A nauseating masterpiece on the level of The Girl Next Door. Rich in setting and period detail - this novel glows with the warmth of summer in the 70s - and psychological depth. A horrific event is examined from every possible angle, in slow motion. Long out of print, this book is being done a phenomenal service by Valancourt/Paperbacks from Hell, with a perfectly executed reissue including an introduction from paperback horror champion Grady Hendrix. This is a must purchase for some readers, and deserves the resurgence it will hopefully receive. But know going in that it’s grotesque nature isn’t for everybody. ( )

Let's Go Play at the Adams av Mendal W. Johnson handlar om en barnvakt som vaknar upp fastbunden. Det som enbart började som en oskyldig lek tar dock snabbt en mörk vÀndning nÀr hon inser att de barn som bundit fast henne inte tÀnker lÄta henne gÄ Ànnu.
Intressant bok med starka kĂ€nslor av oundviklig tragedi och hopplöshet. Är med i bokserien "Paperbacks from hell" som Ă€ven fĂ„r introduktion av Grady Hendrix som Ă€r vĂ€lstuderad inom Ă€mnet.
Boken utforskar teman av ondska, makt och stÀller ett antal moraliska frÄgor. Skulle i förstahand inte rekommendera boken dÄ den dels Àr ganska brutal (inte grafisk) men Àven ganska frustrerande till och frÄn att lÀsa.

This book was, understandably, hard to read. Not only due to the torture and other things done to poor Barbara, but the author goes into the depths of the children's and their captures psyche. Explaining why they did it, and Barbara as she slowly breaks down with each passing day. Not to be taken lightly, it is a reflection on what human beings are capable of doing to other human beings...just because they can. ( )

I read this book last year (2020) and a year later am still haunted by it. I've never had a book do that before. Some compare this book to Girl Next Door though that book was written over a decade later. I do think that this book might have been inspiration for King's Children of the Corn short story published only a few years after this book. This story LGPatA might have been inspired by the Sylvia Likens true crime case. I think this story was more likely inspired by Lord of the Flies.

I've analyzed, and reanalyzed this story over and over again. There is lots of psychology going on and some politics as well. Briefly I think political symbolism is that adults are like the ruling class. Kids are the working class. And the 20 y.o. babysitter is in the smallest class, the intellectual class. The kids resent being ruled by the adults, but the intellectual people are a wild card not fitting in with either. I will stop with that here as I'm not trained in political science. But my point is that I think LGPatA mirrors some aspects of politics.

I see this book as more than just a typical horror story such as Dracula. I think LGPatA is a cautionary tale more like Frankenstein. Yes, there is horror in this book, but a message too. These kids, through a childish prank, create a problem. The problem worsens as time goes on. And like problems do, it reaches a tipping point. This happens halfway through the book. The solution is unclear. The problem cannot simply be reversed. There is a crisis quickly approaching. A drastic solution seems the only one which might work. The message is about how easy it is for people (kids and adults too) to convince themselves that an ends justifies a means no matter how horrific. And the means has to be horrific for the solution to work. I'm going to leave it that abstracted. I could go on with my analysis of each character, but wont.

But this is why I say this book is more than just a horror story. It's a warning what people might do when in a dilemma. And that is to take the easy, most controllable, way out. We adults do this frequently and kids watch us doing it. The kids in this story actually mimicked adults rather closely. That, to me, is what made this story so horrible and disturbing. Because the kids ARE doing what adults do. I have pages of analysis but will stop here. I do recommend the book, but be warned what you are getting into. I have given this book a rating of 4/5 numerous places. ( )

There's not much for me to say about this book that has not already been said. It is a nasty, mean-spirited book. It is well-written for the most part (I would've cut down the first chapter to up the pace a tiny bit). It does avoid the torture-porn moniker (if that's even still in use) at least from me due to not fixating on graphic blow-by-blow descriptions, it gets the understanding of what exactly happened very quickly and holds more on the aftermath but not fixedly so. For the most part, I did enjoy the book for what it was, however, I found the ending plainly unsatisfying.
To me it felt as if the ending chapter was a patchwork of the climax of a first half and a tacked-on series of questions meant to set the author onto exploring the second part of the story with the bridge between these two being stuck at the very end. I did hear of this book before I read [b:Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction|33670466|Paperbacks from Hell The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction|Grady Hendrix|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1504436657l/33670466._SX50_.jpg|54542087] and have always wanted to read it because of the "shocking" content. And it is brutal but the ending just felt incomplete. I did appreciate a glimpse at the utterly tragic worldview of the story and accepted the lack of logical motivation for the children to behave in the ways that they did. The babysitter was portrayed so innocent a soul contrasting so sharply with the children that the text seemed to hint at a purpose aside from horror. Social class seemed to be an undercurrent or weak theme when contrasting the babysitter and the children but that could just be me. The lack of parents as entities in the story also took away any potential explanations for the children's actions.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only to those with the constitution for it and the ability to take an unsatisfying spoonful at the end. ( )