From Booklist Positing a near-future backlash against teen crime (and teens in general), Smith sets his series opener 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. Smith establishes a quick pace with an opening chase described in staccato prose, closes with a convoluted but explosive escape for Alex and a handful of allies, and in between crafts a picture of prison life less raw and hideous than what is found in, for instance, Adam Rapp’s Buffalo Tree (1997), but frightening enough to boost reader interest in sequels. Grades 6-9. --John Peters “Fresh and ferocious, Lockdown will hook boys with its gritty, unrelenting surprises.” ― James Patterson “Furnace is hotter than hell and twice as much fun! Sign me up for a life sentence of Alexander Gordon Smith!” ― Darren Shan, author of the Demonata series “This nightmarish start to a new series is unrelentingly bleak, uniquely horrifying, and strangely compelling.” ― Realms of Fantasy magazine “A great next choice for fans of The Maze Runner , The Grassland Trilogy. . ., or Lord of the Flies . As for me, I'm looking forward to future books ( Lockdown: Escape from Furnace is the first of a planned trilogy). Recommended for dystopia, thriller, and horror fans, or anyone looking for a fast-paced, spine-chilling ride.” ― Jennifer Robinson's Bookpage “Readers will be turning pages without pause, and the cliff-hanger ending will have them anticipating the next installment. Most appealing is Smith's flowing writing style, filled with kid-speak, colorful adjectives, and amusing analogies. Fans of James Patterson's ‘Maximum Ride' and Darren Shan's ‘The Demonata' series will find this satisfying fare.” ― School Library Journal “One of those leave-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrill rides that will grab the reader right from the start. Teens will appreciate Smith's vivid imagery. His writing is extremely fluid, and he makes the reader feel for the characters, especially the young protagonist, Alex. Readers will be cheering him on from start to finish. Look for the sequel, Solitary, forthcoming in 2010. Readers will be anxious to see where Alex's adventures take him next.” ― VOYA “Not for the faint-hearted, this dramatic British import is both a page- and stomach-turner. . . The pacing is superb, building on the tension as each horror is revealed while saving the ultimate monstrosity for the cliffhanger ending. . . . Readers will find themselves rooting for even the most violent of the inmates as they try to make their escape and defeat the Furnace.” ― The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books “Smith establishes a quick pace.” ― Booklist “ Lockdown is a beautifully written book that builds itself up on violence, suspense, and mystery.” ― A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader “This is a compelling book.” ― Ellaina, age 14 “The whole book was extremely compelling. The . . . plot was alluring and drew you in with its dark undertones.” ― Hannah, age 17 “Lockdown was a brilliant book that gives vivid imagery to the life of Alex within the Furance . . .it kept me captivated till the end” ― Ryan, age 16 “Lockdown is a beautifully written book that builds itself up on violence, suspsence, and mystery.” ― Gabe Alexander Gordon Smith lives in Norwich, England. "The Stephen King of YA horror," he is the author of The Fury; The Inventors; the Escape from Furnace series, which has sold nearly half-a-million copies; and the Devil's Engine series. Read more
Features & Highlights
Furnace Penitentiary: the world's most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth's surface. Convicted of a murder he didn't commit, sentenced to life without parole, "new fish" Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where inhuman creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood-drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison. Together with a bunch of inmates―some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers―Alex plans an escape. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace's deeper, darker purpose, Alex's actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that's hidden from the eyes of the world.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
5.0
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LOCKDOWN
My summary: Alex was like any other boy. Go to school, hang out with his group, and control the monkey bars. But when he started stealing, his life changed for the worse. Out of nowhere, his best friend is murdered, and he is framed for it. he is sent to the child prison: a Hell hole. Worse than Hell. Furnace. When he's there, he is disgusted with the way people live. Kids do hard labor like chipping rock. Gangs kill kids. and he isn't the only innocent person who was framed. But there's no hope of escape. Nobody can escape furnace. Or at least, that's what they all say. But that's only because nobody ever has...
