The Long Walk by Stephen King

The Long Walk is book written by Stephen King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman which is about a race for boys called "The Long Walk" and if you exceed your limit, you have to face brutal consequences.

This is my second Bachman book I've read so far and although I haven't had the best experience with the previous one, I actually really loved this.

This really isn't a long book at all, which is interesting to me since King's books are relatively long and large. But this was a decent sized novel.

Some of Stephen King's longer novels I find to run on a bit, and some I find to be perfect sizes for the plot. Same goes for his shorter novels.

For me, The Long Walk was a little too short -- but very close to perfect. Do I wish there were more back story to the marathon. Yes. Do I wish the ending was so abrupt. Absolutely.

I am okay with it, regardless? Indeed I am.

I do love how easy it is to read, though. I love Stephen King's books so much, mainly because of the writing style and the flow and I found each word and chapter to work so well with the rest of the book.

The plot idea was also very interesting. I would never think of a marathon like this ever and base it on actual fears as well. Stephen King is truly a phenomenal writer for this because of the structure of his plots and the execution.

One of my favourite books by Stephen King is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon because of the psychological aspect of fear opposed to the actual gore -- which I do still equally love, but the psychological fear makes things even more terrifying to me.

I also love classic Stephen King books The Shining and IT for its gore.

I feel as if The Long Walk is a perfect mix of both.

Not only do you actually feel the pain the contestants are going through, you feel their dread. You can feel and sense their fear or not walking the certain distance in a specific amount of time and their true fear of being shot in the head, or even watching someone else get shot in the head for using up too many warnings.

The game show is brutal, but I think that is what makes it terrifying.

I read a review where someone said, this is truly a life or death situation for these characters. You sense them questioning whether life is worth it or not as these young boys are lifeless and exhausted.

It's heartbreaking. It's depressing. It's dark.

But as sinister as it sounds, it's almost beautiful with it's deeper meaning.

I also loved the characters.

I found them to be very genuine and unique. Very interesting as well.

Personally, I enjoyed The Long Walk and is definitely redeeming the Bachman books for myself.

Stephen King's novels in general are typically very dark, but if you would like an eerie novel that pulls through your psychological fears, The Long Walk is for you!