"For years, readers wrote asking if Richard Bachman was really world-bestselling Stephen King writing under another name. Now the secret is out - and so, brought together in one volume, are these four spellbind stores of future shock and suspense.

RAGE - A high-school teenager becomes a gane-of-one in a terrifying display of rebellion.

THE LONG WALK - A chilling look at the ultra-conservative America of the future where a gruellling 450-mile marathon is the ultimate sports competition.

ROADWORK - An immovable man refuses to surrender to the irresistible force of progress.

THE RUNNING MAN - TV's future-favourite game show, where contestants are hunted to death in the attempt to win a $billion jackpot.

I can conceive that Stephen King is a brilliant author but his books just aren't my thing and there are many more out there in front of this on my TBR pile but hopefully someone else will enjoy it......

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to peanutlion as part of a trade. Hope you enjoy it........

Kindly sent to me from tuftynut to continue my obsession with Richard Bachman (aka: Stephen King). I've been trying to get my hands on this beauty for ages and was almost resigned to trying to hunt down the stories individually.

Very excited to read this one!

I really enjoyed the stories in this book. Here's my mini-reviews on each:

Rage - A startling fore-telling of the school shootings that would occur from the 80s onwards. I found the story fascinating and the exploration of how teenagers would handle being trapped by a gunned captor who is a fellow student is both compelling and dark. My only gripe in both Rage, and in the Long Walk, is King's tendency to give all his adolescent boys an obsession with sex that seems rather jammed into the story rather than being natural. In comparison to DBC Pierre's handling of this type of character in Vernon God Little, Rage and the Long Walk are fairly unsophisticated.

The Long Walk -see my other journal entry

Roadwork - This is the most 'Bachman' and least 'King' of all the stories. The story is the most 'straight' and covers a vaguely realistic dissent into madness by the main protagonist. I found it interesting that the main character's son died 3 years ealier and he is much haunted by this. 'Richard Bachman' is said, by King, to have had a son who died accidentally and I wonder how much the story in Roadwork is driven by King getting into the mindset of a writer who was himself sad about his son. What a strange idea!

Finally, The Running Man - Thoroughly wonderful! I haven't seen the film which is supposed to be very different so I had no preconceptions. The story is wonderful and there are some breathtaking twists and turns at the end. Once again, the end is perhaps a little fore-boding which leaves the reader with a sense of 'weirdness' (that's the only way I can describe it!) but it also leaves the reader fully aware of King's ability to do psychological horror/thrillers.

Overall, a great collection!

Now on it's way to neverbelillith as a relay :)

Thank you very much for sending this to me. I've been looking for another copy of this since a boy stole my heart and my copy of the Bachman Books!

After reading this again, I can confirm the stories were as good as I remember them being. The Running Man is, of course, awesome (though don't bother with the film, it's naff) and The Long Walk is also excellent (and, I found, the most disturbing story in the book).

I'm going to PC this until I find another copy to replace it with, I hope that's OK! x