Five stars! This is going to go into my list of favorite Stephen King books. I recently heard from someone that The Long Walk is amazing and I have to agree. It was like The Hunger Games meets Squid Game. I loved the concept and I think it was executed very well. 

I will say that I DO have an issue with the logistics of this competition… it is entirely possible to walk for 6 days with very short (2 minute or less) breaks every several hours if you are in shape and have the will to do it because it HAS been done before. But I do not think it is possible to do so at 4 mph. 4 mph is FAST. I got on a treadmill while reading this book for a minute just to see what 4 MPH felt like and I could barely do it for a short walk, let alone for hours. I can’t even imagine maintaining that speed FOR DAYS while dozing or with your feet and muscles torn to shreds.

According to a Reddit post from SpillinJimmy, “In 1986, Georges Holtyzer walked virtually nonstop for 418.49 miles in 6 days, 10 hours, 58 minutes. What's impressive is, like the competition in the story, Holtyzer never stopped for longer than 2 minutes every several hours. Though he did average 2.7 mph rather than never dropping below 4.” I think that is much more realistic. I think having to walk so fast would not be possible on the body for the duration. At the very least I feel like it would have made conversation more difficult. Conversation can be difficult while exercising normally, and they had a LOT of conversation in this book.