At midnight comes the point of balance. Of danger. The instant of utter stillness when between two beats of the heart, an alternative reality can slip through, like a blade between the ribs, and switch you into a new and terrifying world. "Four Past Midnight": four heart-stopping accounts of that moment when the familiar world fractures beyond sense, the fragments spinning away from the desperate, clutching reach of sanity...

It's not just a game when you're running for your life. Every night they tuned in to the nation's favorite prime-time TV game show. They all watched, from the sprawling polluted slums to the security-obsessed enclaves of the rich. They all watched the ultimate live death game as the contestants tried to beat not the clock, but annihilation at the hands of the Hunters. Survive thirty days and win a 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.

It's not just a game when you're running for your life. Every night they tuned in to the nation's favorite prime-time TV game show. They all watched, from the sprawling polluted slums to the security-obsessed enclaves of the rich. They all watched the ultimate live death game as the contestants tried to beat not the clock, but annihilation at the hands of the Hunters. Survive thirty days and win a 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.