Johnny Get Your Gun

Virgil Tibbs #3

by John Dudley Ball

The original title of a book now called Death for a Playmate:
Follow black homicide detective Virgil Tibbs as he investigates the scene of black-white conflict in Pasadena. There are riots, brutalities, an action-packed chase through Disneyland, and a heart-warming and heartbreaking scene at the end of the book in the baseball park of the California Angels.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, African American

227 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

John Dudley Ball writing as John Ball, was an American writer best known for mystery novels involving the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. He was introduced in the 1965 In the Heat of the Night where he solves a murder in a racist Southern small town. It won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and was made into an Oscar-winning film of the same name starring Sidney Poitier; the film had two sequels, and spawned a television series several decades later, none of which were based on Ball's later Tibbs stories. He also wrote under the name John Ball Jr..

Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He wrote for a number of magazines and newspapers, including the Brooklyn Eagle. For a time he worked part-time as a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, was trained in martial arts, and was a nudist. In the mid 1980s, he was the book review columnist for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Ball lived in Encino, California, and died there in 1988.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

After John Ball's previous novels (In The Heat of the Night & The Cool Cottontail) featuring detective Virgil Tibbs his third outing is another fine story.
This time Tibbs is trying to find a nine year old boy who has taken his father's loaded gun in order to shoot another child. For a novel written back in 1969 it still says a lot about the lack of gun control in the USA & how, sadly even now, things haven't improved. The same can be said, in some ways, about racism too.
Although this is the third Virgil Tibbs novel I've read I always hear the voice of the great Sidney Poitier (who played Tibbs on screen) as I read.
Tibb's laid back approach is similar to French detective Maigret, but for me Tibbs is by far the more interesting creation.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book free through audiobooksync.com as part of their free YA program to keep teens reading in the summer.
Although an interesting story, this one bothered me and I think part of that is because I listened to the audio book. There were multiple uses of the words n*gger, colored, and Negro which grated on my 2018 ears and really dated the book (which was published in 1969 when this was much more common). Race and gun rights were both big parts of this story and I often felt like the author was a little preachy and trying to make a political point instead of just telling a story. (Which I dislike regardless of which political side - just tell the story and let it make your point!) I also felt like the author was patronizing to people of color (characterizing them as "better educated" because they "spoke properly" and the mc refusing to "lapse" back into a southern drawl -- he was raised in the south -- because he had "grown beyond" that).
Overall, the story was entertaining and not as simple as I had expected at the beginning, but I probably won't be reading anymore by this author.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third in the series and far superior to the second. Virgil Tibbs is yet again a strong, opinionated, self controlled anchor for the story, but the characters revolving around him are a wonder. Few times have written words moved me to tears, but the absolutely heartbreaking description of the - by today's standards- gentle bullying that snaps a lonely boy did the trick. What follows is a ramble across Southern California with the embodiment of Chekhov's relentless gun leading the way. The real-life figures who bleed into the story were a nice surprise, and I'd love to know the real world story behind their inclusion - did Ball know them before beginning and work them in, or only seek their permission after the story bloomed? Finally, the period details casually included are irreplaceable insight into a time in the not far past when cultural attitudes on many subjects were quite different than today - read it soon and be entertained and engaged on several levels.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook. Although I enjoyed the idea of introducing the issues of racism and gun control to teenagers in a narrative and captivating story, I was incredibly annoyed that I felt like the author forced his views down the throat in the narrative rather than giving the reader the freedom to explore the issues on their own and come to their own conclusions.

[Angela Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked most of the story. It was a little weird in places, but it was good overall.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny, a young white boy whose family only recently moved from Tennessee to Pasadena in hopes of a better future, is heartbroken and enraged when an older boy takes and breaks his beloved transistor radio. Johnny's racist father has taught his son to always fight back when he is wronged, so Johnny phones Billy to say he is going to kill him. He then sneaks his father's gun from its shelf and goes to the older boy's home. When he tires of waiting for Billy to come outside, Johnny fires a bullet through the window and flees. Johnny's father also despises police, and he has passed his hatred on to Johnny who is terrified by what he has done and afraid to go home or seek help. To escape the police patrols that are searching for him, Johnny boards a city bus that deposits him in the black section of town where four black youths spot Johnny, leading to other shots being fired. Where can Johnny turn for guidance and safety, who can he trust? The answer is found through his heroes, the California Angels and their owner, Gene Autry.

