This is another Richard Bachman book and most people probably know this story (or think they do) from the movie of the same name with Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, the title is about the only two things that the book and movie have in common, to say it was loosely based on the book would be exaggerating. Personally, I never really cared for the movie and believe that if they had made a movie that followed the book more closely, it would have been much better. I can see why King wants to maintain creative control or input on the movies - yikes! Anyway, I will get off my soap box now.
So this story takes place in the future, 2025, and the world is much different, but not for the better. The classes are very divided, unemployment is extremely high, and the government controls pretty much everything that the populations see or hears. (Ok, so maybe it is not all that different - j/k) Ben Richards is the hero in this book and he is faced with providing money to care for his wife and sick infant daughter, without many means or ways to do that. So he turns to the "Network" and tries out for their endless list of game shows that are designed to pay for little for the ultimate sacrifice of the contestant. This range from anything to running on a treadmill to your heart bursts, to losing a limb to crocodiles, to the grand-daddy of them all, The Running Man.
This show pays the most, but it is almost the most brutal as a person is basically sent out to the world with some money and his wits and he has to see how long he can survive without being caught and killed. The catch is, everyone knows what you look like as it is plastered on the Free Vee which all citizens watch all the time. The longer you survive the more money there will be for your family, so you can see the appeal. Along the way, some people may help, but most will not and the trick is finding those who will. You are also required to check in while running, which of course is one way they hunt you down and track your location.
I loved this book because in some ways it seems like something that could happen, which is also what makes it more terrifying. As it is a Bachman, don't expect a happy ending. But, do expect a page turning thrill read that will make you wonder what you would do and that forces you to question what our own government tells us.
Ah! The lengths we'll go to as a human race! How a crisis reveals who we are deep down inside -- the sacrifices we'll make to care for those we love -- or the "sacrifices we'll make" in the interest of self-preservation!
ReplyDelete(Wasn't there a story written recently that had a similar theme to it, with government games that were violent in nature, with resources provided to the winner and their family?)
*Are Bachman's story endings more traumatic than King's? And if so, why is that? And what made King decide to pen under his own name or his pseudonym?