The Long Walk

By Stephen King

On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying...


From the Paperback edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Apr 1, 1999
• ISBN: 9781101138182

Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, 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. 

Reviews for The Long Walk

[toobusyreading · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm an unabashed Stephen King fan. Despite that, this book, written by Stephen King as Richard Bachman, is far from my favorite. The trope is familiar: 100 young men, boys really, start out on a walk and only one will survive. And there are soldiers ready to dispatch those who “buy a ticket,” who don't keep at least a 4 mph pace. The setting is the US, but not quite the US. Most of the book is about the thoughts, the friendships, the enemies of the boys. There were only glimpses into how the US was different than now. The story is explicitly gruesome (hey, it is King, after all), but it was a bit like looking at a car crash. You feel sorry for those killed and hurt but you don't know them well enough to take the tragedy to heart. This story was okay, but only that. Sorry, Mr. King.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think my feet actually hurt when I finished this one. It’s dark, but like a train wreck, you can’t look away. A group of 100 teen boys must walk until there is only one left alive. Stephen King’s compulsively readable style can make almost anything thrilling. A slow walk towards death sounds tortuous even to read, but he makes it an unputdownable book. “They walked through the rainy dark like gaunt ghosts, and Garraty didn't like to look at them. They were the walking dead.”

[chrisblocker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I haven't quite made up my mind about Stephen King. Part of me is repelled by his trendiness; that part also recognizes an author with flaws of dialogue and resolution and an author who needs to better listen to his editor (or find a new editor). And yet the guy can craft a really riveting, well-told story, ie “The Body.” No work better displays both sides of King than The Stand, a wonderfully constructed tale that suffers woefully from diarrhea of the pen.But I keep coming back because there is a draw. After a year or two away, something about King's works calls to me. Sometimes I'm glad I returned. Other times, I'm like “eh.” This time around, I am truly, genuinely surprised.I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of The Long Walk. It's not one of the author's more notable works. The summary of the book brought to mind ideas of a potentially strong story, but greater likelihood of cheesiness. And knowing that King would have to maintain an entire novel of teenagers talking with one another frightened me.But this novel really, truly worked. First, The Long Walk is believably scary. This isn't about killer clowns or murderous cars, it's about a society that encourages and delights in the sacrifice of its youth. Once a year, one hundred teenage boys begin walking. They cannot stop until there is only one left. What happens if they stop or walk too slowly? They receive a warning. After three warnings, they're killed. That's it. So simply terrifying. And the walk goes on day after day, because when your only choice is to live or to stop and rest, you find the will to keep going (or maybe you don't.)But this isn't really a story about a dystopian society in love with the long walk, now is it? This is the story of war. Boys on the verge of manhood being sent on some ridiculous quest. They're spurred on by the words of a general shouting encouragement at them. They're cheered on by the patriotic fervor of the crowds that watch from the sideline, but never join the walk. They're shell-shocked and unsure why they'd even started walking in the first place. Published in 1979, The Long Walk likely was inspired by the war in Vietnam, but it could easily be about any war.One of the things that almost doesn't work but ends up working spectacularly in this novel is the dialogue. Some of these conversations are so brilliant. Others are completely asinine. Who would believe that these individuals would have the conversations they do right after watching their neighbor being gunned down. But isn't that exactly how it is in war? Don't these soldiers become so immune to it all that while they may from time to time philosophize about life and death, they're just as likely to talk about Saturday morning cartoons? At times, the raging hormones of these one hundred became a bit over the top for my tastes, but largely I believed this group's actions and discussions.The only area where I would've liked to have seen change was in the contemporary setting. King places these kids sometime in the sixties or seventies, I'm never quite sure. Again, this probably alludes to Vietnam, but it dates the story horribly. The boys discuss the music, the cars, and the babes of the era. In 2018, it makes an otherwise universal story sound a bit hokey at times. This was a problem that The Stand suffered from as well.I was really pulled into this novel and I must say that while I've read relatively little of King's complete bibliography, this has been my favorite so far. There are some really wonderful passages here and the overall story is quite engaging. The Long Walk truly made me hungry for more of King's writing.

[ufkls · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

entwickelt einen starken Sog und raubt gleichzeitig den Atem.

[ravennight-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was one of the most powerful books I read in 2016. Throughout the novel, I honestly felt like I was walking along with Garraty. The descriptions felt so real. And once the Walk started, I couldn't put down the book. With every death, I felt my heart break a little more.

