Real Enough by Jeffrey W. Tenney

Author Jeffrey W. Tenney plunges readers into an unforgiving wilderness in Real Enough, a reality TV-inspired novel with more than enough alliances, betrayals, and frayed tempers to go around. The multi-perspective narrative follows the life-and-death decisions of twenty island-bound competitors, which inevitably provides a visceral peek into the darkness and desperation of human nature. Tenney writes with an almost journalistic distance, at times, so emotional descriptions and internal nuance is limited, but he still captures the tension and drama that readers may expect from a literary version of “Survivor.” Despite the occasional repetition between the narrative points of view, and the lack of deep character development, this is an absorbing and addictive read.