This third novel in the Virgil Tibbs series is dated by many of today's standards, particularly the use of racial slurs that were common in the 60s but are seriously unacceptable today. Nevertheless, the black detective introduced in In the Heat of the Night is still a powerful character. His intelligence, fairness, and patience win the respect of both black and white characters as he searches for a frightened young white boy, tries to prevent a race riot, and ensure justice.

[Shaeley Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

First recommended to me by a student several years ago, this book shows how bullying can lead to the unthinkable. Set in southern California in the early 1970's, the story touches on racial tensions as Johnny's dad has difficulty accepting the authority of an African American detective.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has got to be one of the worst covers.

First Line:

It was close to the summer solstice, so that all day long the sun had hung high in what had been a cloudless sky, p.1.

Nine year old Johnny McGuire is a poor white kid just moved to California. It’s the early 1970s, and there’s nothing better to Johnny than Gene Autry, baseball, and his window-to-the-world radio. One day Johnny takes his radio to school (and as a former teacher I’d just like to point out what comes next is exactly why we tell students not to bring valuables to school!) only to have an older boy break it. Heartbroken, Johnny goes home to get a gun.

What Dazzled: This book is from week 3 of Audiobook Sync, and Francisca Goldsmith writes in her blog that “Listeners will forget quickly that this title is as old as it is because its story could be set today with unfortunate credibility.” I completely agree with her statement. Johnny Get Your Gun offers readers scenes on race and race relations, social justice, gun control, bullying, and more. Comparing this book with today’s social climate is what I found most interesting.

What Fizzled: #ownvoices

Jots and Thoughts:I did not know that John Ball wrote In the Heat of Night which was turned into a movie starring Sidney Poitier as detective Virgil Tibbs (the same detective in Johnny Get Your Gun). FYI the author uses several times throughout the novel the N-word. Read Harder challenge: A book with a cover you hate.

[Leslie Maughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I wish there was a bit more of a mystery element to it. But it was a good story with some important themes that I think are (unfortunately) just as necessary in today's world as they were in 1969.

Some favorite lines:
“Guns, dammit, guns! The right to keep and bear arms was given when a raw young country was part of a great, wild, largely unknown continent. In crowded modern cities, a loaded gun was as lethal as a pit viper. A machine for killing, and nothing else.”

“‘I heard about Booker Washington and George W. Carver and then like a kid I dreamed that someday a great man would come, with a black skin, that the whole world would look up to and honor. And when we looked there was Martin Luther King. Nobody shoved him aside when he stood up to accept the Nobel Prize, but some bastard couldn’t stand it, so he shot him. And while things like you cried for black power and started riots that ripped apart the Negro sections in Newark and Detroit other men stood up to take his place.’
He stopped suddenly, his teeth clamped hard together. Then he consciously regained control of himself; when he spoke again it was almost calmly. ‘I work here because nobody cares whether I’m black or white, just so long as I do my job. I clawed my way up against prejudice, I licked poverty, and I earned my job. And here. I’m not a black man, I’m Virgil Tibbs, a respected police officer, and nobody asks for anything more. I just caught a murderer who’s in a cell upstairs. Now who the hell are you?’”

[Mary Havens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this as part of Sync/Audiofile's Summer Reading program, a free audiobook program starting in late April until July. 2 books a week for free! Check them out :)
I am telling you this because 1) I would have never found this book without this program and 2) I'm so glad I did.
I read the descriptions of the books and later find out information about them. So I had no idea until I started listening to this book that it was written in 1969. If you didn't know that, you would balk at the language used (lots of Negro and colored) and the $4 price to get into Disneyland. But the core issues are still the same: racism, gun control, parenting, poverty. So much and so little has changed in 50 years.
I want to read more by Ball but I'm unable to find anything at the libraries. I have seen In the Heat of the Night (the movie) once but don't remember much. I found Ball to be a good author (although the Angels bit drug out and seemed impossible) and even timely or timeless. I would like to read more by him.
And, of course, Dion Graham!!!! My favorite narrator by far. I've started looking up books that he has voiced and will likely listen to them just because he's so good. :) A far cry from that other book I had to abandon because the narrator was so terrible.

