A review by dibiz116
The Running Man by Stephen King, Richard Bachman

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 Overall I enjoyed this book, but I feel like there are just so much better dystopian reality tv books out there (including King/Bachman's other book The Long Walk). I imagine this was fairly original in its year of publication (1999) but even aside from that I don't feel like this had the depth of character that Stephen King is known for and that I have grown to love so much. I know the Bachman books tend to be much faster paced and less suspenseful, but this didn't accomplish the balance the other Bachman books do (the adrenaline packed character study that is Roadwork will forever be one of my favorite books so it's not an issue with King's style when writing as Bachman). It honestly feels like he tried to make something too fast paced for his own writing style and ended up with a story that fell flat. It didn't help that the attempted social commentary didn't make sense. 
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