Lockdown: Escape From Furnace, #1 -- Alexander Gordon Smith

Set far enough forward into the future that there are seven Indiana Jones movies¹, a few years after the Summer of Slaughter, and enter a world in which adults are so scared of teenagers -- and children -- that they've built Furnace: an underground, maximum security prison.

If you get sent to down to Furnace, you're there for life.

Not that your life there will be very long...

After a few years of bullying and petty theft, Alex is framed for the murder of his best friend and partner is crime.  When, shortly thereafter, he arrives in Furnace, he quickly learns that the horror of Furnace isn't just hopelessness of his situation, the terrifying Warden, the violence from the gangs and the guards, the terrible food or even the general conditions of the place.  No.  It's the creatures that come for the inmates in the night.

It isn't long before he decides that escape is his only option.  Rather than trying to fly under the radar of the gangs, the dogs, the guards, the Warden AND the creatures, he's willing to die in an attempt to get out.

I'll keep this short:  If you're looking for elegant writing, subtle and nuanced character development, strong world building and a wholly original story, then you may want to look elsewhere.  But if you're looking for a quick read with action and thrills, a little bit of mystery, a whole lot of violence and a decent amount of gore (and vomit) -- if you're looking for something along the lines of James Patterson and Darren Shan, who both wrote blurbs for the cover -- something without even a smidge of romance, that reads a bit like the novelization of an action-horror-thriller movie, then you may want to give Lockdown a try. 

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¹How on earth did they get greenlit after the craptasm of the fourth one?

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Book source: Review copy from the publisher.

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Crossposted at Guys Lit Wire.

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Comments

[tanita]

::inappropriate snicker::
Thank you for the review, dear. You had me backing away at "I'll keep this short."

[brookelynn]

i personally love this book it is a very exciting read for a 12 year old girl.it is mysterious,interesting,and gory .what every teen is looking for in a book.sure its a little scary but thats the fun of it i mean really what kid wants to sit in class and read Where the Lillies Bloom? or the White Mountains? none. but every kid wants to read a book like Lock Down:Escape from Furnace. in my opinion i give this book on a scale of 1-10 i give it a 10.

[Megan]

I had high hopes for the book when I picked it up. With all the hype about it and the original idea, I figured it might be a good read if I got into it. And the idea of a penitentiary for young adults with hidden horrors is an interesting idea... but thats about as far as it gets for me. It was lacking for me. It just didnt go above and beyond like a good book should. The whole no-mention-of-females-whatsoever thing is also driving me insane (i just wanna know where they are!!!). Im only two thirds through the book and Im just waiting for it to get better... Is it worth it at all to keep reading?