Ooooh. This is a good one. I'd never heard of this book, one of King's earlier works (written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym), until I saw another blogger's review -- and then, I couldn't believe I'd missed out all these years! In The Long Walk, 100 teen-aged boys participate in a walk that continues until only one is left standing... because all the others are dead. The boys start at the Maine/Canada border, and walk. That's it. They walk -- and walk, and walk, never falling below a 4-mile-per-hour pace, because if they do, that's a warning. And after three warnings, the next infraction means you're shot to death by the armed guards who travel alongside the walkers. The boys never stop, not to eat, sleep, or pee. If they fall or pass out or get a cramp, that could mean the end. Wow, is this a disturbing book, and yet it's so, so good. Meanwhile, the boys who walk talk and reflect and learn the truth hidden inside the deepest, darkest corners of their hearts and minds. Why they walk is only explained at a surface level (there's a Prize), but it's clear without ever being explicitly shown that this is an alternate version of the United States in which watching a group of boys walk to death is high entertainment, and which is bleak enough that the 1 in 100 shot at the Prize is enough to get more or less sensible boys to bet their lives. 
 You might think that all this makes The Long Walk a dark and dismal read... but no. The fast-paced storytelling and immersive experience makes you happy to glance up and see that life goes on around you. It's horror, but (oh, this makes me sound like a bad person) totally fun horror.