What I felt: Personally, the first time I looked at the cover, I found it just a little disturbing. I thought "eh, I doubt very seriously I'll like that book. But hey--they want to send me a free book? I'll take a free book." So no, I didn't really like the cover. They could have done much better, either artistically or graphically or even with the colors. But that's just me as an artist and a girl :D so I did judge it. boy was that a mistake.
The first sentence of this book seemed to grab me by the neck: "If I stopped running, I was dead." From there, the entire book held me and wouldn't let me go, from that first sentence to the very end. In fact, it held me after the end, too. I distinctly remember my blood racing, heart beating, sweating, adrenalin searing through my veins while I read this book! It was breathtaking and riveting to the last word. And even after the last word. I sat there, staring at the blank page, gasping and panting like a dog from lack of oxygen from reading a book. (that doesn't happen very often, people.)
Characters: The characters in this book were very relatable. They weren't super people, they were real. They handled the horrific experiences of Furnace the same way I would have--screaming in their sleep, crying, throwing up from the horrors.
Writing: the writing was very good--not one of those books where the author just says what he wants to say. Alexander Gordon Smith followed my creative writing teachers' first rule: Show, don't tell. It was an amazing thing to read, the language was very full in vocabulary, and it had good prose. There wasn't any really bad foul language either, like some of the other teen books I've been reading lately.
Recommendation: this book is a thriller, not a horror book, even though it's mildly graphic (mildly. Not really that bad. Descriptive enough to be kinda gross at times... but hey, it could be just because I'm a girl.). It's not the most horrific book I've ever read, but it's certainly not for an eight-year-old. Personally I'd recommend it for anyone fourteen and up (but that's just me).
I hope everyone gets a chance to read this book! It ranked my highest list: up with Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Not only was the writing very good, but the plot was thick and complicated, intricately laid out, and mind boggling, and the characters were real people.
[...]
54 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Just awful (WARNING - SPOILERS)
I know this will trigger the hate mail but this book is just so terrible that I have to speak up.
Starting from the uncreative title (there's already enough books called Lockdown) we enter a modern world so unlikely and inexplicable that even I, a practitioner of Suspense of Disbelief, cringed at every concept.
So, we had a bad summer in America and 55 people were killed by young offenders so we dug this huge underground prison, staffed it with monsters and tossed every little kid that committed a rime (or didn't) and without very much "due process": we sent them to Furnace where our 4 heros bonded and defend themselves against the scary monsters and the really bad kids who are called the Skulls.
Oh, good grief. I love dystopian YA and I'm desperately trying to survive completion of Uglies, The Hunger Games, Epitaph Road but this is just garbage and make the aforementioned look like they are based on a true story.
You won't get any kind of ending either since the tedium will be continued.
16 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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A great book, but certainly for older readers
Ooh. I still have the chills. This book was delightfully disturbing. It was The Hunger Games, meets The Maze Runner. I found myself on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. It's oh-so-very creepy & cruel to children. Which is my only warning, though that's a pretty big warning.
This book was surprisingly clean when it comes to language. After all, a bunch of teenage boys in a prison that the cover describes as worse than hell probably wouldn't have the best language, but the swearing wasn't extreme at all. Mind you, that doesn't mean there wasn't any swearing, but it didn't bother me too much, and I'm quite sensitive to it.
This book may end up giving me nightmares, but it was worth it. I love books with a good mystery.
If you don't mind horror-books, and you liked The Maze Runner, and you're okay with characters that are FAR too young to be dealing with that kind of stuff, then check out Lockdown: Escape From Furnace
Summary:
This book is creepy, and definitely for older teen readers, but oh-so-very good.
