Richard Bachman – författare

''Thinner'' - the old gypsy man barely whispers the word. Billy feels the touch of a withered hand on his cheek.Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered then turned angrily away. The old woman''s death had been none of his fault. The courts had cleared him. She''d just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But . . .''Thinner'' - the word, the old man''s curse, has lodged in Billy''s mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, comes violence.

Includes the stories THE LONG WALK, made into a major film by The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence and THE RUNNING MAN, also a film starring Glenn Powell.For years, readers wrote asking if Richard Bachman was really world-bestselling Stephen King writing under another name. Now the secret is out - and so, brought together in one volume, are these three spellbinding stories of future shock and suspense.The Long Walk: A chilling look at the ultra-conservative America of the future where a grueling 450-mile marathon is the ultimate sports competition.Roadwork: An immovable man refuses to surrender to the irresistible force of progress.The Running Man: TV''s future-favourite game show, where contestants are hunted to death in the attempt to win a $1 billion jackpot.

It''s not just a game when you''re running for your life.

Every night they tuned in to the nation''s favourite prime-time TV game show.

They all watched, from the sprawling slums to the security-obsessed enclaves of the rich. They all watched the ultimate live death game as the contestants tried to bet not the clock, but annihhilation at the hands of the Hunters. Survive thirty days and win the billion dollar jackpot - that was the promise. But the odds were brutal and the game rigged. Best score so far was eight days.

And now there was a new contestant, the latest running man, staking his life while a nation watched.

Wentworth, Ohio: a small friendly town where the Carver children bicker over sweets in the E-Z shop and writer Johnny Marinville is the only resident who minds his own business.On Poplar Street, apart from the impending storm, it''s just a normal summer''s day - with Frisbees flying, lawn mowers humming and barbeques grilling. As the paperboy makes his round, he is unaware of the chrome red van idling up the hill . . .Soon the residents will be caught up in a game of wills as the regulators arrive in force to face a child whose powers of expression are just awakening.

He''s got a plan. But he hasn''t got a clue.Clayton Blaisdell''s capers are strictly small-time until he meets George Rackley. With Blaze''s brawn and George''s brains, they pull off a hundred successful cons. Then George plans the one big score every small timer dreams of: kidnapping the infant heir to a family fortune.The trouble is that by the time the deal goes down, the brains of the operation has died. Or has he?Now Blaze is running into the white hell of the Maine woods with a baby as hostage. The crime of the century just turned into a race against time . . .