Book Review: Lockdown: Escape From Furnace

Lockdown: Escape From Furnace
by Alexander Gordon Smith

Synopsis: The series opener of this teen novel series, it's set in a squalid prison for juvenile offenders built deep underground and patrolled by surgically altered supermen with vicious, skinless dogs. Framed (like a suspicious number of his fellow inmates) for a murder he did not commit, Alex is plunged into a desperate struggle for survival amid constant sirens, lurid lighting, nightmares, gang violence, and terrifying encounters with the prison’s scary guardians.

Yes, ocassionally I read books aimed at young adults. All you Twlight, Hunger Games and Harry Potter fans just shut up right now. It's still pretty violent and even visceral, just not gratuitous or over-the-top. There's no foul language or sex.

The first thing you should know, there's no closure here. It's left as a cliffhanger. Obviously going to be a series and this one just does a lot of character introduction and set-up (I believe the next 2 books are called Solitary and Death Sentence... with a 4th on the way called Fugitives).

Actually a very fun, fast paced story with some nice young yet real characters, some terror (bordering on horror) and a bit of dark humor. A quick read, it's a survival story that hooks you in pretty quickly and never gets dull. There's some mildly graphic descriptions but really it's just a good solid story that's well written and interesting, for all ages. I'd recommend it, but probably starting at about age 15 or 16 and up. Unless you want your kids younger than that to read about torture, murder, violence, brutality and savagery. Watered down a bit? Sure, but still it's not Dr. Suess.

And of course, now I'll have to read the others since this one really leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

7/10