The Running Man

Stephen King

Jan 2016 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

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.

It was the ultimate death game in a nightmare future America. The year is 2025 and reality TV has grown to the point where people are willing to wager their lives for a chance at a billion-dollar jackpot. Ben Richards is desperate—he needs money to treat his daughter’s illness. His last chance is entering a game show called The Running Man where the goal is to avoid capture by Hunters who are employed to kill him. Surviving this month-long chase is another issue when everyone else on the planet is watching—and willing to turn him in for the reward.

Each night all Americans tune in to watch. So far, the record for survival is only eight days. Can Ben Richards beat the brutal odds, beat the rigged game, beat the entire savage system? He’s betting his life that he can…

With an introduction by Stephen King on “The Importance of Being Bachman,” The Running Man is a terrifying novel about the eternal fight of good versus evil.

Ratings and reviews

My favourite book of all time. I first read it when I was 14 and it changed me as a person. It's nothing like the ridiculous movie that was "based" on it. It is dystopian sci-fi at its best and one of Stephen King's strongest works. A must read for any sci-fi fan.

Even when you're sure you have it nailed down... it turns another way! Mr. King is a marvel! Just finished the last page and... no lie!... I'm crying AND laughing at the same time! I love how most of Mr. Kings heros and heroines are so clever. Awesome!

This story is eerily prescient. The hero's journey is visceral and the writing makes his experience palpable. Buckle up, reader.

About the author

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 (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), 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.