Listen, this book isn't for the faint of heart... it's definitely dark, but also a thriller page turner.

You know by now I love a vacation gone wrong and maybe you know I am a die-hard survivor fan. There was no way I was turning down the chance to review a book about four strangers cast in a reality show about surviving!

Mara is actually an outdoor teaching professional and is very surprised when the TV producers add her to the cast. When she joins the others, she really doesn't know what to expect of how to act. All she knows is that she desperately needs the prize money.

As she learns more about her fellow contestants, reality shows in general and how to get a long with other people, something goes very, very wrong on set. Can the survivors band together and survive this? If you like vacation gone wrong and reality tv based stories you will love Small Game#Ecco #BlairBraverman #SmallGame #Netgalley

Definitely a quick and easy read by the pool type of book!

A new reality TV show called Civilization is casting for 5 members to be dropped off in an undisclosed location to survive for 6 weeks (kind of like Naked and Afraid but with clothes) and whoever survives wins a grand prize! I really enjoyed the characters in the book each having a different background/struggle but I felt as if the ending was extremely rushed and I would've liked to read more of their journey.


Thanks to Ecco Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I really liked this book. I thought it was a unique premise and I liked all the characters. I have to admit I kept waiting for another shoe to drop with all the characters, but I still liked it. It was an interesting premise and i always wanted to keep reading it.

Small Game is if Survivor or Naked & Afraid were blended with something like The Revenant or Deliverance and while that may sound great, the result is just plain.

The characters and setting are what sets this book back for me because they never seem to break out of a normal mold and seem to stay as stereotypes. The story also is standard and never takes a sharp turn or twist to create a new twist on the genre.

Overall Small Game is not great or horrible but I wish it was far better.

A group of five strangers agree to participate in a survival TV game. They each have their reasons - money, fame, recognition from a daughter, just to prove they can. But the game is not as it first seems. Real danger lurks when the TV crew suddenly stops appearing every day.

I liked this wilderness adventure/survival story. Braverman has developed interesting characters and plausible situations. I do wish the conclusion was more detailed. Some problems were not resolved, but I hope this means a second book is forthcoming.

Thanks to Ecco Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publication date: 11/1/22

I was a big fan of Braverman's memoir, "Welcome to the Goddamned Ice Cube" and was excited to read this. She clearly is a good writer and I was into the story of "Small Game" right away. I loved the characters in this novel.
Surprisingly, given the subject matter - a group of people caught in the wilderness alone after singing up to be contestants in a wilderness survival games how - this story was relatively anticlimactic for me. None of what happened was a surprise. Now I was still very much engaged and happy to continue and looked forward to picking the book up again. Most disappointing was the way the contestants escaped in the end. It was quickly summarized in a future tense. What would have been a very engaging and satisfying experience for the reader, was left out entirely. For me, this left the entire story rather one-note. I would still very much read what this author publishes in the future however.

Thank you to Ecco for providing a NetGalley ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Pub date: 11/1/22
Genre: adventure thriller
In one sentence: Prize money from the survival show Civilization was supposed to solve all of Mara's problems - but now she'll be lucky to escape with her life.

A survival show is the perfect setting for a popcorn thriller! I enjoyed meeting Mara and her fellow survivors, seeing what skills they brought to the table, and betting who would succeed and fail. Braverman did a great job keeping the plot moving - the Survivor-esque show kept my attention, but the survivors' adventures after the crew left also had me gripped. There were a few good twists to keep me guessing, and I'm looking forward to reading more from Braverman.

A story that drew me in from the first pages.A tense thoughtful look at survival at danger with characters that come alive.#netgalley @ecco

SMALL GAME is a story about survival and community. I love a good survival story and for the most part I enjoyed this novel. I thought there was going to be more to it though. It almost felt like there was a build up to something that never quite happened. The ending felt a bit rushed and non resolute but overall it was a fast paced enjoyable read and I would read more from the author!

This book is a quick read, with a good mix of human drama and wilderness survival plot. It was tense and stressful. It's not often that readers get to see the upper Midwest as a wild and dangerous place, but the North Woods are beautiful and isolated.

The author catches you right away with a simple premise: strangers in an undisclosed location competing for money. What actually happens strays from that simple concept and reveals that when we are taken away from our distractions, our real stuff emerges. Writing was excellent, fully imagined each character as their own as well as the pending doom of the setting.

I loved this book! Thrillers aren't my preferred genre, and I rarely find them memorable - I tend to enjoy them enough as I'm reading them, but forget them almost as soon as I'm done. Small Game was an exception: in fact, as soon as I finished it, I started again. A few reasons it stood out for me:

- Braverman is a strong writer - again, with thrillers I often find the actual writing to be secondary (if not tertiary) to the conceptual plot, and I was pleasantly surprised that wasn't at all the case here. (This is her debut novel, though she's written two nonfiction books - one a memoir that I've added to my TBR.)

- The story itself was propulsive and immersive. Another pleasant surprise: I felt like I got a stronger-than-usual sense for most of the characters, especially Mara, the protagonist - but in a slow and semi-stunted way, which feels appropriate given Mara's personality. She's quite introverted, and connection doesn't come naturally to her, but when it does it's real and deep. I found her not just believable but relatable.

