Rating: 
Summary: new reader, beware...
Review: I love "The Bachman Books". I think the 4 tales are some of King's most interesting stuff, and they are very enjoyable for me, since they depart from his standard horror writing. I decided to post this review, however, because of the appearance of this edition on the shelves. The 4 tales of "TBB" are novellas, really, and not long enough, in my humble opinion, to warrant an individual release. So what we have here is the publisher splitting up the original collection (priced at $7.99), and asking the exact same price for 1/4 of the material. Oh, but wait, it's been spread out by approximately 100 pages to make it thicker. Good grief, Stephen, like you need the money... My advice: go to the used bookstore, find "The Bachman Books", and let this overpriced book collect dust on the shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: King continually amazes with his ingenuity!
Review: An avid Stephen King reader, this one threw me. It was truly riveting, though unlike the King norm (no supernatural happenings and no monsters!) Although it did bring to mind "The Running Man" at certain points. The evil is man himself, and his love of the morbid, especially when it is socially acceptable.The basic plot is 100 young and fit men (teenagers, mostly), walking. Sounds pretty boring, but it gets better. When a walker breaks a rule, such as stopping to tie his shoe, he gets a "ticket." The last boy walking wins "the prize." The mystery of what these terms mean is part of the plot, and their definitions are truly terrifying. King spins a yarn, and reveals horribly gruesome facts about the walk as the story goes on. He pulls you in further and further until the shocking end and the bitter realization that winning always comes with a price-and sometimes that price is your very sanity.
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Summary: A haunting tale of lost innocence... King at his best
Review: Before Bachman's untimely death of "cancer of the seudonym", Stephen King wrote some of his most original work. "The Long Walk" is an example. It is like the spitting image of "The Body", since both deal with the same subject: the loss of innoncence. But where "The Body" is an elegy to long gone friends, "The Long Walk" is an scary tale of the erosion of childhood dreams. The premise is simple: 100 teenagers will walk, non-stop, until they drop one by one and are terminated, and the last one standing will be granted whatever his heart fancies. Around it King spools a gothic yarn of classic treatment. The kids that take the Walk go in expecting to fight only physical exhaustion. Slowly, they find out their enemy is a different one: MADNESS. Anybody wishing to take a walk on the dark side, come along. They are about to start...
Rating:
Summary: The best from the master of the genre.
Review: In my opinion, this is one of the King's best. It grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end. When I finished it, I was exhausted from all the walking I felt I had been doing while reading it. Although the subject matter is gruesome, you find that you can't put the book down.
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Summary: A haunting tale of lost innocence... King at his best
Review: Science fiction? Social allegory? Existentialist nightmare? Martial wet dream? The premise of "The Long Walk" is deceptively simple: take 100 teens, make them walk non-stop down the road until they start dropping one by one and reward the last one standing with his own life and whatever his heart fancies. Over such a solid foundation, King built a study on the loss of innocence, one of his recurring themes (other examples are "The Body" and, more recently, "Desperation"). When the kids in this tale agreed to walk the Long Walk, they expected only to fight physical exhaustion. Gradually, it dawns on them and us that the real peril lies within: MADNESS. Maybe hard core horror King fans will be able to dig this one. Even if you are not one, try it. You'll find a great story in here.
Rating:
Summary: one of king's best
Review: This book remains one of my favorite King novels. It's the best of the Bachmans, that's for sure. The ending is probably my favorite ending of all King's books. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever read in my life.
Review: This book is so dramatic and the story is so incredible and involving. King (Bachman) reveals the characters so well that you almost feel that you know them personally. I actually felt sadness when some of the members of the "Walk" went down. You MUST read this book!
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Summary: An incredible book, King's finest.
Review: This tale of a future marathon where the runners who stop are killed in front of millions is the best thing King's ever written, hands down. Unrelentingly dark and powerful, it holds your attention from the innocuous beginning to the end's bizarre twist. Not everyone's cup of tea, but if your taste in literature overpowers your desire for an uplifting story, read this book. I gave it 5 stars simply because there was no 6. Or, for that matter, no 10.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Story King has ever Written
Review: I have read all of Kings published novels, about 50 or so, and this is my alltime favorite. In fact, of all the horror novels I've read, and believe me its 100s, this is the best. Incredibly bleak, gritty, and dark. This would make a great sci-fi film but is too bloody hardcore for the mainstream. The story follows 100 game show contestants struggling to survive. What makes the story great is you know only 1 of the 100 will win, and the rest will all die. It is only their willpower that will keep their life. As the story progresses King creates realistic characters of depth that inevitably get run down by the game. This format makes you keep turning the page, wondering how it could possibly get worse, and it does. This is the only novel I've read 4 times. Definately recommend for fans of bleak King, Horror, or dark Sci-Fi. Not for the squeamish or faint of heart.
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Summary: Hoofing It, For Good Reason....
Review: The "Long Walk" is one of the earliest books written by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, and it's not a horror story per se. King wrote this during his freshman year in college during the Fall of 1966 and Spring of 1967. This is a great book. And, one can tell at this early time of writing King had a knack for description, in addition to creative ideas and story-telling. When King submitted it in a writing competition it was rejected without any comments. So, he through it into an old box. In the "Long Walk" the backgrounds, motivations, beliefs, and social attitudes come out in the characters as they walk together. Ray Garraty (the main), McVries, Olson, Baker, Stebbins, and Barkovitch. Each has a distinct personality. The latter, Barkovitch, is the vituperative, harping, anti-social antagonist. What piques the reader and human nature, is that these guys chose to participate in this competition. They were among 100 selected across America. The very few to be accepted for the Long Walk. The prize for the single winner is everything you want for the rest of your life. For the rest of the 99 they get to rest, eternally. Like in almost all good stories, the conversations among these fellas can lead one to think about his/herself. To find out who wins, read this great piece of work by a young Stephen King.
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