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The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man) Review by

Once again, this brilliant author has brought forth a collection of stories which prove that he does not simply write horror, and that his boundaries go far and wide. Unfortunately, it's hard to find all four of these novellas in a complete collection, due to censorship reasons, but if you can get your hands on all of them in this single volume, I would advise you not to hesitate. Built up from four different stories; "Rage", "The Long Walk", "Roadwork", and "The Running Man", King has expanded on his ability to examine the human mind and the very essence of sanity in "Rage" and "Roadwork", while looking at the future in a new light that seems too possible, almost to the point of terrifying in "The Long Walk" and "The Running Man".
The first novella, "Rage", is the one and only reason that it is so difficult to find all four of these stories in a single volume, being the only one that wasn't re-printed and individually published. Banned from bookshelves due to censorship, this story seems to prophesize down to the finest points all the tragic school shootings which have taken place, even though it was written in the 1970's, far before such a thing was hyped up. Based around the main character Charlie Decker, the reader watches as his sanity slowly slips away and drives him to execute teachers at his high school, resulting in taking his math class hostage in a vicious standoff with the police force. Although the story may sound violent, predictable, and inappropriate depending on your opinion, it proves to be more than just violence and mindless bloodshed. As the class is held hostage, both Charlie and his classmates engage in a series of flashbacks and events looking back on life, each learning something about themselves. A very good read, by far, which should be re-printed. If censorship starts here, where does it end?
"The Long Walk", which follows "Rage", is definitely the best of these four stories, and one of the two based around futuristic game shows played on violence, simply to entertain the brainwashed masses of America (along with "The Running Man"). The rules of the game shown in the story are simple. One hundred boys from the ages of 14-18 are to begin walking at the U.S/Canada border. With chronometers attached to them, they are to keep their pace above 4 miles an hour at all times. Every time one of them drops under this pace, they are issued a warning. If, after three warnings, the pace drops again, the boy is executed by soldiers armed with high-powered carbine rifles. The suspense and constant wondering of who is going to die next haunts this tale. As the plot thickens and the game starts to enter it's second and third day of straight walking, empathy sets in and the reader feels like they are among the characters, back and feet in pain from the constant work. One thing which is not mentioned about this story much is the Vietnam metaphor, reflecting how the country sends their best young men off to die, only a small number ever to return, and then pushed beyond their sanity if they survive long enough. Various other metaphors exist, but are purely speculative.
The third novella, "Roadwork", was excellent, but my least favorite of all. All of the plot revolves around the main characters fall from sanity, just as in "Rage". Barton Dawes, the main character, watches as the government tries to tear his house down to build a freeway extension, his only child dies from a brain tumor, he loses his job, his wife leaves him, and he is left with no options. The story moves too slowly at first, and their isn't much action until the final pages of climax, but the characters are believable and the plot is original, similar to the film "Falling Down". The only real complaint is the fact that the story is extremely long, but only about the last 10 pages, give or take, are used to show the final steps of Barton's sanity disappearing. However, don't let that stop you. After getting into it, the story really grabs you, whether it's loaded with action or not.
"The Running Man" finishes off this volume, telling the tale of Ben Richards, a poor man whose little girl is dying of pneumonia, as he enters a game show where he has 30 days to flee bounty hunters across the world, with all of society able to turn him in for money. If he is caught, he is brutally executed to entertain middle class America on television. If he escapes the whole 30 days, there is a billion dollar jackpot waiting for him. The end is completely unpredictable and keeps you in constant suspense. If you're going to compare it to the film, don't bother. The film is good action, but weak compared to this. The story simply grabs you in the first paragraph and doesn't let go, even after the ending.
All four stories are excellent, even though the endings of "Rage" and "Roadwork" are a bit predictable. As far as "The Long Walk" and "The Running Man" go, they are some of the best suspense you'll ever read. Looking at modern television, with "survival" game-shows such as "Survivor", "The Mole", and "Bootcamp", along with a million other clones, the reality of game shows based around death seems all too near. Frightening and exhilarating to think about. A must-have for any King fan.

The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man) Review by

It's been a while since I read this, but I remember all of the stories being pretty good. I'm only weighing in here to point out that it was Stephen King himself who censored this book. In a speech to a library association, which you can read at , King states that after his book (specifically the story called "The Rage") had been mentioned in connection with 2 school shootings, and the FBI requested an interview with King, he called his publisher and asked them to take it out of print. While this is unfortunate censorship that King may have been driven to, he ultimately censored himself.

