In Progress: The Running Man

In a note that was meant for Roadwork but never seen because it never had an "in progress" post, I mentioned I was reading the first four Bachman books in an omnibus edition with the exception of The Long Walk, the only one I already owned prior to getting this book. All Bachman books are available as individual volumes except for Rage, hence this book is here for the sake of being complete. What I'm getting at in the page numbers won't make any sense. This book is about 150 pages on its own, but starts on page 530 of the omnibus. However, it is conveniently broken down into 101 chapters, so I'll use that to mark progress.

February 25 ("75...and counting"): It looks like Bachman/King decided to revisit an unclear dystopia, a little reminiscent of The Long Walk. However, this one doesn't lack much subtlety thus far. At this point the game has just started so I have no idea where this is heading. Like any good Stephen King themed game show, I suppose death is inevitable?

February 27 ("63...and counting"): I guess it wouldn't be a very interesting book if Ben just decided to lock himself in a panic room. In fact, that's the reason they make him use his body camera to force him to reveal his location. Of course in this future there is no Internet so he sends the tapes via US Mail. But did he really have to blow up the poor YMCA just to get the Hunters off his case?!

Bachman may be trashy, but it sure reads fast! I polished off the book a couple days later. Spoiler alert: he dies.