Let's Go Play at the Adams'

Last updated
Let's Go Play at the Adams'
Let's Go Play at the Adams' cover.jpg
First edition cover art
AuthorMendal W. Johnson
LanguageEnglish
Genre Horror [1]
Published1974
Publisher Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages282
ISBN 0-690-00193-2
813/.5/4
LC Class PZ4.J7118 PS3560.O3817

Let's Go Play at the Adams' is a 1974 psychological horror novel by Mendal W. Johnson and originally published by Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Its plot focuses on a group of rural Maryland children who drug, incapacitate, and eventually torture the college student babysitter hired by their parents while they are away in Europe for two weeks. [2]

Contents

Publication

The novel was originally published in the United States by Thomas Y. Crowell Co. [1] In 2020, Valancourt Books republished it in paperback format under its Paperbacks from Hell series, featuring its original mass-market paperback artwork, and including a new introduction by Grady Hendrix. [2] In 2022, Centipede Press issued a hardback edition, with a limited 500 copies signed by Stefan Dziemianowicz and Dan Rempel, who wrote a new introduction. [3]

Reception

The Fort Lauderdale News praised the novel, writing that Johnson "is a master of the art of storytelling and suspense, but this one isn't for the squeamish." [4] Sheryl Friedlander, writing for The Tampa Tribune , compared the novel favorably to The Collector and Lord of the Flies , praising its "style and flow of thought" as "smooth and interesting." [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Let's Go Play at the Adams'". WorldCat . Archived from the original on November 6, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Benedict, Mark (April 2, 2020). "Book Review: Let's Go Play at the Adams' is a Brutal Lost Classic". Rue Morgue. Archived from the original on November 6, 2023.
  3. "Let's Go Play at the Adams'". Centipede Press. Archived from the original on November 6, 2023.
  4. "Tourist Novel is Jet Age 'Grand Hotel'". Fort Lauderdale News . March 10, 1974. p. 8H via Newspapers.com.
  5. Friedlander, Sheryl (August 4, 1974). "An Eerie Renewal of an Ancient Quesiton". The Tampa Tribune . p. 5-C via Newspapers.com.