The true identify of Richard Bachman did not get out until the publication of Thinner, Bachman's fifth book. The 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.

Rage is a truly early King novels, focusing -- like all of the Bachman books -- on a common theme: a man displaced by society and doing what he can to combat the forces closing in around him.

An omnibus edition of the first four Richard Bachman novels is about the only place you can find Rage these days. After the Columbine tragedy, King had all copies of Rage pulled from the shelves, and he later allowed the collected editions go out of print, too.

The novel features a high school student who wigs out, shoots two teachers and holds his class hostage for several hours. After Columbine, the plot was a little too real.

But 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.