The Running Man in Read the Movie

Aug 23, 2019 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The future for Mr. Ben (Benjamin ) Richards is not grand, not bright in the year 2025 it's dreary, the economy has sunk the poor are poorer, the harsh government doesn't care they just want to rule. Stephen King writing in 1982 under the pen name Richard Bachman in order to have unbridled freedom from his reputation makes this novel as hopeless as possible for the sake of the plot, a not very accurate forecast of coming events yet entertaining, it remains be warned however, a no holds barred of The future for Mr. Ben (Benjamin ) Richards is not grand, not bright in the year 2025 it's dreary, the economy has sunk the poor are poorer, the harsh government doesn't care they just want to rule. Stephen King writing in 1982 under the pen name Richard Bachman in order to have unbridled freedom from his reputation makes this novel as hopeless as possible for the sake of the plot, a not very accurate forecast of coming events yet entertaining, it remains be warned however, a no holds barred of brutality and cruelty which dominates...the action. Who knew the author has such venom. Ben has a sick daughter maybe dying, Cathy and a plain looking wife Sheila, he is frequently fired for not being able to follow instructions by his superiors , full of hate to any in authority, consequently no money and living in a squalid slum the mother of the child walks the streets... he only loves his little family. Lately Richards has been glued to the television set viewing the most watched show on the air, The Running Man, big prizes for anyone that survives for 30 days while hunters try to eliminate the contestants they never fail. Cathy needs medicine and the depressed father is willing to sacrifice himself for their well- being. After a long process the desperate gentleman admittedly stretching the term gets the job, an anti-hero unlike the popular Scifi film, obviously with a much changed story line . The anger against all the well- off explodes and I'm not writing about Mr. Richards but the sleazy people who work for the government sponsored television program they pay the price. Planes, numerous cars , hapless victims, and buildings evaporate as the eager hunters track down the fleeing fugitive all over the country, red liquid spills frequently . The ending will surprise and bring back bad memories to many a similar occurrence happened in the recent past, Stephen King will in the succeeding years ease the throttle there was no choice...If he wanted to continually be read. The traveling contestant shows unusual cunning, escaping seemingly demoralizing situations and the audience begins to change their opinion of Ben, from criminal butcher to an icon. The government does not tolerant this for long and the heavy hitters are brought in to finish the task of making Richards obsolete and be liquidated. A novel which is quite different from the usual books from the famous author...much more pessimistic in atmosphere yet still a good read for some. ...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Rowan MacBean rated it liked it

I wish we could rate things with half-stars because I want to give this one three and a half. I'm a pretty big fan of Stephen King's early work, so I'm not surprised I liked this book. As always, there were characters I loved and characters I loved to hate, and Uncle Stevie manages to take a concept that could be so plodding and formulaic -- dude in totalitarian state is challenged to evade hunters until he dies, or for thirty days, whichever comes first -- and makes it really interesting. ...more

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