[jason_gatewood-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Didn't like how it ended, but I enjoyed the rest. I feel like we need more background (what is the time period? What has happened in America that this is taking place? etc

[nfmgirl2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic story. Originally a short story included in The Bachman Books, this story has a great premise. Times are hard, and 100 boys begin a marathon in hopes of being the one remaining that wins a fortune that will enable them to take care of their families. This story has great character development, and you wind up feeling gut-wrenching empathy for the boys as they are "eliminated" from the race one-by-one. This would be one of my favorite Stephen King stories.

[coralsiren · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this entire book in two days, I just couldn't put it down. The story is sometimes shocking and always intense, you have to keep turning the pages just know what will happen next. Each of the characters is fascinating and once you get attached, it's difficult to watch them go. This is one novel that makes the reader ask questions and it will stick with you long after you finished reading the last page.I would recommend this book to anyone.

[veeralpadhiar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel was better than what I had expected. One thing I liked about this story was the rawness with which it was handled. No flashy gadgets, no mind-boggling futuristic technology to keep track of the Walkers. Nothing. Just some soldiers following the Walkers in a military vehicle with chronometer in their one hand and a rifle in the other one. Really, what else do you need?

One question that kept nagging at my mind at all the times while reading this was that WHAT actually happened to the world that it started going ape-shit in 'The Long Walk'. I was concerned for a while thinking that King was not going to answer that even at the end. But as it is Stephen King, he told everything that needed to be said in just one sentence in the 14th chapter. And never ever mentioned or even elaborated it again intentionally.

It's not much of a spoiler as far as the story goes, but for me, it answered something that I wanted to know right from the start.

The lights filled the sky with a bubblelike pastel glow that was frightening and apocalyptic, reminding Garraty of pictures he had seen in the history books of the German air-blitz of the American East Coast during the last days of World War II.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like Stephen King back when he was pretending he wasn't Richard Bachman, so I don't know if I'd have recognised his writing if I'd read this then, but I think I probably would've. There's something about it. The main difference is the theme -- it's horribly human, much less supernatural. He always has something of the human in his books, I've found, something true, something that'll make sense to your ordinary sceptical reader, no matter who they are -- something about family bonds, or just the familiarity of the creeping horror, or a fear that sort of floats around, like a flu pandemic or the death of a child...

This book is much closer, because it's all about humans. It's a cruel book. You know from the beginning that the end isn't going to be a release, because you start off with one hundred characters and it's going to narrow down to one. That's cruel. I felt bad, rooting for Garraty, 'cause weren't the others deserving, too? There isn't a real winner, in The Long Walk, I think. The ending is interesting -- I can see why people call it weak, but it fits with the rest, I think, and if you find it an anticlimax, well, consider: maybe you were supposed to.

For something in which so little happens -- one hundred boys walk through Maine, and if they go slower than four miles per hour they get shot, and the winner is the one left standing at the end -- this is oddly compelling.

And my feet feel just a little sympathetically sore right now.

[ljhliesl · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I must have come across this on a list of dystopias. It has very little dystopia but plenty of Stephen King's usual hamhanded ineffectual attempt at psychological horror.

Characters mention the last date by which the participants may drop out of the event as April 31st. Twice.

