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    The Running Man
    The Running Man
    The Running Man
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Running Man

    Written by Stephen King

    Narrated by Kevin Kenerly

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    A desperate man attempts to win a reality TV game where the only objective is to stay alive in this #1 national bestseller from Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman.

    “Tomorrow at noon, the hunt begins. Remember his face!”

    Ben Richards is a desperate man. With no job, no money, no way out, and a young daughter in need of proper medical attention, he must turn to the only possibility of striking it rich in this near-future dystopian America: participating in the ultraviolent TV programming of the government-sanctioned Games Network. Ben soon finds himself selected as a contestant on the biggest and the best that the Games Network has to offer: The Running Man, a no-holds-barred thirty-day struggle to stay alive as public enemy number one, relentlessly hunted by an elite strike force bent on killing him as quickly as possible in front of an audience all too eager to see that happen. It means a billion dollars in prize money if he can live for the next month. No one has ever survived longer than eight days. But desperation can push a person do things they never thought possible—and Ben Richards is willing to go the distance in this ultimate game of life and death....

    “Under any name King mesmerizes the reader.” —Chicago Sun-Times
    “No one does psychological terror better!” —Kirkus Reviews
    “One of America’s top storytellers.” —Toronto Star
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJan 1, 2016
    ISBN9781508217350
    Author

    Stephen King

    Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

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    Reviews for The Running Man

    4.5/5

    671 ratings25 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Mad gritty with a very silver lining. It was great

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Funny it took me so long to get to this one! Great story!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Really good book, and though the intro about Bachman was phenomenal too, it concisely and completely ruins the ending of this book. Listen to the intro after you get through the book!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      All kinda of emotions exude while reading this book. Disgust, fear, anxiety, excitement, triumph and more. It was easy to visualize each scene and actually put yourself in the shoes of Richards. A tale of social upheaval for certain.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      The audio of this book was messed up and I wasn’t able to listen to it the one star is purely for the audiobook rating on Scribd not the book itself

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Dark and engaging. It kept me excited to keep listening.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This is a great narrator. Not only when he’s voicing the different characters, but his intonation in general makes it easy to keep track
    • 5/5
      Excellent read I enjoyed it and the movie. Definitely in my top 10 books.
    • 3/5
      The narrator was GREAT! I couldn't get into this book, though. I am big Stephen King/Bachman fan, but this one didn't keep my attention. Hard to finish.
    • 5/5
      This book is a good time! In only ten words!
    • 2/5
      Not his best. Really didn’t enjoy it. Was mediocre at best
    • 2/5
      Good book but some chapters were missing at the end
    • 5/5
      Amazing story but I love the way it’s narrated and makes this a 5 stars book in terms of content, amazingly great narration and makes the story alive. Love this book so much!
    • 4/5
      Kind of slow but picks up , not too bad ok
    • 1/5
      What the neck? The intro written by King completely gives away the surprise ending. very disappointing!
    • 5/5
      So King....great ending. A fun to listen. Go for it.
    • 5/5
      Skip the opening prologue where he talks about being Richard Bachman because he spoils the ending of the book.

      Besides that it was a good book
    • 4/5
      Skip the introduction because it spoils the ending. Very different from the movie.
    • 5/5
      A classic Stephen King that I had not yet read. Thank you to the reviewers who warned: DO NOT LISTEN to King’s introduction (The Importance of Being Bachman) at the beginning of this recoded book. It’s good though, so listen to it after you’ve finished the book!
    • 5/5
      Suspense. Excellent book. Really surprised by this having watched the movie years ago.
    • 5/5
      Excellent, excellent, excellent. A true King book, sucks you in from the beginning and leaves you breathless with anticipation. One of those books you can't stop thinking about and just have to keep going until you finish it.
    • 4/5
      I dont usually post a review. I just give my rating. But this narrator deserves a shout out. He was exceptional.
    • 3/5
      This book was pretty intense. Definitely a lot different than the movie. Not a bad view of what the future could be like. Steven King usually has a pretty dark view of things. And that was the feeling throughout this book despair and darkness. Definitely had some good parts in it though. Worth listening too.
    • 4/5
      I loved the book but the first chapter is a forward by Stephen king that GIVES AWAY THE ENDING. I know it was a movie, but I never saw the movie. I don't get why it would be the first damn chapter. put it at the end if it's an extra bonus.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Fantastic listen but DO NOT LISTEN TO THE INTRODUCTION. The ending of the book is told in there. I didn’t believe it when I first heard but sure enough it was. I don’t think it was meant to be an introduction, just a discussion about the book.

      3 people found this helpful