I'm truly overjoyed to have purchased this First Edition in such immaculate condition and at such a great price.

For those new to the works of Stephen King, here's a bit of backstory about this volume.

In 1974, Stephen King had his name on the copyright forms of one book, Carrie, his first published novel. He had written five novels before Carrie: Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, Running Man, and Thinner, in that order. The Bachman Books is the volume being reviewed here and contains the first four titles. (The back story on Thinner differs from that of The Bachman Books and is excluded here.)

Stephen King started writing Rage in 1966 when he was a senior in high school. He stashed the manuscript in a trunk in the attic and moved on with his 19-year-old life. The Long Walk was written in its entirety while he was a freshman in college, 1966 - 1967, and was submitted to Bennett Cerf/Random House but rejected and went into the trunk. After the death of his mother in 1973 at age 59 due to cancer, he wrote Roadwork, "to try to make sense of it all."

Running Man followed shortly after. Ultimately, these four novels were published individually between 1977 and 1982 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.

Why a pseudonym? By 1977, King had three published novels under his own name: Carrie (1974), Salem's Lot (1975), and The Shining (1977), each more successful than the previous one. The author推测 his publishers thought he was overpublishing the market. "Bachman provided a compromise for both of us," says the author. Of the four Bachman books, King offered his opinion of the writing, "[one was] bad (Roadwork), one was indifferent (Running Man), and I thought two were pretty good (Rage and The Long Walk)." As King's work grew in popularity with half a dozen best-selling novels between 1977 and 1982, as well as the advent of the Dark Tower series, the author had concerns about publishing his earlier novice works under the prestigious name of Stephen King. (These concerns quickly proved to be completely unfounded!)

Thereby, Richard Bachman was born, "an unpleasant fellow who was born in New York.......settled in rural central New Hampshire, where he wrote at night and tended his dairy farm during the day." There is an extensive history included at the beginning of The Bachman Books, a kind of preamble.

Richard Bachman died suddenly in 1985 when the Bangor Daily News published that King was Bachman, of "cancer of the pseudonym."

All four books will be individually reviewed, spoiler-free, below as I finish them.

Rage - 2.5
The Long Walk - 3
Roadwork - 2
The Running Man - 4

Overall, I was truly disappointed with this omnibus collection. The Long Walk failed to live up to my lofty expectations. It didn't have the captivating charm and depth that I had hoped for. Roadwork was dreadfully boring and dull, lacking any real excitement or engaging plot. However, The Running Man was a pleasant surprise. It was surprisingly good, and I could clearly understand why King decided to pull Rage from publication.

I still can't fathom why Thinner was not included in this collection. In my opinion, it is a Bachman book and one of the very best. Although I'm glad I read this collection, I highly doubt I'll ever revisit any of its stories. Maybe I'll read The Running Man again to compare it with its movie adaptation.

It was just really unfortunate that there was a consecutive string of subpar stories. This truly hindered my reading experience. It took me a considerable amount of time to get through this book. After reading the first two stories, I took a break and found myself reluctant to pick up the book again.

⭐⭐⭐

Steven King's distinct writing style is prominently showcased throughout these early novels. In the introduction, he briefly touches upon the reason for writing as Bachman. However, for a long-time fan of King, it's evident that these stories were penned by him. They incorporate many of his recurring tropes and hallmarks, and interestingly, Maine features quite heavily in all of them. Here are my individual thoughts on each novel:

Rage - Its writing style is rather juvenile and somewhat unbelievable. This is the most infamous of the four, as King has ceased allowing its publication. You're not really missing out much, and I believe only the most dedicated King readers might find something of value in it.

The Long Walk - I was astonished by the intense love that many people had for this story. It has an intriguing premise, set in a vaguely suggested fascist/dystopian environment, where boys engage in a competition of walking until only the final winner remains alive. It gave the impression of being an allegory for the US military.

Roadwork - Among the four, I had never heard of this one before reading this collection. It has a modern (for that era) setting of a man who is frustrated with the changing world and reacts violently to it.

The Running Man - This novel felt like an episode of Black Mirror, where the poor in this dystopian setting participate in cruel game shows for money to survive. We follow one man in one of the most dangerous shows as he attempts to provide for his family. Although it felt a bit disjointed, it was still interesting.

Overall, these are good early novels in a writer's career. I noticed that the Bachman books share similar overall themes: men in desperate situations striving to win, frustration and rage towards the changing world, and some dystopian settings. While the writing style remains the same, the Bachman books seem to have a more contemporary or near-futuristic setting and are decidedly more angry than King's regular works.

Every time I pick up my old, tattered copy of these books, held together with masking tape and sheer hope, I find myself falling deeper in love with them. I'm going to explore each novel one by one, as I cherish every single one of them. Let's start with Rage. I've always had a soft spot for it. It's the first in the bindup and it's truly interesting. I recall a reviewer on YouTube comparing it to 'Breakfast Club with a gun', and that's an apt description. It follows Charlie Decker as he holds up his algebra class, and it's a wild ride. It has that classic 'early King' feel, and it makes me a bit angry and in awe that he wrote it when he was younger than I am now.

Next is The Long Walk, which is actually my absolute favorite. I re-read it at least twice a year. I love all the characters and everything about it. I love how they're all broken down before meeting their fates. My favorite character changes - I was a huge Barkovitch fan for a long time, but now I've accepted that my favorite is Abraham. And Stebbins? He's just dumb and I don't understand why anyone likes him.

I could go on and on about The Long Walk, but it's time to move on to Roadwork. I didn't like it at first. In fact, it took me several readings to really appreciate it. But as I re-read these books annually, I kept coming back to it. It's about a man whose house and workplace are about to be demolished for a road, and he decides to take matters into his own hands. It's actually quite fun. Even though it's still probably my least favorite, I do have a newfound love for it.

Finally, there's The Running Man. It's just a ton of fun. I love the fast pace, the high stakes, and the interesting world King has created. Both The Long Walk and The Running Man are set in dystopian worlds, but the one in The Running Man is almost entirely different. Reading it in 2015, when some of the things in the book have already 'happened', is really interesting. And it's freaky that Ben Richards was 'born' a month after I was.

In the end, I truly love these books and the way they're told. I love the depressing endings - even though Roadwork and The Running Man have more satisfying endings than Rage or The Long Walk, they're still not happy endings. I just love everything about them. Everybody. I love everybody.