Phil Santiago

Started with physical book. Finished on Audiobook. Really needed some pop culture journalism during a stressful time and this fit the bill. One of my bigger takeaways was how Siskel & Ebert's rise and the proliferation of their banter as 20th century memes was due to their willingness to shake down major entertainment companies for money and for respect. They maintained ownership of their format, shopped it around multiple times, and kept committed to it until their health gave out. Respect.

Coinciding with a return to a Survivor era of my life, I received this book a couple months into 2025 after pre-ordering it last year. I rarely pre-order books, but Stephen Fishbach promised me more "Blood in the Clocktower" YouTube videos if I did that, but as the show that popularized him taught me: trust nobody.

I can praise Escape! as being a page-turner. Fischbach commits to escalation of plot and introduces a varied enough cast of characters with potential arcs you'll want to see close out, much like Survivor does. He has flashes of damn good writing, particularly in the final act when his characters are really pushed into moments of existential reflection.

But it's important to see this as something of an absurdist plot and I wonder how it will play to people who haven't been following pop culture discussion of "the edit" or even to fans of reality TV that don't follow survival shows. At times it feels like Fishbach gave in to a thought exercise and the conclusion feels like something unearthed rather than purposefully crafted. Still, a good airplane read, as I made significant progress on a five-hour flight.