The Running Man

Great book, really enjoyable but the prologue with King ruins the ending of the book. Do yourself a favour and skip it.

How fun that this was written 20+ years ago, about the then future, the time we live in now, the early 2000s. King predicted a very dismal USA, with so many people out of work, no real middle class, only those who have and those who do not. The cars all run on air, pollution is extreme, and people readily hurl nasty insults to one another. The premise of this running man in a corrupt game against such a backdrop, I found to be intriguing and a bit addictive. I didn't want to put the book down once I got past the first hour or so. I'm glad I gave this oldie a try.

The opening monologue from the author spoils the ending. Very weak Mr.King (or Bachman). :/ They probably should have left that for the end of the book. Skip like 12 minutes ahead if you have not read this book before!

I enjoyed this book but I wish they kept bringing in the game show elements especially after action scenes. They only did it like once and it really added a great effect to the story but without it became a run of the mill fugitive story. Also, if they had brought hunters more into the story it would have been nice. It's always the police that are after him and after going on about hunters it was very disappointing that they played almost no part. If they were consistent with that it could have made this book much more exciting, I still enjoy it though.

This is a classic and gripping story, but Audible made a bad mistake by adding a comment by Stephen King BEFORE the book begins. In it he reveals the ending. Make sure you skip this, and come back to it at the end.

Never read the printed version, but Kevin Kenerly certainly adds to the enjoyment of the experience.

It's a bit like Blade Runner the movie but with more plausible and intense twists and turns.

Never listened to him prior but he does a great job with this one. He has an exciting fast pace voice and actually acts out the intensity (not overing doing, just to boost the drama)

The ending. Won't spoil it but the detail of the events are intense... also the final conclusion is just perfect and resolves the book exactly how it needs to be concluded.

Skip the prelude!!! They do spoil the book: skip to the 13 minute mark.

Well ... no. Kind of a lame question - I wouldn't listen to any book again.

The grittiness. Darker than you would think - doesn't follow the general guidelines of a story.

not sure / was well read & entertaining.

The main one

King's writing is always the best part. I can really feel like I'm inside the stories.

This foreword is great, especially for fans of King that've read his Bachman books. HOWEVER, in it, King tells the ending of the Running Man. It was written, I think, as a foreword for all the Bachman books, and someone overlooked this fact and stuck it in the beginning of this story. It really would do much more good as an afterword. Still a great story though!

Seen the movie? Don't expect anything to be the same. This book presents a similar dystopian view of the future (2025) , but with a much more Orwellian take on things than the film. I may be bias , being a King/Bachman fanatic, but I had a great time listening and look forward to the second read.

I've read this book years ago and it was as good as I had remembered it (very current despite the fact that it was written so many years ago). We listened to it while driving cross country and I was very disappointed. The way it was read...It would have easily put us to sleep. We had the volume all the way up but the reader's voice fluctuated so much that at times we could not hear and other times we could not hear anything else (I had to readjust constantly). I understand the need for emphasis but you can do that without raising or lowering your voice. Would not recommend for road trip listening

I thought the book had a nice twist ending. Another one of Stephen King's great books.