The Running Man
The Running Man by Stephen King (AKA Richard Bachman)
What a violent, aggressive book. It’s been a while since last time I read something with such a hostile prose. Every page wants to anger you. Wants to frustrate you. Wants to shock you. The tone of the book couldn’t be more aggressive, and I for one, loved it.
The Running Man follows the story of Ben Richards who enrols in a futuristic game show called The Running Man in order to raise the money required to pay for his daughter’s medication. The name of the game is simple. You have to run, until you are caught and killed. Every hour you’re alive you make a hundred bucks, but don’t expect to be alive much beyond your forty eight hour head start.
What I found incredibly interesting about this book outside of the amazingly foul world building (because believe me, this is an absolutely horrible future) is just how unlikeable the main character is, yet, we want him to succeed. His reasons for entering the show are noble, but he’s outwardly aggressive, hostile, and prejudice towards everyone. He isn’t endearing in the slightest. He’s a product of society, and society is in a very bad place. It makes him a very intriguing anti-hero.
The world building in the book is incredible. Few futures feel so dirty and grimy than that of the Running Man. There are a few okay people around, but honestly, everyone just feels horrible, and the world is just broken and defeated. I wouldn’t last a day. All hope is lost, and the rich Network are praying on that with their sadistic gameshows. Which, incidentally, are being watched around the clock by the very people they’re praying on.
The books a quick easy read with its unique chapter structure, (basically a countdown from a hundred) and its story driven chapters. There will be plenty of modern readers who will hate the language and aggression used throughout, but that’s there to help with the world building of this horrific future. It cleverly works as exposition. Still, the overly sensitive may want to stay away from this one.
None of what you saw in the Arnie film is in the book baring the name Ben Richards, so if that’s all you know about the Running Man, you’re in for a completely different story. It’s a violent, aggressive book that is somewhat unrelenting in its torment and cruelty of its leads character, but he gives as good as he gets. Personally, I really enjoyed this one, and it’s probably a book I'll read again in the not to distant future. As a side-note, can we please avoid ending up like the world in the Running Man.