15 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Perfect Pulp-Style Page-Turner
If this was the 1930s, I could easily imagine Alexander Gordon Smith's "Lockdown" as being snapped up and serialized in "Weird Tales" or "Amazing Stories". His fiction has the same scope and appeal that "Conan" author Robert E. Howard's does. "Lockdown isn't great literature; rather, it's a pure pulp story, very much like the Doc Savage and Kull The Conquerer were in their time, and that's a compliment. There's a real talent in being able to pen a breathless page-turner, a book that veers so closely to the absurd at times that I wanted to chuckle even as I was curious about what would happen next. The plot is simple enough - a 14-year-old boy gets caught doing a minor crime, and due to a savage new law put into place, gets sent to Furnace - a prison that's as dark and gritty as it's name, with no hope of paroll. There are savage dogs, unstoppable guards, jaw-droppingly harsh punishments, and blood - lots of blood. Plus, the entire complex is hiding something; the warden seems not-of-this-world, and it takes our protagonist all his wits and strength to avoid the roaming gangs of thugs who rule this inner world. Smith's prose is brutal and cracks with all the force of a whip; and if the novel descends into melodrama a bit too much, it's all for the good. The author has created an alternate reality that's heightened in every respect; perfect reading for teen boys who want something meaty to chew on. I admit, I'm looking forward to the sequel: "Solitary" due out Fall 2010.
12 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Without the rules, we don't get the scares
This book has lots of scare potential, but doesn't deliver. Skinless monster dogs, gasmask-faced creepies, a kitchen full of rotting offal, and other stock terrors should have had this scaredycat reader quivering under the covers, but instead it all bounced off me.
I found it hard to believe that the boys in this allegedly nightmarish prison had so much time to talk amongst themselves, and that the "blacksuit" guards are conveniently more lax in their duties as one group of boys chips away at a detailed, lengthy escape plan. In other parts of the book, the "blacksuits" are painted as superhuman/monstrous, with the ability to appear out of nowhere and to know things they couldn't possibly know. So to have them suddenly slack off when it was convenient for the book's heroes seemed like cheating.
The tone of the book -- and of the protagonist's voice in particular -- is way too light and doesn't serve the horror that the book tries to dish up again and again. In short, the author fails to set up the "rules" of the story, and therefore it's impossible for the him to play by the rules that would have made this book actually scary.
6 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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brilliant read
I learned about Lockdown at a YA Literature conference. The presenter recommended Lockdown to teachers and librarians and claimed it was comparable to Hunger Games. Indeed, it was! I enjoyed reading Lockdown so much that I stayed up late every night devouring the text.
The superb description of the Furnace captivated me. I could envision the claustrophobic sense of the deep and dark world. Describing everything in terms of black, gray, and red created an eerie, desperate tone that kept me reading. The characters were complete and believable. Their hopelessness, and ultimately their undying sense of hope for freedom, captured me. As an exciting read, Lockdown lacked nothing! It certainly was a brilliant read. I cannot wait to share the novel with my students! They will impatiently await Solitary; as will I.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Sometimes there are fates worse than death.
Lockdown: Escape From the Furnace is an awesome read. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Life in a conservative England where youth crime has got to a point that a series of teenage murder sprees have gotten the people so scared that they demand something harsh must be done about. Well thats where the Furnace comes in. An underground prison that's buried two miles deep in the ground and a maximum security strength fortress sits on top of it. A place that houses teenage murderers (Life imprisonment is the only sentence they receive) and they have to stay their until they die. Prisoners work either in the laundry room, kitchen, custodian duties or are sent to dig more rooms and tunnels.
Young Alex, a youthful offender who's a student by day and cat burglar by night is framed fort he murder of his best friend by some unknown men in black. Whilst in prison he learns that he's not the only prisoner who's been set up. But most of the people in there are hard core criminals who make live unbearable for the rest of the inmates. Even though gang activity is frowned upon and met with severe discipline they run the yard. Alex learns the harsh realities of life in the big house and how he's just living on borrowed time like everyone else unless he can escape...