- The blurb teases that "the cast wakes up one morning to find something has gone horribly wrong." I personally loved the process of finding out what exactly it was that had gone so off-the-rails, and I was very satisfied with the resolution. I won't say more for fear of spoilers!

- I've seen a few reviews complaining that the ending felt rushed. Yes, it wasn't fleshed out, but I don't think it should have been. The story was about a specific experience from start to finish. I'd argue anything else doesn't belong.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone curious about survivalism in search of a well-written thriller they'll get lost in (metaphorically, though a bit on-the-nose considering the plot!). 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for my ARC.

Incredibly thought provoking work here. Her characters are so well drawn out, that I truly felt like I was living the narrative alongside them. The writing is beautiful, and evocative and makes the pages fly, Can't wait to sell this!

Small Game has an interesting set up based on a more intense version of Survivor reality show. The author sets the stage well, but does so a bit too long, it takes a while for the plot to thicken. Overall a solid debut.

I requested this book from Netgalley after hearing the author speak on the “You’re Wrong About” podcast. She was so knowledgeable about survival skills that I knew I wanted to check out her book. The book did not disappoint. It’s a great hybrid of mystery/thriller/survival story/character study. All of the characters are multi dimensional and the lead protagonist is not one you see often in survival novels. My only criticism is that I wish it was longer! The novel ends pretty abruptly; I wanted to know how reentry would work for the remaining characters back into the real world.

This story is told in third person from the point of view of Mara, a young woman who has been chosen to participate in a reality show where five individuals will be left in an unidentifiable wilderness with no supplies except the provided clothes and expected to survive for six weeks for a monetary prize. The majority of the book follows four of the individuals as they navigate their surroundings in a remote anonymous place with very little natural amenities.

Besides Mara, who was raised by a couple that leaned towards survivalists, there was a social media influencer, a former Eagle Scout and a carpenter. I enjoyed the interactions of the four contestants and their distinct personalities as they learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how best to apply them to work as a team to survive their situation. From building shelter to foraging and hunting for food and drinking water, a lot of detail on navigating survival in a remote area went into this. The story moved in a quick efficient pace and I read most of it in an afternoon. I was a little disappointed with the abrupt ending. I still had a few unanswered questions.

Recommended to those that like wilderness survival and reality shows.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ecco Press for the free copy provided for an honest review.

This books is so nuts and fun, I can't wait until everyone else reads it when it comes out later this year! If you are a fan of reality TV, especially SURVIVOR, this is a must-read. Blair Braverman, a survivalist and dog-sledder, has written a novel that is fascinating and hard to put down. It a perfect survival story, in all sense of the world. And the book reminded just how much I love being an indoor kid.

Mara half-heartedly decides to sign up for a reality TV show because she wants out of her current life with a deadbeat boyfriend and needs money. She teaches people to survive outdoors, so this seems like a game she could easily have in the bag. The concept: they drop 6 people in the woods and form a new civilization from nothing You win if you don't quit, that's basically it. But of course it's not, and this novel quickly turns into something sort of from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Only giving SMALL GAME 4 stars instead of 5 because the ending was a bit rushed and left me with many questions! So go into that knowing not all mysteries are solved, but isn't that the case when the outdoors is your greatest foe!

An intriguing premise turns into a taut, suspenseful story in this debut novel.

Three men and two women are recruited to participate in a TV reality show called “Civilization.” Each has their own motivations for engaging in this survival-themed series. Unlike many shows which reward only one winner, anyone who successfully completes the six week “game” with receive a substantial monetary reward. Each individual is blindfolded and then taken by helicopter and literally dropped off (into a lake) in a remote area of the Pacific Northwest. Under the scrutiny of the producer, a camera crew and ubiquitous cameras in the surrounding area, the contestants’ performances are recorded for this social experiment.

The story is told through the perspective of Mara, a survivalist instructor, whose parents withdrew from society and fostered her survival skills from an early age. While she has a sound background to support their physical survival, her lack of social skills leave her with significant trust issues.

After one person bails early on, all is going well for the group until they reach the midpoint in their allotted time. Without warning, they discover the producer and crew are nowhere to be found. Have they truly been abandoned or is this just another aspect of the game?

The story was engaging from the first page to the last; it was one of those “can’t put it down – I’ll just read one more chapter” books. Since I know very little about camping out (let alone survival in the wilderness), I found the MacGyver-esque approaches to meeting their basic needs interesting and even informative. I would have liked a bit more character development with the other contestants, but they came across as believable and relatable people. The ending felt abrupt after such an intimate journey with the characters. It did foreshadow future events, and in that manner it was satisfying.

Overall, this was an entertaining and worthwhile read. I look forward to future offerings by this author.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

This is a well written and engaging story with scary implications. Characters develop well and the story is compelling to read. However I found the ending too abrupt. Sort of like running flat out and suddenly finding yourself at the edge of a cliff. Received as a complimentary copy from the author in return for an honest review.

Super fast read. Great premise and plotting, but at times the dialogue was a bit flat and the characters were harder to connect to. This is a great option for an airplane or poolside read when you want something engaging but not too taxing (although there are a couple scenes with some grisly descriptions).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for this review.