The Running Man: A Novel by Stephen King (EPUB)

Description

A desperate man attempts to win a reality TV game where the only objective is to stay alive in this #1 national bestseller from Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman.It was the ultimate death game in a nightmare future America. The year is 2025 and reality TV has grown to the point where people are willing to wager their lives for a chance at a billion-dollar jackpot. Ben Richards is desperate—he needs money to treat his daughter’s illness. His last chance is entering a game show called The Running Man where the goal is to avoid capture by Hunters who are employed to kill him. Surviving this month-long chase is another issue when everyone else on the planet is watching—and willing to turn him in for the reward. Each night all Americans tune in to watch. So far, the record for survival is only eight days. Can Ben Richards beat the brutal odds, beat the rigged game, beat the entire savage system? He’s betting his life that he can… With an introduction by Stephen King on “The Importance of Being Bachman,” The Running Man is a terrifying novel about the eternal fight of good versus evil.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐A real page turner. I read the book in a day. The story is fairly fast paced. The chapters are small (1-5 pages each). The chapter numbers start at 90 and count down to 0. It’s like a beat the clock type of thing. King’s writing pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading.The plot is basically that America has become overly obsessed with violence and sex and need to watch violent game shows to get their jollies. The main character is poor and supported by government “welfare”, but has a very sick 18 month old daughter that needs proper medical care, medicine, and a doctor. But due to the (dystopian) class system, the poor folk can only afford black market medication, that usually never really works. He basically says to himself that he’s got nothing to loose. So he chooses to fight the system and try out for one of the violent game shows where he could win $1 billion, but the catch is that you’ll have to survive 30 days outrunning a team of highly trained, heavily armed hunters. Your given a 12 hour head start and you can run anywhere in the world… before the hunters start. Your picture is broadcasted to everyone watching across the country, so the public is in on it too. If someone sees you they can call in a tip and be rewarded.And one more thing the main character finds out just as the game is about to begin… no contestant has ever made it through the full 30 days without being caught. When the time comes, and the hunters have you surrounded the show breaks into regularly scheduled programming, and your own personal “Waterloo” is broadcast live all over the country.But the main character is smart, maybe too smart…It is an easy read and a fast thriller.

⭐I knew that usually books are different than the movies directors make from them. This was totally different than the movie. Thus was totally unexpected and good read. I never read, in fact, I don’t like reading but I had to see the differences. Totally surprised.

⭐I loved this one. It is my favorite of all the Kings I’ve read. It is quite different from your average King book and story. Primarily, it isn’t overly wordy and self-indulgent. Except for chapter “minus 056” (which I would have cut), not a word is wasted. This one is tight, intelligent, observant and beautifully, artfully tells a very compelling story. I was hooked from page one, and read it in two sittings yesterday.I have been trying to like King for years, with little success. But I think I have found my way to him through Bachman, who (I suppose) allowed King to not be King for a bit. There is the usual awkward dragging in the last third, typical of King (what is it with him and endings?), but it is much less jarring and problematic here. I was not thrown out of the story by it, thankfully – which allowed me to receive the 11th hour sucker punch right on cue. Superb story… SO much better than the clownish movie that was ostensibly made from it.

⭐This is why I love reading Stephen King. He gives you a character you really care about, in a situation so desperate, but something everyone can identify with. Then for the next several hundred pages, he gives you every excuse in the book why things aren’t going to work out well for your favorite character. But you can’t give up on your character; he’s the guy you are rooting for. So you keep reading. And in the end, your guy is somehow, unbelievable that it is, on top, the winner. That is why I love reading Stephen King. Because the little guy still wins.

⭐Great story. This was the first King book I’ve read since Cujo in the early 80s. I certainly would have been pissed when the movie came out. What an insult to change it from the original story. What to read next?

⭐Loads different than the film and much better! Beautifully written and quite fast paced. Environmental and equity issues are discussed far ahead of its time. A must read.

⭐If you liked The Long Walk, the only other Bachman book I’ve read, then I think you’ll like this too. It’s faster than The Long Walk, and it’s set in a similar, though seemingly more sinister and cynical, dystopic future.

⭐I would recommend this book for anyone who likes suspense and anticipation. It seemed to start out slowly and took a little to sort the terms, but grew with intensity. I found myself getting more and more involved. The ending was intense.

⭐I love all Stephen Kings (Richard Bachman) work and I think this is one of his best.It is full of the darkness and disillusionment of his earlier years but combined with a more polished style and the triumph of our anti hero even as he flies to his death makes this extraordinarily compelling.I’ve lost count of the number of times i have read this story and yet i am enthralled every time.My advice to anyone considering this book is to read it immediately! Step in to Richards bleak world and despair with him as he struggles to overcome a system stacked against him and baying for his blood.

⭐Not really anything like the old Arnie film – they share a (very) basic concept and a title but that’s about it.Great story, great characters, great writing – everything you’d expect from Stephen King. Unfortunately we’ll never see a film of this that’s true to the book as the ending isn’t something that would ever be touched by a studio until our generation is in the grave (can’t say more without spoilers, but you’ll see what I mean.)A few hours of my life well spent.

⭐Much more gritty and dark than the film adaptation and a completely different setup barely recognizable from the arnie movie version a great read with cooler ending

⭐With the way things are going this seems like a likely future.They had a great idea with this one and I loved the story but it could have been so much better.

⭐Dark, gripping and apocalyptic story of society absorbed in quasi-reality. which keeps people away from true problems.It is amazing how many features King got right, he was writing quite some time ago.No happy ending, though. Be prepared for putting the book down and still thinking about it.

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