I'm assuming Avengers isn't the camp 1960s thing. In which case, I'd prefer Eds thing as I've no idea what the Avengers mafia is.
Thinking of eventually running a game based on Stephen King's The Stand. Plenty of characters to allow character claims, and could be a 30+ sized game easily enough.
Mafia game mechanics wise it's perfect though with lots of roles. Plus, character claiming would be both useless and dangerous.
It's still good though. What irked me the most was stupid stuff like how everything resolved itself remarkably conveniently. The bit regarding Tom Cullen and Stu in particular. Also the bit where the dog runs about 1000 miles across states to catch up with the people.
It's a ridiculous 2nd half. I know we've discussed this before, but in his longer books, it's always the 2nd half that's lame. He has some incredible ideas, but can't sustain them. The Long Walk remains my favourite of his stories.