[Bhadra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that I'm very grateful to John Ball for writing his Virgil Tibbs mystery stories! Mr. Tibbs, made famous by Sidney Poitier in the movie version of "In the Dark of the Night" (the first in the series), is not only an excellent (Black) homicide detective; he is also a genuinely good man, as well as a real gentleman, and he raises each one of the seven books in the series to a positive and uplifting level. In "Johnny Get Your Gun," Ball takes an impoverished nine-year-old white boy, and with enormous empathy shows us the thoughts and actions of a youngster whose biggest dream in life is to see a live baseball game featuring his beloved Los Angeles Angels.
This is not a highbrow novel, but all the same, Ball manages to include some incisive thoughts about gun control. These thoughts, most unfortunately, are still as relevant today as they were when the book was first published about 50 years ago. In my favorite passage, Tibbs explains why an under-age shooter cannot alone be blamed for shooting a gun: he says that also sharing blame must be the boy's father, who stored a loaded gun where the youngster could reach it; the gun lobbyists who promote the use of guns; the apologists who hide in the Constitution, and the Congress-people who listen to the lobbyists.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am at a loss for words to truly describe how exceptional this book is! It truly is well written and this author we as truly a writer who had the foresight to write about how things should be! What a wonderful and great legacy to people of many generations yet to come while still being entertaining! Additionally, it is so refreshing to read such a well written book that doesn't have to use an excessive amount of foul language or explicit sexual encounters within the storyline. Virgil Tibbs became a household name with the making of the movie "In the Heat of the Night" starring Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier. In this novel Tibbs is a well respected detective in the Pasadena police department. When a nine-year-old boy takes his father's loaded gun to settle a score with another boy he is assigned the case. A few hours later after shooting at the boy's home and running away, Johnny is confronted by a group of black youths by whom he feels threatened. During a scuffle the gun is discharged and a black boy is dead. Tibbs, and his colleagues, is on full alert to find Johnny before the gun is used again. A fast paced and easy to read book. Excellent work!

[Kristel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it is quite interesting to read this book published in 1969 about a black police officer in Pasadena. This book is the third book in a mystery series about an officer named Virgil Tibbs. Tibbs solves this mystery by good detective work. The story takes place sometime after the the Watts riots and during the civil unrest of the sixties with riots and peaceful protests. The story features a poor white nine year old recently moved to the area, another school mate, older and bullying that occurs that leads to bigger issues.There is a bit of preaching about gun safety and questions the right to bear arms. There is a great deal of race issues addressed. Some of the language used is definitely not politically correct for the current time. Another item in the book that I thought was unnecessary is the nude picture that is mentioned and when looking up information about the author, discovered that the author John Dudley Ball was a nudist but never the less another element of the book that was not politically correct and really did not need to be a part of the book. I enjoyed the book and felt it was over all a decent read.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1969, the detective novel features the themes of racism, gun culture and bullying. Virgil Tibbs weaves an assured path through all the explosive issues. The story starts well as Johnny McGuire, 9 year old son of an impoverished family recently moved from Mississippi to Pasadena, takes his father’s loaded gun to avenge himself after an episode of bullying at school. With spare prose the tension builds as events inexorably mount. Unfortunately the last third is, I think, too staged and contrived which somewhat spoils a fantastic book. While Virgil Tibbs halts himself from ‘editorialising’, the author does not and the message of gun control and racism are hammered home.
There is one point about which I disagree with the author. Mrs. Hotchkiss introduces Virgil to her son Billy instead of her son to Virgil. This is indicated as a racial micro aggression. I feel that in her position, where Billy has accepted his fault, is contrite, terrified, and the situation needs cooling, it would be correct to say - Billy, this is Mr Tibbs, who come to talk to you - rather than Mr Tibbs this is Billy, the culprit.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook Sync free audiobooks for their 2018 YA summer program week 3.
Oof-ta. This book packs a punch. It looks like this is the third novel in the Virgil Tibbs mystery series, but it seemed to stand alone just fine, and with the current gun tensions, I can see why Audiobook Sync decided to add this to their summer lineup. I'm not sure which way I should feel about that precisely, but regardless this was a powerful book. Poverty, anger, hatred/suspicion of authority, fear, racism, and gun violence all play a part in this fairly short story centered around a hurt and terrified 9yr old boy.