Fascinating first book in a series of that details the ongoing of life in The Furnace. I can't wait until book two. I have to highly recommend this one because once you pick it up it's very hard to put down.
5 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Setups, mutilated dogs, sirens... life in Furnace
Lockdown made me wince, cringe and curl my toes (not in a good way). The thought of anyone, let alone a child, going through what the prisoners of Furnace go through made my stomach sick. Alexander Gordan Smith paints a sick world, one where adults don't trust teens after the Summer of Slaughter. Any teen/child who kills no matter in self defense or multiple times gets sentenced to the Furnace. Society can't take anymore teen violence and death, it seems the Furnace is a better option then death or more murder. They were wrong....
Alex is a petty thief with his friend Toby, until one night the men in black suits set him up and kill his best friend. Next thing Alex knows he's in the new teen prison, Furnace, which is worse than hell, worse than maximum security prison, and worse than anything your nightmares can dream up. Wheezers, Blooders, The Warden, the Skulls the Fifty Niners, gangs, suicide.... this is Alex's new life, all for a crime he didn't commit. I can't imagine a society so hopeless about the teen murders that they would resort to this....*shudder*
As the name implies (no spoilers here) Alex is very smart and tries to escape Furnace, something that has never even successfully been attempted. Let me put it this way, the last guy who attempted to escape went through the air ducts (before the Warden made them smaller than the size of your fist) after five days he was caught and the Warden's dogs used him as a tug of war toy. Have I painted a lovely picture for you? Needless to say this novel was fast paced. You learn the ins and out of teen prison life and the 'joys' of all boys (why is that?) creating their own form of society in the prison. It's a little harsh for 12 year olds unless they are more mature, but adults will love it, if you're in to the gritty novels.
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Astounding and Outstanding
There's no leniency for child offenders in LOCKDOWN, the explosive first novel in Alexander Gordon Smith's new series.
The infamous Summer of Slaughter, in which rioting kids killed 69 people, sparked new laws, and the consequences of disobeying them are extreme. Alex Sawyer knows he deserves punishment for thievery, but not for murdering his best friend. He's been framed, though no one believes him, and he's incarcerated for life in Furnace Penitentiary.
Alex isn't the only innocent prisoner in this genuinely frightening setting, and it's no surprise he's not the only one who wants out. Together, he and his newfound friends and foes begin hatching a plan to escape...unless they get killed first, which is likelier than one might assume.
The author has created an astounding and outstanding novel. Alexander Gordon Smith has one sick imagination, but it makes for riveting reading, combining realistic and relatable protags with the scariest, creepiest antags I've ever read. The blood watches are tense, eerie and utterly unforgettable.
To explain more would be spoilers, but this futuristic horror YA series is set to be an absolute cracker. The only real problem is that this first book ends in a cliffhanger, and Book 2 isn't due out until October. (Even later in North America, you poor dears.)
I love this book so much. Start pre-ordering now, and get excited. Reading doesn't get much better than this.
4 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Flat.
The concept of a group of wrongfully accused kids attempting a prison break from one of the most horrible places in the world made me picture something along the lines of a story that would combine Dante's Inferno and HBO's Oz. However, this novel fell flat in many aspects.
First, I read that this was the first novel published in America by Smith, a British author. Unfortunately, he forgot his target audience and half the descriptions and dialogue were spent using typical American vernacular, while the other half were strictly from the UK. It was very distracting for me as the reader.
Second, it was never made clear exactly what country in which this tale was supposed to be set. It wasn't neccesarily integral to the plot, but it would've gone a long way to clarifying the speech differences I brought up in my previous point.
Third, the routine of prison life did not translate on the page as a compelling read. Half the book was spent detailing how horrible each chore was for the inmates and it got very tedious to read after 100 pages or so. The actual prison break plotline didn't come into play until it was too late for me to really care.
I understand that Smith intends to make this story into a series, but I have trouble believing that anyone would go back for more after such a lukewarm delivery on the first installment.
