Running Wild (novella)

1988 novel by J. G. Ballard

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Running Wild

Cover of first edition (hardcover)

Author| J. G. Ballard
Language| English
Genre| Dystopian fiction
Publisher| Hutchinson

Publication date

| 1988
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages| 72 pp
ISBN| 0-09-173498-3
OCLC| 18629186

Dewey Decimal

| 823/.914 20
LC Class| PR6052.A46 R8 1988

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Running Wild is a novella by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1988. The novel takes the form of a detective novel, recounting the investigation of a mysterious massacre in suburbia[1] through the diary of a forensic psychiatrist.

## Plot summary

[edit]

Pangbourne Village is an estate for the upper middle class, protected by security fences and discreet guards.[1] Its ten families are wealthy, respectable, 40-something couples with adolescent children on whom they lavish everything money can buy.

One morning it is discovered that all the adult residents have been killed and the children have disappeared without trace.[1] Dr Richard Greville of Scotland Yard puzzles over the scanty evidence: it gives no leads to the identity of the murderers and kidnappers. No demands for ransom are received. No terrorist group claims responsibility.

The reader soon realizes that the missing children are also the missing murderers. Their controlled upbringing has left them no way to establish their own identities except by rebelling into criminal savagery. However, in a tradition of obtuse policemen going back to Inspector Lestrade in the Sherlock Holmes stories, Greville resists drawing this obvious conclusion - until the children strike again.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "JGB & Gated Communities".

## External links

[edit]

* The Terminal Collection: JG Ballard First Editions

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Works by J. G. Ballard

Novels|

* The Wind from Nowhere (1961)
* The Drowned World (1962)
* The Burning World (1964)
* The Crystal World (1966)
* The Atrocity Exhibition (1969)
* Crash (1973)
* Concrete Island (1974)
* High-Rise (1975)
* The Unlimited Dream Company (1979)
* Hello America (1981)
* Empire of the Sun (1984)
* The Day of Creation (1987)
* Running Wild (1988)
* The Kindness of Women (1991)
* Rushing to Paradise (1994)
* Cocaine Nights (1996)
* Super-Cannes (2000)
* Millennium People (2003)
* Kingdom Come (2006)

Short stories|

* "Mobile" (1957)
* "The Concentration City" (1957)
* "Track 12" (1958)
* "Zone of Terror" (1960)
* "The Sound-Sweep" (1960)
* "The Voices of Time" (1960)
* "Chronopolis" (1960)
* "Studio 5, The Stars" (1961)
* "Deep End" (1961)
* "Mr F. is Mr F." (1961)
* "Billennium" (1962)
* "Minus One" (1963)
* "The Recognition" (1967)
* " The Day of Forever" (1967)
* "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan" (1968)
* "Venus Smiles" (1971)

Short story
collections|

* The Voices of Time and Other Stories (1962)
* Billennium (1962)
* Passport to Eternity (1963)
* The 4-Dimensional Nightmare (1963)
* The Terminal Beach (1964)
* The Impossible Man (1966)
* The Overloaded Man (1967)
* The Disaster Area (1967)
* The Day of Forever (1967)
* Vermilion Sands (1971)
* Chronopolis and Other Stories (1971)
* Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories (1976)
* The Best of J. G. Ballard (1977)
* The Best Short Stories of J. G. Ballard (1978)
* The Venus Hunters (1980)
* Myths of the Near Future (1982)
* The Voices of Time (1985)
* Memories of the Space Age (1988)
* War Fever (1990)
* The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 1 (2006)
* The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard: Volume 2 (2006)

Essays, reviews
and interviews|

* A User's Guide to the Millennium (1996)
* Extreme Metaphors (2012)

Autobiography|

* Miracles of Life (2008)

Film adaptations|

* When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)
* Crash! (1971)
* Empire of the Sun (1987)
* Crash (1996)
* The Atrocity Exhibition (1998)
* Low-Flying Aircraft (2002)
* High-Rise (2015)

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*[LC Class]: Library of Congress Classification
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