stolen ferro rod, the staged hunts, how she pushed Kent toward destruction. Miriam refuses to leave, insisting her experience was real regardless of production's machinations. Beck quits.

In the aftermath, Ashley quits upon learning of Kent's death, and Miriam collaborates with Erika to force Ruddy out of the game. On Day 44, Miriam and Bartolo sail a raft to the offshore islet and claim $880,000 from the treasure chest. Miriam plans to give a share to Barb in David's memory. In an epilogue set six months later, Beck watches from New York as the show premieres to 1.8 million viewers. She has dinner with her father, who tells her she is the love of his life. That night, she plays her mother's home video all the way through, past the sweet moments to the end, where toddler Beck throws a tantrum. Staring at her reflection, Beck accepts that she exists between her most vicious impulses and her most noble, and that recognizing her worst self is the only way to begin guiding herself toward her best.