[Liesl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook SYNC Theme: Running Scared

Although published in 1969, this hit on a lot of topics that are relevant and unfortunately still an issue today. The things that date the book are the use of the n-word, negro and colored along with prices for things. (He got into Disneyland for $4?! Whaaaa?!) But other than that it reads very contemporary. I enjoyed getting to know Virgil Tibbs and might check out other books in the series. I also enjoyed the audiobook narrator and he has done the entire series.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending was totally unexpected (at least by me!). Sadly, many of the issues are still relevant today, 50 years after this was first published, such as poor relations between the police and black people. Tibbs is a great character; while I haven't read "In the Heat of the Night", I love the film with Sidney Poitiers and have seen it several times. I hadn't realized that Ball wrote a whole series around this character until I got this audiobook from the 2018 SYNC offerings - I will have to read more of them!

Dion Graham does a splendid narration in this audiobook edition.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was read by Dion Graham who also read the INFINITY RING SERIES which I have listened to. This was another book in the 2018 Audiobook SYNC Summer Series. It was published in 1969--oh how I would love to be able to pay the same amount that Johnny pays in this book to get into Disneyland!

I thought this was a great book that delt with racism as well as gun violence and education on guns and gun registration. A good SYNC book for this year!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't decide between 3 or 4 stars. this book was like a time capsule. the language, imagery, and cultural references were so completely 1969.

It provided a snapshot of southern California in a middle class neighborhood (and some less than middle). There is racial tension and mental health issues, gun issues and socio-economic factors, all coming into play over the course of a two day experience.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like others, I got this book through last summer's Audiobook Sync (they just started this year's free books, so go check it out!). It was an interesting story and has some important points to make. Some people have pointed out the dated language, but it also is used within the context of a time period, so it made sense to me. A little heavy handed on the moralizing, but an interesting read (or rather listen :)

[EmmaB · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audio of this book saved it for me (and the fact that, while logging it, I discovered when it was written). I found it a bit didactic at times, but given it was written in 1969, what a prescient book, of gun ownership and racism and pride gone wrong, affecting a little boy, effecting a chain of events that resulted in the death of some, and the transformation of others. What an argument for how pride and guns can bring tragedy. How current, and how sad.

[Amy the book-bat · Rating 4 out of 5]

While at times the novel seemed a bit dated (set in the 1960's), it also has relevance to today's society. This book could open up a lot of discussions about race and gun violence, as well as the right to bear arms. The liberal use of the N-word was irritating to me, but does seem to be appropriate to the setting of the story.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This red like someone telling a true story. It seems it is fictionalized. It takes place certainly in a very different time then we are in now. It was an over arching story of a turbulent time in history, but is that so different than we see happening even right now? Both sides absolutely right with their beliefs.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Virgil Tibbs series. It was published in 1969. In this story, a nine year old son of a racist, new to Pasadena, takes his father’s gun to shoot an older boy. He ends up in a black neighborhood, where he fires shots. Tibbs has to find the boy and disarm him before he kills someone, or gets killed.

[Alicia Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wouldn’t have read this if it hadn’t been an audiobook. However the reader kept me very interested as I listened to young Johnny struggle to hold it together once he makes he decision to take his father’s gun and use it in a revenge plan against a classmate.

[Mimia The Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the story but it felt a little preachy some times and I figured the ending out as soon as Virgil (I can’t remember his last name) make his first experiences.

Also, the audiobook narrator makes all the voices very annoying.

[Chinook · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exploration of gun control, male rage, racism, bullying - it’s a short book but it packs a lot in. The style was a bit overly focused on sending a message and the language is uncomfortable at times.

[Emily Maughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I listened to the audiobook and overall liked it but didn't LOVE it.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written 49 years ago but oddly appropriate for today in its issues of gun rights and race relations. Suspenseful and touching.