Rating: 
Summary: Tense and exciting
Review: I first read this book when i was a lot younger (about 12), and back then i just liked it because it was a fast-paced, action packed thriller. I still love it now because of that! It's not your average Stephen King novel, but for something that's not his forte he's done it amazingly well. The future he's portrayed is dark and sinister, and is all the more scary because it COULD happen (kinda reminds me of 1984 by George Orwell in that regard). Oh, and don't listen to that guy who was ranting on about how it sucked because it was predictable (the one who was babbling about Cujo). The guy can't even spell, so what are the chances of him knowing anything about good writing?
Rating:
Summary: A tight action SF thriller... King at his best
Review: As some of the reviewers imply, if you are a hard-core Stephen King horror fan, maybe this book isn't your cup of tea. Me, I simply enjoy Stephen King as a master storyteller, and that means in any genre he wishes to write. Think "Different Seasons", which I usually refer to my friends who don't get why I like Stephen King, where he does mostly-mainstream fiction. And this SF actioner is also one of his best works. Truly, "Richard Bachman" allowed King to write out of the box people used to enclose him in, and we are all the more richer for that.Don't be afraid to step in and try it.
Rating: 
Summary: If you're not a Stephen King fan....
Review: Not supernatural at all, but briefly psychological, like a number of his books. I believe all Bachman books explored the human spirit to some degree, and this one offers the concept of love over life, and of course, pride. The world he sets is very gray, but his writing style has always been light. An easy read, one designed for the non-King fans.
Rating:
Summary: A THRILLING BOOK!!!!!!!!
Review: Steven King is totally amazing. I started to read it and was automatically hooked to it. I loved the main character Ben Richards. He was a shrewd tough guy who took out practically the whole evil world. This book had everything. I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes action-packed books.
Rating:
Summary: O.K.
Review: I thought since the great Steven King wrote it, it was going to be a lot better. But he hardley used discriptive words for the characters. I think this is not one of his better stories. I think he should stick with horror books for example "IT" it was your classic mind twisting novels. But the Running Man was a rather boring book. You could see what was going to happen before it happens. there was not very much suspense in The Running Man. But in the books lik "IT" and "CUJO" every thing was a surprise. But I am Confused on "CUJO" I thaght the dog had rabbies, but my friend said it had been posest. "who Knows"
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK! BEN RICHARDS KICKS @$$
Review: This was the first King book I ever read. Since then I have read many of his best books. This is one of his best. Richards is is one bad mother and I just couldn't wait to see what he would do next. The books ending was really cool. All I could say was WOW! I know King wrote this when he was young but this book could have been a full fledged novel. I only give it a 9 because of that. I mean I couldn't put it down so I finished it way too quick. Also, the movie doesn't do the book justice. I am an Arnold fan, don't get me wrong but they are not alike at all. I think it would have been a much better movie if it did follow the book. Anyways, I recommend this book highly.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: This book is amazing! I couldn't put it down the first time I read it or the second! The book is much better than the movie, which has nothing in common with the book. If you haven't read it, read it!
Rating:
Summary: I ran through the pages at a mile a minute.
Review: This novel kept me reading. It was the first of many Stephen King books that I have read, and as a freshmen to the KING genre, that I now realize goes far beyond just being horror, it delivered to me one thing I did not expect, namely action. With this action came a series of characters that were as likable as they were realistic. The only thing for which I deducted a point was the movie for which it was based. If you have seen the movie don't think for a minute that it shares anything with the book except a name
Rating:
Summary: A Thriller at break-neck speed...
Review: Forget Arnold. Other than the character names this book is entirely different. Ben Richards is on the run. This is the future of reality TV. Richards is poor and has a 3 year old child - sick with respiratory ailments - just like all the poor folk who cant afford clean air filters. He is chosen to be on the running man - the Mack-Daddy of all prime time shows. The runner gets 100 dollars an hour and wins a billion if he can run for the full 30 days without getting caught. All he has to do is send in a tape to the studio once a day to show he is still alive. Easy right? Then how come the record is only eight days? Because the entire county is looking for you and will get rewards for sightings or even killing you! There is also a team of professional hunters that will stop at nothing from killing their prey. Friends and relatives will be bribed or tortured as the case may be for information. This book moves at breakneck speed and the pressure does not stop until the incredible ending. The only advantage Richards has is a twelve-hour head start and the fact there are no rules. If you thought Ken Jennings was a tough contestant on Jeopardy you haven't seen Ben Richards. Buy this book and get ready to run...
Rating:
Summary: We Need More Sci-Fi Novels Like This!
Review:
The Running Man may well be the most stunningly prophetic novel Stephen King ever wrote. 50 pages from the end of the novel, I realized he was going to have Ben Richards fly a plane into the side of a New York City skyscraper. The passage is worth quoting:
"Heeling over slightly, the Lockheed struck the Games Building dead on, three quarters of the way up. Its tanks were still better than a quarter full. Its speed was slightly over five hundred miles an hour. The explosion was tremendous, lighting up the night like the wrath of God, and it rained fire twenty blocks away."
The Running Man was published in 1982.
Aside from what may have just been a stunning fictional coincidence of what we've all come to know in our own post-9/11 lives, the story of The Running Man itself may well be the most thoroughly entertaining novel of King's career. In the introduction to the collection from which I read, he mentions that he wrote it in a 72-hour period and published it with little or no edits.
What The Running Man may lack in polish and grammatical acumen, it makes up for with sheer energy and a torrential pace unlike any other novel I've ever read. It may well be the fastest read you will ever experience. It's like one of those super-high-speed rollercoasters that can do upwards of 150 miles per hour. It's extremely intense, extremely fast, and extremely fun.
The book and the movie are different. The book sets up Ben Richards as a family man who has no other choice than to go on this game show called "The Running Man," wherein contestants are hunted down and killed for the entertainment pleasure of television audiences. Ben's young daughter is dying of pneumonia, and he and his wife don't have the money to take her to a doctor. If he wins the game show, he saves his daughter; he's a ready-made hero you absolutely want to cheer for!
Also, the book allows Ben the entire landscape of New England in which to run, so we see him in New York and Boston and in the skies over Pennsylvania. Similar to the movie, Ben turns out to be more resourceful than executives with the game show had anticipated, and he ends up killing a lot of people.
The Running Man is not a novel for everyone, but if you do want to read it, chances are you'll end up loving it. It's a great read, and I highly recommend it. It's one of those early Stephen King novels for which I would love to see a new movie version; I think a new movie could be very effective if it brought in Ben as the desperate family man we see in the book; it could entertain a new generation. I think people would like to see it. I guess I just wish there were more sci-fi novels like this, man. It's really a classic. And, of course, I hope this review is helpful to you!
Stacey Cochran, author of The Kiribati Test
|
