The Running Man by Stephen King

            This week for the Fiction Friday feature, I am reviewing the science fiction novel, The Running Man by Stephen King. This novel was originally released under the King’s pen name Richard Bachman in 1982. It has a page count of 317 pages. The audiobook is 7 hours & 42 minutes in length and read by Kevin Kenerly. The following overview is provided from Barnes & Noble: Ben Richards is a desperate man. With no job, no money, no way out, and a young daughter in need of proper medical attention, he must turn to the only possibility of striking it rich in this near-future dystopian America: participating in the ultra-violent TV programing of the government-sanctioned Games Network. Ben soon finds himself selected as a contestant on the biggest and the best that the Games Network has to offer: “The Running Man,” a no-holds-barred thirty day struggle to stay alive as public enemy number one, relentlessly hunted by an elite strike force bent on killing him as quickly as possible in front of an audience all-too eager to see that happen. It means a billion dollars in prize money if he can live for the next month. No one has ever survived longer than eight days. But desperation can push a person do things they never thought possible—and Ben Richards is willing to go the distance in this ultimate game of life and death…

            I liked this novel. It was nice to read a dystopian that did not center around children paying the price for a rebellion in the past. This reminded me a lot of The Long Walk but with an angrier tone to it. It was a good story and worth the read. My only thing is that it did not pull me in until over the halfway point, which is disappointing. The last fifty pages were so intense, I could not put it down. I enjoyed the performance by Kevin Kenerly for the audiobook. He was able to bring some life to the early part of the story that I struggled with. It gave the start of the story the dimension I needed to care about the characters from the beginning. While this is another good story by King, it is not my favorite. Out of the 12 works of King’s that I have read, I rank this one at number 10.

            I give this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars.

            On Sunday for the Spotcast Sunday feature, I am reviewing the pop culture podcast, The Dark Side of. Next week for the Fiction Friday feature, I am reviewing the young adult fantasy novella, Dragon’s Oath by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast. Until keep reading on; Nerd out!


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