The Long Walk was first published in 1979 and it was one of the books that Stephen King published under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman.
Perhaps, today, we might recognise the subject matter of the Long Walk as being related to the many reality TV shows we see on TV, but the novel was actually written well before reality TV began to swamp our screens.
The novel is set in the not too distant future. America is ruled by a totalitarian government and, every year, a so-called sporting event called The Walk is held that is run by the government and watched by millions on TV.
In the event, one hundred teenage boys take part in a walk that begins in Maine and follows a route down the eastern coast of the USA. There is no finish line; the winner of the walk is, literally, the last teenager who is left alive and still walking.
The boys must walk non-stop, day and night, at a pace that never drops below four miles per hour. If they do drop below that speed for more than 30 seconds, they are given a warning. If they drop below it more than three times, they are ticketed, which basically means they are shot dead by a soldier. The prize for the last boy left walking is anything that he desires, for the rest of his life. However, many of those who have won the race have been left so physically and mentally scarred by the experience that they have committed suicide shortly after winning the race.
Those who have never read a Stephen King novel before might think that a plot like that is a recipe for the gory description of one gruesome death after another, but there is a lot more to Stephen King's Long Walk than that.
The novel may not be as well written as some of his later books, after all it was his first, but it's still a fascinating study of a small group of people who have been thrown together and pitted against impossible odds. Some of the walkers form loose alliances, some keep their thoughts to themselves and some help one another along the way, despite that fact that only one of them will ultimately survive the ordeal.
While the boys walk themselves into their graves, spectators line the route and watch the race on TV. They place bets on who will win the race and who will be the next to die. The whole thing is presented like a major national event, but in reality, it is just another means by which the government keeps the population subdued.
If you have never read a Stephen King book before, The Long Walk would be a good place to start, especially if demonic clowns and werewolves are not your thing. It's a book that might even tear some of today's teenagers away from their games consoles and get them into the habit of reading!
Stephen King's Long Walk is an excellent read for anyone. You may not think that a story of one hundred teenagers walking at four miles per hour would be an enthralling read, but the way that Stephen King tells it means that it certainly is.
The Long Walk is available at www.stephenkingstore.com;
the fastest growing Stephen King Fan Site on the web. It's filled with
merchandise, T shirts, posters, coffee mugs and, of course, you'll find
all the very latest Stephen King books are available there too. Why not come on down and take a look!
By
Neil Savin