I'm glad I bought this novel when I did because Rage is no longer in print. I would say the stories are 50/50 with Rage and The Long Walk the standouts and Running Man a fun romp. Road Work is the weak link on the batch. If you can find a copy with Rage in it, grab that one as it is a great story and one of King's best short novellas. ( )

Out of the four novellas, The Long Walk is my favorite. It's so grueling and screwed up, which is interesting to read. ( )

This omnibus of King’s early writings contains, in my view, one of his most brilliant pieces of work, The Long Walk. A disturbing and gripping tale of human endurance that sucks you in, invoking a multitude of emotions that was written while King was a college freshman. You will also find The Rage in this anthology which King began writing when he was a senior in high school. The Rage is no longer in print by King’s own request due to the Columbine High School shootings. This book is a must read for any Stephen King fan if only to experience these two gems. ( )

Hah, this is a pretty awesome omnibus. Essentially it collects four of the books King wrote under his pseudonym Bachman, before he was uncovered. They mostly deal with a man against society, rather than the supernatural as is King's hallmark. I felt the Long Walk was the weakest, but really loved the Running Man. Definitely a good read. ( )

Rage:
One of King’s earliest works, Rage wasn’t published until he had established himself and when it was, it was published under the author name Richard Bachman. This novel is definitely raw in many aspects, but I think that is what helps to give it its charm.
The story centers on a student who kills his teacher in front of his class and holds the class hostage for most of the day. He and the class then discuss a variety of issues, but the main conversation revolves around what has led him to this. King’s narrative and character development really help to pull the reader into the story and there is enough tension to help keep things moving when it starts to seem that it’s going to be dull.
Not the most action packed or scary of King’s novels, but still manages to be a page turner. I rank it up with the top of his novels from the story-telling aspect of this novel alone.

The Long Walk:
The Long Walk is another of Stephen King's novels written as Richard Bachman. In the traditional style of his Bachman writings, it is much more raw than most of his other writing. I enjoy the change in style as it lends even more realism to his writing and makes the story even more intense.
The Long Walk isn't really a horror tale so much as it is a tale of friendships formed under dire circumstances. We see up close how this interpersonal relationships grow and dissolve and reform again with great frequency throughout the race. It is also about the strength of the human spirit. When pushed to its limits, the human mind continues to push the body on into realms never deemed possible by the rational mind.
The story is a good one, if a little predictable, and even though it moves along at a slower pace than some, it's almost like we are right there with the walkers as follow-along spectators. Rich in detail and character, the slow pace doesn't make you want to stop reading, if anything, it enhances the tension.
I truly enjoyed rereading this novel and plan on visiting it again in the future.

Road Work:
This is my lowest rated King book so far. Not to say that it is a bad book or that I would discourage anyone from reading it, but it's definitely not on par with the majority of King's other works.
As usual, character development is top notch and the plot itself has no real problems. My problem with the book is that it really takes forever to get anywhere. The basic theory of the plot is that we see a man's descent into madness as everything that he has worked his entire life for is being taken away from him. He systematically sets out to destroy anything that he has left and tries to find a way to exact some sort of vengeance against the powers that be who have ruined his existence.
I have no problem with this storyline except that the way that it plays out, a lot of it is a rehash of what happens to the mind of Jack Torrance in The Shining. It's not nearly as nutty as The Shining, nor do we have the supernatural overtones in Roadwork, but I just got the general impression that I'd experienced the feel of the novel somewhere else.
Anyway, I don't want to condemn this story in any way. The main character is compelling and endearing in his way and the novel definitely has some strong moments here and there, I just felt that it took a little to long to get to some of them.

The Running Man:
It's the future and Ben Richards journeys to the Network Games Building to apply for a job as a contestant in order to supply the money to feed his family and provide medicine for his sick infant daughter. The job he gets ends up being more than both he and the Network bargained for!
The Running Man is a fairly well written tale set in the now not too distant future. Interestingly enough, the country is riveted to their free-vees in order to watch what is in essence nothing more than an unending stream of reality television game shows. It makes me wonder if Mark Burnett based some of his ideas upon this book and the (sort of) related movie.
Once Richards has moved through the application process, the action moves along at a pretty brisk pace and there are some really nice elements of storytelling apparent throughout. My only complaint is that King tries a little too hard with creating the future setting and goes overboard with the names and slogans for things that he uses in his setting. At times, especially during the beginning of the book, it's a bit cheesy and distracting. ( )