In the reality TV show The Running Man, the only objective is to stay alive. This "slam-bang action suspense" (Gilbert Cruz,
Vulture) from Stephen King is now a major motion picture coming from Paramount on November 7, 2025.
Ben Richards has no job, no money, and a young daughter who urgently needs medical attention. Desperate, out of options, he signs up for
The Running Man, "the biggest show in the country." It's an ultraviolent competition where the stakes could not be higher. Ben must stay alive for thirty days while an elite strike force, trained to kill, hunts for him. If he can survive for a month, he wins a billion dollars. No contestant has ever lasted longer than eight days. Can Ben Richards win this ultimate game of life and death?
About the AuthorStephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes
Never Flinch, the short story collection
You Like It Darker (a
New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024),
Holly (a
New York Times Notable Book of 2023),
Fairy Tale,
Billy Summers,
If It Bleeds,
The Institute,
Elevation,
The Outsider,
Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy:
End of Watch,
Finders Keepers, and
Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel
11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by
The New York Times Book Review and won the
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works
The Dark Tower,
It,
Pet Sematary,
Doctor Sleep, and
Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with
It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.