HUSH IT'S A GAME-C [Hardcover]

Patricia Carlon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2001

A small girl has been locked inside the kitchen of an apartment in which her baby-sitter has been murdered. It is Christmas week; her mother is dead, her father is traveling. No one will miss her until he returns. Can she free herself before the murderer realizes his mistake and comes back to kill her?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Long popular in Australia, Carlon was recently brought to U.S. attention with Soho's reissue of six of her fine psychodramas (The Price of an Orphan; The Whispering Wall, etc.). This seventh reissue, originally published in 1967, hits a rare false note. Lacking the suspense and compelling moral dilemmas of Carlon's stronger offerings, the novel opens with ex-con Frank Aldan killing his former girlfriend, Isobel Tarks, shortly after his release from prison. What Aldan doesn't realize until after he has left Isobel's apartment is that she was babysitting a six-year-old neighbor girl, Virginia, at the time. Virginia, whose father had gone away on a business trip, leaving her with Isobel for several days, was locked in the kitchen when the woman was shot to death. It's Christmas Eve, and Virginia can't get out. All she can see through the keyhole are Isobel's legs. Can she free herself before Aldan figures out that she is a witness and returns to finish her off? Will a group of concerned neighbors manage to discover Virginia's predicament and rescue her? Despite a clever, ironic ending, the novel is unexceptional. Young Virginia's quandary never comes across as all that direAafter all, she's trapped in a well-stocked kitchen, not a dark, cold cellar. And Aldan, a small-time crook, simply doesn't come across as a potential killer of small children. Still, the story shows some flashes of the quirky characterizations and nail-biting tension of Carlon's best work. (Feb.) FYI: Hush, It's a Game is published in conjunction with a paperback reprint of Unquiet Night.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Originally published in Australia in the 1960s, Carlon's superb crime novels are finally appearing in the U.S. (this is the seventh title Soho has published since 1996). Carlon returns here to one of her favorite themes--a murder witness who is trapped and in danger from a killer. As in The Price of an Orphan (1999), the witness is a child. When her baby-sitter tells six-year-old Virginia to hide and locks her in the kitchen, the young girl thinks it's a game. Unaware that the sitter has been murdered, Virginia gradually discovers she is trapped--on Christmas Eve. As she makes numerous heartbreaking efforts to free herself, the killer plots to get rid of her. Once again, Carlon sets up a psychological tennis match, creating delicious suspense by switching point of view between Virginia, the killer, a cruel janitor, and three kind strangers who have noticed the young girl waving. Vivid characters, excruciating tension, and an insightful look at human nature. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (February 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569472149
• ISBN-13: 978-1569472149
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,340,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Australian Charlotte Armstrong, April 26, 2001

By 

"drwspoon" (Garner, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: HUSH IT'S A GAME-C (Hardcover)

Originally published in 1967, this novel is very reminiscent of the works of Charlotte Armstrong (whose book "Mischief" was made into a movie starring Marilyn Monroe.) As in many of Armstrong's stories, a young child is menaced by a killer and only accidental knowledge stumbled upon by strangers can save her. But will the disinterested outsiders care enough to interfere?

In Carlon's novel, a six-year-old girl is locked up in the kitchen by her babysitter, Isobel, when an ex-boyfriend comes to call. During that visit, Isobel is murdered and the murderer leaves without ever knowing that another person was in the apartment. Will the child attract someone's attention? Will the right person came to free her? Several people see the child in the kitchen window of the apartment complex, but for various reasons choose not to respond to her pleas for help. And then the murderer returns to the scene of the crime.

There are a few dated moments (a six-year-old who doesn't know how to use the phone?) but overall this quick read has some great touches. I especially liked the scenes written from the point of view of the murderer, Alden, who has the egocentric reasoning of a true sociopath. A good, but not great, little thriller.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Would someone, please, break down the door !?!, March 27, 2004

By 

lady detective "sakura kitty" (east coat) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hush, It's a Game (Paperback)

Patricia Carlon's writing style is clean, engrossing & timeless (I was quite surprised to dicover this book was written in 1967).

The novel centers around a little girl who has been locked in a kitchen by her caretaker, who is then murdered before she can let the girl out. It takes the murderer sometime to figure out that the little girl is stuck in the apartment with the body. The rest of the book is filled with endless near misses as the girl tries to find a way of escape & the murderer tries to find a way to kill the little girl.

The problem with the book is that the near misses keep piling up & become more & more frustrating. I kept rolling my eyes at the pages. "Would someone just go get the girl for goodness sake?" I wanted to shout.

The book is brimming with great characterization. Carlon knows how to get into the minds of everyone from a small child, to a nasty custodian, to a confused old man & so on.

I will absolutely read more of her books. I have a feeling she's written something better than this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Near misses hit the mark., October 17, 2005

By 

M. Sterner "library worker" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hush, It's a Game (Paperback)

This is one of my all-time favorite novels. It's all the near misses that make it so great. Not just with the child but also with the young man and young woman. Each talking themselves out of pursuit. Reading all the wrong things into the statements of the other. Carlon shows a bit of her earlier romance-writing proficiency here.