The Running Man by Stephen King

As you can probably tell by now, I love Stephen King. Although I am trying to limit the amount I review in a short space of time, The Running Man is just too good to keep to myself!

PLOT

Written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, The Running Man is a science fiction novel set in dystopian America. During the year of 2025 the nation is in ruins, split between the rich and poor.

Ben Richards is a citizen of Co-op city, the poor side of the town. Richard’s is unemployed and he is in desperate need of money, his daughter Cathy, needs medicine for her illness. In his desperation Ben resorts to the Games Network. The network offers people money in exchange for their participation on one of their many popular reality TV shows.

After a rigorous health and mental examination Richards is accepting onto ‘The Running Man’, the most dangerous and popular programme on TV.

Richards must run for his life. The rich people of the cities in American watch out for Richards in their towns and neighbour hoods he must keep off the radar- and away from the hunters.

The aim of the game? To stay alive for 30 days. The purpose of the hunters? To kill.

 

RATING 5* - Stephen King really had me hooked from page one. The chapters start off a count down and even in the small 241 pages that this book holds, there is so many twists and unexpected plot divisions.

Stephen King is renowned for the suspense in his novels, but The Running Man takes this to another level. As the whole nation watches Richards on the run- the reality of 2025 in America is a possibility. King investigates the prospects of what life will really be like in future.