[coloradogirl14 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Long Walk was originally published under Stephen King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman, back in the 1970's. Now that readers know better, it's clear that it's part of Stephen King's oeuvre, but there's still a nasty quality to The Long Walk, as well as the rest of the Bachman books, that isn't always present in Stephen King's regular work. Despite the horrific subject matter, King usually writes with some element of love, hope, and optimism, but the Bachman books are another story.The Long Walk is a short, simple story set in a near-future America, where a group of 100 boys are given the opportunity to participate in The Long Walk, a miles-long trek along the eastern coast. But here's the kicker: participants must maintain a steady speed of 4 miles per hour. If they drop below that speed, they are given three warnings before being shot. The last man standing receives anything he wants for the rest of his life. People are allowed to watch the Long Walk as the participants move south along the coast, and many people regard this as prime entertainment. At the beginning of the story, the 100 boys are full of naive excitement, talking about what made them sign up for the Walk in the first place and what they'd ask for if they win. But the story quickly becomes suspenseful and gruesome as the boys are besieged by cramps and illnesses and are forced to watch their new friends die. The story is told from sixteen-year-old Ray Garrison's point of view, and since the entire novel takes place as the boys are walking, many of the pages are devoted to Ray's internal musings and the conversations he has with his fellow walkers. This is where the novel achieves most of its depth. The boys begin to ask pointed questions about life, death, and the meaning of the Long Walk, which mirror many of the questions that were being asked at the time about the Vietnam War. It's also interesting to watch the characters form alliances and enemies within their small group, and how these alliances change throughout the Walk. There aren't any major plot twists, and there aren't any big events to propel the story. The descriptions are often graphic and detailed, and after awhile, the reader begins to experience the same exhaustion and claustrophobia as the Walkers. This makes for a powerful and visceral reading experience, and even though the novel was short, I found myself needing to take a break every few chapters. It's definitely not King's most sophisticated writing, and for anyone familiar with his work, it's clear that it was written early in his career, but The Long Walk is still sharp and effective.For readers who like dark, suspenseful stories without fancy plot gimmicks. The rest of the Bachman books are obviously good read-alikes. Rage has a similarly claustrophobic feel, but may be hard to track down, as the story is out of print. However, it can be found in The Bachman Books, a collection of the first four Bachman titles, which includes The Long Walk.The idea of government-sponsored death as entertainment should be familiar to anyone who's read The Hunger Games. For someone looking for a more violent interpretation of a similar premise should try Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, which was labeled violent exploitation when it was first published. This story follows a group of ninth-graders, who are confined to a small, isolated island and forced to kill each other, as part of the ultimate reality TV show.

[neftzger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not your typical Stephen King, but then again this was originally published under a pseudonym. In this story there's a competition to see who can outlast the others in a long walk that ends when there's only one walker left. The twist is that as soon as you quit walking the guards kill you. This was a gripping read that's also an interesting psychological study of competition with some likeable -- and not so likeable -- characters.

[klmesoftly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is another novel I try to reread every year, and every time it makes me cry. This novel is bleak and chilling, a frightening look at an alternate universe ruled by a totalitarian government. The focus is on a group of boys as they compete for their lives. I love that this book leaves the reader with as many questions as answers by the end--questions of motives and setting that develop whilst reading about this underdeveloped outer world that houses the small-scale events of the novel itself. I would kill to see Stephen King write a companion novel to this one, if not a sequel.

[hollyinnnv · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Manipulation. If I had to describe TLW in one word, it would be manipulation. Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King, seeks to manipulate the reader of TLW throughout the entire book. First, let's introduce you to a bunch of characters that you are probably going to feel empathy for pretty quickly. They are boys just like you know in your daily life. They are your brother, son, nephew, neighbor-maybe even someone just like yourself. And you are going to watch these boys go through a little bit of self-learning, and then they will die. No noble cause here-just walking to their deaths. It will be bloody, horrible and nauseating. And then the book will end. Feeling manipulated yet? Because it only took me a short while before I was seriously questioning why I was reading the book in the first place? There is no surprise. There is really no lesson. And guess what? I don't want to get to know these boys. I don't want to grow to care for them or care what happens to them. I don't want to be manipulated by Mr. King.I had hoped that there would be some redeeming element to TLW. I've read some fantastic dystopian books recently, Children of Men, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver and Brave New World. Those books have an essential element that TLW lacks. I'm not even sure I can put my finger on it. But, a deep dystopian story, TLW is NOT.I don't recommend this book.

[purlewe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Stephen King I hadn't read. It reminds me a tiny bit of The Lottery and The Hunger Games. Very intersting.. what would you do in that situation kind of book.

[areadingmachine · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of Stephen Kings best. EVER. Written when he was quite young it is a raw and fast paced despite being a story that is about kids walking. Thats it. Walk and walk and dont stop. Dont fall below a certain speed or you'll get a warning. 3 warnings earns you a ticket and you are out of the game...and by that I mean you get your head blown off.

I cannot recommend this highly enough. It has all the hallmarks of classic Stephen King and perfectly illustrates a dystopian future that is entirely possible. It is dark and mesmerising and will leave you asking what just happened, what did I do, what did I participate in?? You will feel dirty for having watched this and let it happen without doing anything.

JUST FRIGGING LOVED IT!

[ninelarks-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Walking. It's not so difficult. But for these 100 boys who have to keep at a pace of 4 miles an hour, endlessly, it becomes near torture.

This simple seeming premise was executed in such a chilling way because it just revolved around boys walking. No more, no less. But in the span of their time, we see a corrupt world, an eerie spectator game that involves death, casual shootings, and musings on what it means to dig deep.