The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man) Review by Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA)

The true identify of Richard Bachman did not get out until the publication of Thinner, Bachman's fifth book. These first four Bachman novels were the sorts of books you might find in a grocery store or - more likely - never have come across at all because they weren't really marketed at all - at Stephen King's request. Naturally, they didn't sell all that well - not until the true author was revealed, of course. These represent an interesting cross-section of King's writing life. Rage and The Long Walk are truly early King novels, Roadwork emerged in between the novels 'Salem's Lot and The Shining, and The Running Man was published in 1982, the product of a mere seventy-two hours of writing. They are quite different novels, yet they all share a common theme - a man displaced by society and doing what he can to combat the forces closing in around him.

This collection is about the only place you can find the novel Rage these days. After the Columbine tragedy, Stephen King basically had all copies of Rage pulled from the shelves. The novel features a high school student who wigs out, shoots two teachers, and holds his class hostage for several hours. The real heart of the story is the way the students react to their captor during their ordeal; they go way beyond merely sympathizing with him. King really breaks down the emotional walls of these characters, mining some of the real issues that teenagers have to deal with in their lives. To me, this novel is raw but instructive, surreal yet amazingly open and honest, and well worth reading.

If you ask me, The Long Walk (written while King was a college freshman) may well be the most fascinating novel King has ever written. It's a disarmingly simple tale centered on a seemingly mundane activity, yet in King's masterful hands The Long Walk burrows into the core of a number of characters, lays down miles of metaphors about the human condition, and absolutely mesmerizes you with its emotional force and power. The contestants (all but one of whom will die - and they know it) do a lot of talking while they're walking; most of them dance around the "why" issue, but we see clues to some of the reasons as each lad draws closer and closer to death. Cockiness turns to anger, fear, shock, and just about every other kind of dark emotion you can imagine. The boys are stripped bare in both body and mind as the Walk goes on and on. Through his characters, King is basically asking the reader how he/she will face death when it comes. Will you freeze up early on? How long will you fight to stay alive after you've pushed your body far beyond the breaking point? Will you lie down and accept your fate, or will you lose control and lash out at your perceived enemies? I could read this novel over and over again without ever growing tired of it. It's just endlessly fascinating and illuminating.

Roadwork represented an attempt on King's part to go straight, to prove he could write a mainstream novel. In its essence, Roadwork is the story of a man pushed beyond his means of coping with change. We the readers basically watch Bart Dawes go insane as the days pass. We watch him lie to his wife and to himself, drink himself into nightly stupors, procure destructive objects from dangerous men, and plot revenge on those who have taken away the few things in life he could cling to. At the center of his problem is his son Charlie, who died of a brain tumor three years earlier; George can't understand why his son had to die, and he can't bear the thought of his home, Charlie's home, being destroyed. Even as we watch Dawes do some terrible things, we can't help but sympathize with a man so beaten down by the cruel vagaries of life. King has said that Roadwork was in some ways a product of the death of his mother. The book served as a vehicle to let him work through his own emotional issues over his loss. Why does a loved one have to die? That question permeates this novel. It's a very personal story, but it is one almost any adult reader can relate to very well. It's a surprisingly impressive exploration of emotional disintegration.

With The Running Man, we have a complete novel that was written in only three days - and was published with almost no changes. Obviously, The Running Man is not your typical Stephen King novel. Action is the gas pedal, and King floored it from page one until the very end. Surprisingly, though, there is some pretty decent characterization of the main player - and a heavy undertone of social commentary worked into the book.

The setting is a future America in which society has totally fractured, leaving those on the wrong side of the tracks doomed to a life of misery. Ben Richards personifies that social inequity. Unable to provide for his wife and sick little girl, there is only one way out for him - the Network Games. No show satisfies the bloodlust of the public like The Running Man, and a man of Richards' temperament is just the kind of player the show is looking for. Richards proves himself a worthy contestant indeed - the Game in fact, will never be the same. To me, this novel is like a weak film adaptation of a King novel - stripped of all the nuances that make King such a special writer. That's not to way this isn't an exciting novel because it is - that's about all it is, though.

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The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man)::Description

Four of Richard Bachman's eerie works are gathered here in a posthumous edition. They are Rage, a story of stunning psychological horror about an "estra" ordinary high school student; "The Long Walk," a contest with death; "Roadwork, a strange variation on the theme of "Home Sweet Home"; and "The Running Man," where you bet your life--literally.

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Monday, January 2, 2012