Running Man (Paperback)

Stephen King, in the '80s, was at the peak of his writing skill. Fresh out of University but scared that the public wouldn't appriciate his work, he wrote the classics It, Thinner, The Stand, among others, under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. But ever since he gained status as a 'literary genius' - and changed his pen-name back to his native - he's been fumbling a bit, especially with his most recent works which have been total crap. But there's still his classics to contend with, one being The Running Man, which has been overlooked time and time again despite the fact having been turned into a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then again, the movie was garbage, so that's your knackered.

The novel takes place in the year 2027, in a Dystopian society where big business is everywhere, the air smells like a chain smoker 24/7, and television has become the leading medium. 'Free-Vees' are in every home, as eager audiences tune in every night to their favourite game show, of which there are many, produced by the evil Games Corporation. One such program is The Running Man, the most popular show for the company to date. Why you ask? The answer is simple: The contestants are middle-class citizens, who have been deemed 'deliquants' by the Games Commission after taking part in several apptitude tests. Once chosen, the contestant is let loose on the world, with one catch: They must survive 30 days without being killed by the Games Commission 'Hunters,' or complete strangers from off the street, who are paid exorbitant amounts of money to do so. If the contestant survives, they win a billion dollars. The record of survival in the six years the show has been on the air has been 8 days.

The new contestant on the show, Benjamin Richards, is a hard-case: A man who's been fired from almost every position he's ever held because of his firery attitude. His daughter is dying of peunomia, and signs up to be in one of the Games. His tests are some of the highest the Commission has ever seen, so they sign him up for The Running Man. He doesn't care - he has nothing to lose.

Along the way, Richards meets up with some strange personas, who may or may not be trying to help him win like he thinks... Some of them are: the producer of the show, the slimy Dan Killan; a woman he ends up taking hostage, Amelia Williams; and the Chief Hunter, Evan McCoy. So, he runs, and dodges, and runs some more, starting at the Games Building in Los Angeles, until the final confrontation at an airport in Newark, where Richards tries to escape from McCoy and his troupe, and must decide whether or not to sacrifice himself, or see if he can beat the survival record by just a few more minutes.

The Running Man is a great read, and a relatively short one too. King blends elements of social commentary, science-fiction, and action, all leading up to a shockingly violent set-piece, and quite an affecting and unexpected ending (A little hint: One of the main characters has his/her guts dragging behind him/her, literally! And one of the characters flies a jumbo jet into a building!). The novel seemed like a cross between George Orwell's 1984, the television show Fear Factor, and Oliver Stone's movie Natural Born Killers. If that's your sort of match-up, then The Running Man might just be your most overlooked novel of the decade.