There is not much plot, as mentioned, but still. This book was entirely captivating from beginning to end.
Each character is unique, but at the base of it all, there's only the last sounds of the gun.

I was biting my lips at the end of every chapter.
This is a horror story, but not in the typical monster-in-the-dark, scare-me type novel. It's a slow horror that creeps in after the hundredth mile. It builds up on you because you're starting to realize that you want all of these characters to survive, even the angry Barkovitch. The miles keep going, the descriptions of the pain and the fear and the numbness... you almost imagine you can feel it too.

The worst was watching McVries die. Especially because Garraty ignored their pact to try to get him to live. But the simple response, "No Ray, it's time to sit down."

That is just chilling. And heart-breaking.

I am not certain I appreciate the ending (especially as it seemed to end a little too abruptly), but this is definitely a book worth reading.

3.5 stars rounded up. Recommended for anyone who likes Stephen King. And for anyone who wants to read a bit of a dark book.

[imaginationzombie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's pretty unbelievable that one can write about walking for a couple hundred pages. Leave it to the horror/ gross out master himself.

This is an older book, it doesn't flow as well as his newer ones, I can see the tactics he's using, and it really helps.

[bookworm_naida · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

About:Whenever I start reading a King book, I have high expectations. I'm happy to say my favorite author delivered here yet again.The Long Walk is an annual event that begins on each first of May in Maine. One hundred teenage boys are made to walk on a stretch of road for hundreds of miles and through several states. If anyone slows to under four miles per hour they get a warning and after three warnings they are shot dead. Who is in charge of all this? A man called the Major. When does the Long Walk end? When there is one person left standing he will win the Grand Prize, which means he will have whatever he wants for the rest of his life. There is no established finish line and no stopping of any kind. If anyone stops for more than 30 seconds, first warning is issued. Each walker is not to receive any outside help either. Armed guards follow the boys on trucks on the side of the road, gauging their speed with computers.This national sport is televised and as the boys walk, spectators can be seen on the sidelines cheering them or just staring at the gruesome sight. As The Walk progresses and there are fewer and fewer left standing, the crowds get bigger and wilder.As the boys walk, the soldiers provide them with canteens full of water anytime and food packets at 9am each morning. These are the same armed guards who shoot them. The protagonist is 16 year old Raymond Davis Garraty from Maine. While Garraty walks, the few boys that are walking with him become friends to him. Peter McVries, Arthur Baker, Hank Olson, Collie Parker and a few others start to refer to themselves as The Musketeers. My thoughts: Stephen King has said that The Long Walk is the first novel he ever wrote and he started it eight years before Carrie was published. I was surprised to find that this book is a bit dystopian in nature. It takes places in the near future where America is ruled by the police, not the government. Garraty's inner monologue gives insight into his good nature. As he walks, he wonders if he can win this whole thing but at the same time he doesn't want to see his friends die. The thought of seeing his girlfriend and his mom again is what keeps him going. He does wonder what he will do when he finally sees them in the crowd. What else will he have to look forward to after that?He and McVries become best friends on The Walk and it's interesting to see these two help each other out because essentially, only one can win. The Walk is gruesome in itself. It's a sad, hopeless scenario. As can be expected some of the boys go insane while others suffer illnesses that eventually lead to death. Endurance is key, mental as well as physical. While they walk, the boys talk about life and the reasons why they signed up for what is basically suicide.The characters are all well written, I think that's a given with King. Garraty and McVries were my favorites.The police, are always there, a menacing presence. As is usual with King, here is the struggle of good verses evil. There is symbolism within the story. I think the walk itself represents the human condition, the journey we all take. Each person is different, each struggles in different ways. "They walked on, somehow in step, although all three of them were bent forever in different shapes by the pains that pulled them."p.358, The Long WalkAnother thing I noticed while reading is the similarity to reality tv within the storyline. We've got shows like Survivor and Amazing Race where the contestants become reality tv celebs. The boys in The Walk become celebrities as well, with the bloodthirsty crowd cheering them on, making banners and chanting their names. The storyline is so intense, as I read I was on the edge of my seat, I could almost hear the walkers footsteps on the blacktop. King drew me in completely. He takes the act of walking, and turns it into this gripping and emotional story. Masterful storytelling as per his usual. I could not put this book down, especially towards the end and I even dreamt about it. It invaded my sleep. If you've read this one, let me know how you interpret the ending. It's by no means a cliffhanger, but I do think it's up to interpretation. I found myself so drawn in, some of what happens at the end left me misty eyed. That's another thing King has a knack for, writing about the strong bonds of friendship. Friendships that form in the most unlikely of places. I recommend The Long Walk to any King fan and to readers looking to get caught up in a scary read that will completely suck you in and leave you stunned."They walked through the rainy dark like gaunt ghosts, and Garraty didn't like to look at them. They were the walking dead."p.349, The Long Walk

[erincathryn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I don't even really know what to say about this book.

