The runaway bestseller about the ultimate reality show.The year is 2025.The Running Manis America's favorite television game show. Ben Richards is the program's latest contestant and the Hunters' latest target in a rigged game of death.Amazon.com ReviewStephing King (writing as Richard Bachman) craftedThe Running Manearly in his career, though hater such mega-hits asCarrieandThe Shining. A bit of a departure from the supernatural horror that is most frequently asociated with his work, the novel describes a science fiction dystopia where market capitalism and television game shows have spiraled out of control, and the separation between the haves and the have-nots has been formalized with separate currencies. King establishes characters quickly, creating sympathy in the first few pages for Ben Richards--whose 18-month-old baby girl is suffering from a horrible cough, perhaps pneumonia. Not able to afford medicine, Richards enters himself in the last-chance money-making scheme of the Free-Vee games. The games that includeTreadmill to Bucks,in which heart-attack prone contestants struggle to outlast a progressively demanding treadmill, or the accurately namedSwim the Crocodiles. After a rigorous battery of physical and mental examinations, Richards is assigned "Elevator Six"--the path of a chosen few--that leads toThe Running Mangame. In this game, the Stakes and the prizes are raised. Success means a life of luxury. Failure means death. Unfortunately, few ever win the game; in fact, as the producer tells Richards, in six years no on has survived.The Running Manis a short book, tightly written to be read and enjoyed quickly. The future world it depicts is vividly captured with a few essential deatils. The action is also fast paced and, thought the novel differs from much of King's other work, the sardonic social commentary reveals a pleasing glimmer of King's characteristically twisted sense of humor. --Patrick O'KelleyReviewMerely by tickling the keys of his word-processor King can make the flesh creep half a world away --The TimesStephen King is one of those natural storytellers...getting hooked is easy --Frances Fyfield, ExpressAn incredibly gifted writer, whose writing, like Truman Capote's, is so fluid that you often forget that you're reading. --Guardian