The Running Man - (The Bachman Books) by Stephen King (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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"--

Book Synopsis

In the reality TV show The Running Man, the only objective is to stay alive.

This "slam-bang action suspense" (Gilbert Cruz, Vulture) from Stephen King is now a major motion picture coming from Paramount on November 14, 2025.

Ben Richards has no job, no money, and a young daughter who urgently needs medical attention. Desperate, out of options, he signs up for The Running Man, "the biggest show in the country." It's an ultraviolent competition where the stakes could not be higher. Ben must stay alive for thirty days while an elite strike force, trained to kill, hunts for him. If he can survive for a month, he wins a billion dollars. No contestant has ever lasted longer than eight days. Can Ben Richards win this ultimate game of life and death?

Review Quotes

Praise for THE RUNNING MAN

"A slam-bang action-suspense story." --Vulture

"This dystopian tale has real pathos, and a point." --The Guardian

"Under any name king mesmerizes the reader." --Chicago Sun-Times

About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Never Flinch, the short story collection You Like It Darker (a New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024), 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.