Play Things by Peter Prince

The 27-year-old hero of Play Things recently graduated and landed a job at a top architectural firm, but, he says, “I got tired.” Now he’s dropped out, grown his hair long and taken a job as a playleader at an adventure playground. But he quickly discovers that the job isn’t quite what he’d expected. The kids are violent thugs, even criminals, and the playground is a haven for thieves, perverts, and drug dealers. As the ineffectual playleader finds himself mixed up rather comically in their bizarre and dangerous schemes, it starts to look as though the summer will prove not to be about finding himself, but about finding a way to survive. . . .