We've all heard the story about the writer who booked himself into a hotel on Friday and walked out Monday morning with a complete book in his hands. (It was the Bible, which he'd stolen from the room.) With The Running Man, though, we have a complete novel that was written in only three days -- and was published with almost no changes to that original draft.

Is it even possible to write a decent novel in three days? Yes -- but, obviously, The Running Man is not your typical Stephen King novel (which is a large part of the reason it was published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman). 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 find work because of his antiestablishment ways (for some reason, he didn't want to keep working at a job that exposed the old family jewels to dangerous amounts of radiation leakage), he can't take care of his family -- his wife keeps turning tricks for money, and his 18-month-old daughter has the flu and will likely die without proper medicine. There is only one way out for him -- the Network Games. The whole nation is fascinated with the Free-Vee game shows, shows such as Treadmill to Bucks or Swim with the Crocodiles. No show satisfies the bloodlust of the public like The Running Man does, though, and a man of Richards' temperament is just the kind of player the show is looking for.

The game is simple. Richards is paraded out in front of the cameras, castigated as a dangerous low-life, then turned loose on the streets. A few hours later, the show's Hunters begin going after him. Richards wins money for every hour he can avoid capture (and by capture, I mean bloody death -- broadcast live to the whole country), with bonuses for any cops killed along the way. Best of all, the viewing public can win money for themselves by turning him in if they see him. Richards proves himself a worthy contestant indeed -- the game in fact, will never be the same.

This is one of my least favorite King novels, primarily because it's so action-oriented. It doesn't put down roots, and it doesn't delve completely into the minds of any characters other than the protagonist. It is, in fact, 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.