Stephen King - The Bachman collection

The book contains four early stories of Stephen King under the alias, Richard Bachman.

• Rage - A teenager, Charlie Decker, looses control of himself and started killing people, and holding his classmates hostage. The unfolding events has long term consequences for many of them.

• The long walk - A games show requires volunteers to walk at a steady place with no rest until all but the last falls out. Consequences of falling behind are horrifying. The mental torture and tension between the contestants builds all the time as the tale is told by one of the contenders.

• Roadwork -A longtime worker at a laundry business, George Dawes, looses control of his life when a new road requires him to give up his home. He spirals down in his life, consulting the darkest corners of his mind, and looses all hope. He keeps on fighting the road construction as only touch with his old life.

• Running man - The story plays off in a deteriorated future society where pollution and joblessness changed the face of morals. A man, Ben Richards, enters a game show where he is fugitive with a prize on his head to earn some money for his family. His survival struggles enlightens him about the life they have through the people he meets.

The book gives an interesting insight in the early writings of Stephen King. All are easy flowing stories, but with a dark side exposed with no reserve, and extremely descriptive.