Review of Lockdown : Escape from Furnace

The Summary (Via Goodreads)
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.

Beneath Heaven is Hell
Beneath Hell is Furnace

    I won this book in a giveaway, and I entered because the story seemed pretty good. I entered the book not expecting much to be truthful, and well the book proved me wrong. This book ended up being amazing. Maybe it was because the hero was not your typical hero, or that in the whole book, was a completely new concept, with no romance, or there was not a single female character.
The first thing you find out in the book, that this will not be your normal YA-fiction where, the "Hero" is a good guy. Alex is your anything but average 14 year-old. He is the teenager who has turned to crime, and well he's a criminal. The character building and finding the depths of Alex ( finding out who he is, and seeing his thought process) really created a vivid book. While reading you never felt he was a "fake" character, the way he acted and the way he was created, made him feel so real, how imperfect he was made the book perfect.
    While reading the Furnace world, was this prison like no other. You can easily visualize what was going on and what the world looked like. You see the rock walls, and red lights flickering, and the scary part you can see the "musculey" dogs walking and chasing the prisoners. I want to describe the book more, but then the magic of it will get ruined, so on to the next topic...
So i guess there wasn't exactly a Guy to really gush over, especially since they were teenagers in prison, but Alex's roomie, Donovan seemed liked a good guy. I mean he accidently killed someone, and that to for a good reason...but that's besides the point. He seemed like a good guy..sorta, so i guess he was the closest guy you can gush over.
    What surprised me the most was that, in this jail so to speak, there wasn't a single female! I get most criminals end up being male, but females commit murders and crime as well ( not that I'm saying that's a good thing) but this jail had only teenage boys, and some younger, and there was no portion in the book there was a female equivalent....hmmm...that was something to think about. But yea that was probably the most shocking fact for me...
Mr. Smith did a great job with Lockdown, and I can't wait till I have enough money to get..

 

I would give Lockdown a 4.5/5 or 5/5 , this was a fantastic book, and was a refreshing read !



~Fishy >O