Lockdown Alexander Gordon Smith

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith
Alex Sawyer life of crime started on the playground when he was 12. Two years later Alex is caught in the act of robbing a house and framed for the murder of his friend. He is sentenced to Furnace Penitentiary for young offenders. Alex quickly realizes its the men who run Furnace who framed him and killed his friend.

Furnace is buried a mile beneath the earth surface. There is no escape. Parole is not an option. The guards are cruel and too strong to be human. There are unspeakable things that come in the middle of the night randomly claiming victims. No one has ever escaped furnace, Alex wants to be the first. He has some help, Donavan, the cellmate and Zee,s boy entered the Furnance with.

I really enjoyed Lockdown. Smith gave me so much more then what I was expecting. The fast paced action and raise your heartbeat horror scenes were wonderful. I love the fact that the author took the time to develop Alex. Smith doesn't lean on the action to carry the story, his writing is strong.

"You could have heard a pin drop. Every single prisoner in Furnace had clamped his mouth shut, not even daring to take a breath for fear of alerting the twisted figures below. My own breaths sounded like hurricanes, my heartbeat like a drum punching out a rhythm that could probably be heard on the surface. Some perverse element of my brain started silently singing along to the twin beat - take me take me take me and I had to bite my lip hard in order to make it shut up. The five figures below stopped in the middle of the yard wreathed in shadow. Then as, one they screamed. The sound made my blood curdle. It was like a death cry from some wounded animal, like the noise a rabbit makes when it's snared in a trap. "

Lockdown is a great book. It could easily hook a reluctant reader. Ages 10 up
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