Critics' Opinion:
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Published Nov 2022
288 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds.
Four strangers and six weeks: this is all that separates Mara from one life-changing payday. She was surprised when reality TV producers came knocking at Primal Instinct—the survival school where she teaches rich clients not to die during a night outdoors—and even more shocked to be cast in their new show, Civilization. Now she just has to live off the land with her fellow survivors for long enough to get the prize money.
Whisked by helicopter to an undisclosed location, Mara meets her teammates: The grizzled outdoorsman. The Eagle Scout. The white-collar professional. And Ashley, the beautiful but inexperienced one who just wants to be famous. Mara's unusual, rugged childhood has prepared her for the discomforts and hard work ahead. But trusting her fellow survivors? Not part of Mara's skill set.
When the cast wakes one morning to find something has gone horribly wrong, fear ripples through the group. Are the producers giving them an extra challenge? Or are they wrapped up in something more dangerous? Soon Mara and the others face terrifying decisions as "survival" becomes more than a game.
A provocative exploration of the comforts, rituals, and connections we depend upon, Small Game is a gripping page-turner and a poignant story about finding the courage to build a new life from the ground up.
"Braverman's spellbinding debut follows a cast of five as they film an ill-fated survival-reality series...With danger setting in, the author keeps up a terrific sense of suspense...Like the best TV, readers won't want this to end." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Skillfully blends psychological suspense with some nuanced modern-day themes...Braverman draws on her extensive outdoors experience to bring alive the gritty details of the survival camp, and her characters are simultaneously engaging and terrifying as they battle nature and each other to stay alive." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Braverman does a great job of developing the characters, building suspense and raising the stakes, but leaves the reader unhappily perplexed about some critical matters. A propulsive read marred by unanswered questions." - Kirkus Reviews
"Propulsive and twisty, Small Game is a gripping thrill ride about human nature at its best and its worst." - Esquire
"If I was allowed one book to help me navigate the often inhospitable world in which we live, I'd choose Blair Braverman's Small Game. It is so sharply written, brilliantly paced, and perfectly illuminates the struggle to survive without losing the piece of yourself that makes you who you are. Braverman is wildly talented, a force of nature, and I will read anything she writes because I know it's been crafted by an expert." - Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here
"I challenge anyone to put down Small Game once they have started reading. This masterful debut novel will scare you to pieces, then show you how to put yourself together again." - Sarah Marshall, host of You're Wrong About
"In a page-turner powered by wit and plot twist, the biggest surprise may be that Blair Braverman has written one of the smartest—and most humane—satires of our media age as a tale of wilderness survival. Or maybe satire is too modest a word for this slyly ambitious novel. Small Game is an antidote to doom—funny, frightening, romantic, and, like its woodswoman heroine, alert to both danger and possibility." - Jeff Sharlet, bestselling author of The Family and The Undertow
This information about Small Game was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Blair Braverman is a writer, dogsledder, and adventurer who uses innovative storytelling to make the outdoors accessible. She is the author of Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube, a contributing editor to Outside magazine, and a contributor to the New York Times, Vogue, This American Life, and elsewhere. She lives in the northwoods with her husband, Quince Mountain, and their team of sled dogs.
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