⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ 4/5
Content warning first, because this one earns it.
Playground is graphic. Violence, kids in real danger, the kind of stuff that makes you set your phone down for a second.
If that's not your lane, this isn't the book for you, and that's completely fine.
If it is your lane, Playground by Aron Beauregard delivers exactly what extreme horror fans come for. A sadistic premise, real tension, and a listen that doesn't let up much.
Listen to it if you're already into splatterpunk and want something that actually commits to being disturbing.
Skip it if graphic violence involving children is a hard limit, or if you like your horror more restrained.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Playground |
| Author | Aron Beauregard |
| Narrator (audiobook) | Lila Kerry |
| Series | Playground, Book 1 |
| Genre | Horror |
| Subgenre | Extreme Horror, Splatterpunk |
| Audiobook length | Approximately 9 hours 56 minutes |
| First published | November 2022; audiobook released December 19, 2022 |
| Publisher | AB Horror |
Three low-income families get an offer that sounds too good to pass up.
A wealthy woman named Geraldine Borden invites them to her cliffside estate for a day. Big payout at the end.
The catch? Their kids have to test out some playground equipment she's been perfecting for years.
Read that back. "Rich woman needs kids to test her playground equipment for a cash prize." That's a genuinely unsettling hook before anything even happens.
You already know that's not a real playground.
The structures Geraldine built were never meant to see daylight. Once the kids are inside them, this stops being a strange rich-lady favor and turns into something much darker.
A group of kids who don't know each other, don't like each other half the time, suddenly have to survive together or not survive at all.
That's the setup, straight from the official description. I'm not going further than that. The whole point of this book is watching it unfold.
Geraldine is the reason people can't stop talking about this book.
Not because she's loud or theatrical. From the setup alone, she reads like the opposite of that. Wealthy, patient, treats the whole thing like a project she's been quietly building for years.
There's something worse about a villain who's calm about it. A screaming monster is scary for a second. A calm one makes you wonder what's actually going on in their head, and that's a slower, nastier kind of dread.
The kids, from what the premise lays out, aren't a tidy little friend group either. Different families, different backgrounds, thrown together by money problems more than choice.
That's honestly the smarter setup. Survival horror is more interesting when the group can't automatically trust each other. You're not just watching kids fight a threat, you're watching them figure out if the kid next to them is actually on their side.
I won't say who makes it or how any of that plays out. Just know the dynamic here isn't handed to you easy.
Extreme horror lives or dies on commitment. A lot of books flirt with being disturbing and then pull back right when it counts.
Playground doesn't pull back. The book's own official content warning backs that up directly — it says flat out that this contains graphic content and discretion is advised.
The "kids trapped by a rich person's twisted game" premise isn't brand new to horror. What makes it land here is that Beauregard doesn't treat the horror as a twist you build up to. It's the plot from page one.
That's the appeal for extreme horror readers, and it's also exactly why this book isn't for everyone. There's no soft landing built in.
The audiobook is performed by Lila Kerry, whose narration gives the different characters distinct voices.
That matters more than it sounds like in a book with this many kids getting thrown into the same nightmare at once. Mixing up who's talking would kill the tension fast.
At nearly 10 hours, there's plenty of time for the story to unfold.
One thing worth flagging: this isn't background-noise listening. Fold laundry to it if you want, but the subject matter is heavy enough that it asks for real attention, not half-attention.
Good fit if you're already a splatterpunk or extreme horror reader looking for something that fully commits.
Good fit if you liked the "diabolical game" horror setup before and want to see it pushed further than usual.
Not the right pick if graphic violence involving children is something you can't read past. No shame in that. Plenty of great horror exists that isn't this one.
Also not it if you prefer horror that leans psychological and suggestive over visceral and shown-on-page.
Playground knows exactly what kind of book it wants to be, and it doesn't apologize for it. Honestly, that confidence is kind of the whole selling point.
That same commitment is why it won't work for a lot of readers, and that seems intentional, not accidental. Beauregard isn't writing for the horror-curious crowd here.
If extreme horror is already your genre, this is a strong, well-performed entry into it. The premise alone is one of those "oh no" ideas that sticks with you, and Lila Kerry's narration sounds like it earns its keep.
If you're horror-curious but more used to gentler scares, this probably isn't your starting point. Start somewhere softer and work your way here.
Most audiobook platforms offer a free trial credit for new members, so if you're curious and you already know what you're signing up for, that's a low-commitment way to find out if Playground is for you.