Reviews with content warning for Murder - Menschenjagd

This is a very different death game story from King's other work, "The Long Walk." In "The Running Man," the United States has undergone a stark class divide, and Ben Richards is on the wrong side of that divide. He's unemployed and worse, unemployable, due to his unreasonable standards of wanting work that will, um, not kill him. His infant daughter is dying of the flu, because he can't afford the doctor visit or real medicine for her. His wife has turned to prostitution to try to make ends meet.

So Richards turns to the Games Network, which offers up as entertainment a variety of different games including watching people with cardiac problems run on a treadmill, answering trivia questions, until they have a cardiac event and die. Or another one that is named, but not described, since it seems to be as it says on the tin: swimming with crocodiles.

Although you can sign up to participate in the Games, winning money for yourself or (more likely) your surviving family, you don't actually get to pick what game you will be a contestant on. Richards wins the big one: The Running Man. The entire world is the arena, and for every hour that Richards can survive, he gets $100. If he lasts 30 days, he wins the game and gets $1 billion. There is a team of elite hunters sent to kill him, and everyone is a potential participant, as people who call in valid tips will win $100 themselves for turning Richards in, $1000 if their tip leads to his death. No contestant has ever won.

It's a much more desperate death game than "The Long Walk." It's an angry, bitter novel, rather than melancholic, and I enjoyed the different tone. The setup that non-players are not only safe from the game itself, but actively benefit from your death puts a different spin on the trope. I really enjoyed his interactions with other people, discovering what matters to others from all class levels that he hadn't considered, and finding himself surprised at who protects him and who turns on him.

Content Warnings

hayleycurtis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I was conflicted with this book. The way that King describes women is challenging. Is the author projecting his world onto the reader or is he attempting to submerse us into the mind of someone who sees women from Richards’ perspective? Maybe both is the answer. I just wish the women characters were more hashed out, I guess. Someone to sympathize and not pity.

Moving on past my mini rant, the story immediately places the reader into the lowest of low classes - introducing Richards - a solid character rooted in his own beliefs and only wanting to help his family. King takes you on a whirlwind of a chase, leaving the reader flipping through the short chapters begging to see what happens next. The futuristic scene gives us a glimpse into the harrowing potential forecast of what may come to our society. And it all ends spectacularly. I would recommend this book for the plot alone.

Content Warnings