I didn't find it overly "scary" or "horrifying" aside from a few moments of beautifully written gore. And I am not saying the whole thing should have been laced with gore, but I didn't feel the tension or the horror I would expect from Stephen King.

And the ending made me go "WTF". I don't like books that leave me with more questions than answers. Call me old fashioned, but I like things to be fairly well explained and not so vague that I am going... "But... what... I... HUH?!"

[todd_russell_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm going back through and rereading the Bachman Books trying to decide which one was Stephen King's best. This is one of the front-runners about Ray Garraty, "Maine's Own" making The Long Walk across Maine. If you walk too slow, you get a warning and too many warnings and the guards shoot you dead. I think what keeps this from being a five star read for me--and I'm admittedly nitpicking--is that I wish King would have shown more madness from the Walkers experiencing sleep deprivation and fatigue in the final third of the book. After several days the remaining Walkers should have broken down more mentally. This is a strong 4.5 star read, however, and highly recommended. It's intriguing how King maintains and keeps reader interest in a story with almost no flashbacks and backstory. It's all about the walk and Walkers, as it should be. And I loved how dark King painted the Mayor character. Great stuff! At the beginning of each chapter he starts with a quote, often one from a game show host. The reality game show element of this story reminds me a lot of The Running Man, another Bachman book. From a formatting on the Kindle perspective, there is an annoying apostrophe spacing error with each 's so it comes out looking like this this: man 's man's. Not sure what happened there, as the rest of the formatting is solid. I loved the ending of The Long Walk. It's much darker than most King endings but in line with most of the Bachman book endings. This is one reason why King chose the Bachman pen name, so he didn't feel obligated to end things as positively. Then again if you read King's Pet Semetery that doesn't exactly end all warm and fuzzy either.

[littleton_pace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't have any negatives for this book. I started reading yesterday and didn't stop until I finished. It's a harrowing, horrific tale of survival, friendship and human endurance. Recommended to everyone; a favourite book of mine.

[matthew254 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Long Walk was another early Richard Bachman/Stephen King book about a sinister but popular game show. One hundred young men start walking. They must keep a 4/mph pace. They cannot stop or fall out. If they do, they get up to three warnings. After the third, they are brutally shot by soldiers on a halftrack. This goes on for hundreds of miles until only one boy is left. The winner gets the mysteriously vague "Prize": anything he wants for the rest of his life. Not as fast-paced as The Running Man but still a good read.

[gma2lana · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It started out with a bang, and then the book just seemed to drag on for me. Sadly I finished it, but felt it was a waste of my time.

[gmillar_8 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It had me interested for most of the way and it dropped some reasoning info on how, why and what the long walk was about at key places throughout the story. But it didn't go far enough with that for me. In the end it pissed me off. I will not lose any sleep over it.

[boonvegas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have to say this is one of my favorite stories of stephen King it is a short story but it is different and you just can't put it down. I really would recommend this one.

[cvc7278 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Imagine a lottery style system that doesn't just pick a number, but gives the person who holds the ticket a chance to compete for the prize. Well, that is in a nutshell what the "Long Walk" is. Whoever can walk the longest wins, only problem is, if you stop walking, your dead.

[abbylibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Every year, 100 teenage boys are accepted into the Long Walk. The object? To walk farther than all the other boys. They walk constantly, not allowed to slow down or stop. If a boy does slow down below 4 miles an hour, he is warned three times and then shot. At first this book was like a car wreck... it was gruesome and terrible, but I couldn't seem to look away. But once I looked past the gore, I was fascinated with the boys' motivation for being in the Walk. And, of course, I wanted to know who would end up winning. Pick this one up if you like psychological thrillers and don't mind blood and guts.

[kmoynihan_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A somewhat lesser-known King book, but one I found very enjoyable. I read it in the span of three days, simply because I couldn't put it down.