In an ultraconservative America of the not-too-distant future when America has become a police state, the annual marathon is the ultimate sports competition, a deadly contest of endurance and determination. One hundred boys are selected each year to enter a grueling 450-mile marathon known as "The Long Walk." The game is simple: maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. If you break the rules, you get three warnings, then you're out—permanently. The winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life; but a single misstep could be the last. Travel a road of horrors with one of the world's bestselling authors in this harrowing tale of chilling, macabre possibility.