The Running Man (novel)

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The Running Man is a dystopian thriller novel by American writer Stephen King, first published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982 as a paperback original. It was collected in 1985 in the omnibus The Bachman Books. The novel is set in a dystopian United States during the year 2025, in which the nation's economy is in ruins and world violence is rising. The story follows protagonist Ben Richards as he participates in the reality show The Running Man, in which contestants win money by evading a team of hitmen sent to kill them. The central premise of a televised manhunt was previously explored in dystopian literature, most notably in Robert Sheckley's 1958 science fiction short story, The Prize of Peril, which features a contestant hunted by professionals across an urban landscape for a cash prize. The novel has been adapted to film twice, in 1987 and 2025.

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