Let's Go Play at the Adams'

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Johnson’s LET’S GO PLAY AT THE ADAMS’ (1974), a vintage shocker newly reissued in mass market paperback.

Go Play at the Adams’ (Paperbacks from Hell) Let’s Go Play at the Adams’ (Paperbacks from Hell)

But what Barbara didn't count on was the heady effect their new-found freedom would have on the children. It's Only a Game, Barbara, the lovely twenty-year-old Babysitter, told herself as she awoke bound and gagged; Tonight the KIDS are Taking Care of the Babysitter; >> Minor spine creasing; Size: 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" Tall. Indeed, due to scenes of youth-administered brutality and for having been so long out of print, LET’S GO PLAY has acquired an unholy contraband mystique. Cover artwork by: Dan Rempel A beautiful book with printed endpapers and paste-downs, full-color frontispiece and illustrations and with marking ribbon etc.This is an impressively serious and richly detailed work—a parable of adolescent savagery drenched in sweaty late-summer atmospherics. Each child was consumed by his own individual lust and caught up with the others in sadistic manipulation and passion, until finally, step by step, their grim game strips away the layers of childishness to reveal the vicious psyche, conceived in evil and educated in society's sophisticated violence, that lies always within civilized men. But then, what else can we expect from a book whose 1980 paperback cover features the tagline “Tonight the kids are taking care of the babysitter” and a door opening onto a woman tied up in a chair? The 1980 paperback cover art, which ranks among the most gloriously sinister in publishing history, has been lovingly retained, and Grady Hendrix contributes an insightful introduction.

Let s Go Play at the Adams - AbeBooks

Horror fans owe Hendrix and Valancourt a debt of gratitude for resurrecting this brutal lost classic.LET’S GO PLAY AT THE ADAMS’ is part of Valancourt’s reissue of various titles discussed in the excellent PAPERBACKS FROM HELL (2017), Grady Hendrix’s book about the paperback horror market of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Their wealthy parents were away in Europe, and in this rural area of Maryland, the next house was easily a quarter of a mile away. When Johnson strays into philosophizing narrator territory, the result is sometimes effective, sometimes not. Still, a bummer babysitter, slightly older, less fun and more restrictive, would have enhanced the story’s believability as well as ratcheted up its kids-versus-adults dynamic.

BOOK REVIEW: “LET’S GO PLAY AT THE ADAMS’” IS A BRUTAL LOST

The surprise, however, is that this notorious book, which depicts the worst bad behavior imaginable, is so good. Light wear only to bright red boards with bright gilt titles on spine, edges tanned, light toning to end papers, pages are clean, binding is tight. Barbara is minimally cared for by the five children; their objective, initially, is simply to do away with all adult supervision. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. Set in a rural but affluent Maryland countryside, told in fluid third-person omniscience, Johnson’s novel is an imperfect but unforgettable plunge into hell.

In a few key scenes, such as when the increasingly guilt-stricken Bobby argues against the group’s final plan, the author breaks the spell by digressing into a snoozy civics lesson. Barbara, a twenty-year-old college student, fun and friendly, and only mildly disciplining, isn’t an especially plausible kidnapping target. It’s at least safe to say, though, that Barbara has the author’s fullest sympathy and respect; if a reader doesn’t feel and root for her, the fault is with the reader, not the author. Or to see Barbara, naked and traumatized, through the perspective of not one, not two, but three different teenage male gazes?

By the end, the story has evolved into darkest nightmare, a fitting close for a tale about the escalating nature of evil acts. Fearing that she may not survive, she starts fighting back, at which point the brutality escalates even further. The portrayal of her trapped, terrified mind is grimly heartbreaking, and the POV shift to other characters, especially to the torture-obsessed Paul, the knife wielder, or the sexually malicious John, is rarely much of a breather.

The reputation isn’t unjustified; the scene described above isn’t the novel’s most disturbing, or even a strong contender. Granted, Barbara’s sheer likeability is in one way a useful choice; it makes their escalating disregard for her even creepier. Soon, however, John and Paul, the neighbor boys, strongly abetted by Paul’s sister Dianne, push for further victimization. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.