Lockdown: Escape from Furnace

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Lockdown: Escape from Furnace
by Alexander Gordon Smith
pub: Oct 2009
288 pages

Synopsis: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.

I really enjoyed Lockdown, as a winner of a middle grade read. Our main character, Alex, really turns himself around early in the book and becomes a likable protagonist. While the fact that the story has a bunch of underage kids in a hardcore prison may sound a little goofy and a ploy allowing children to relate to an adult story, it's not.

Furnace makes Alcatraz Island look like a bed and breakfast that you stumble upon while driving through a small town in the middle of nowhere when you could have sworn everyone in town said there wasn't any lodging and you should get on your way and never come back but the people are so nice that you stay even against the protests of your modest yet attractive sister but suddenly your modest yet attractive sister goes missing and your car is totaled and the phone is out and....oh wait, that's not right. Suffice to say Furnace would make Clint Eastwood wet his pants.

Pictured: Poser

With a gritty feel and menacing characters, Lockdown sends us on a thrilling ride with a great group of characters. His best friend/cellmate Donovan shows him the ropes and protects him from the darkness that lurks within Furnace. Also within the group is Zee, a quick talking schemer bent on escaping the inescapable.

It takes a monster to guard monsters. The guards range from giant human refrigerators to skinless super hounds, all with soulless silver eyes that gleam with a dark masochism. The real horrors come at lights out. Gruesome inhuman creatures with gas masks sewn onto their faces who communicate with bestial screeches that pierce the night. If they mark your cell you're dragged deeper into Furnace to be turned into something...dastardly.

Descriptions are excellent. So vivid that I could smell the stench and see the entire prison and its inhabitants running as a visual in my head throughout the book.

One itty bitty hiccup. Toward the end Alex has a bit of a pity party and sulks around for a chapter until he has a brilliant epiphany. I got sucked out of the story and thought it killed the momentum and rising action like a badly placed Vulcan death grip.

Whoops! That's not the baroreceptor that's his spine! Oh well, it was just a redshirt.

But not to worry, Alex bucks up and moves on, more determined than before and we're rocketing along with heart-stopping action once again! Lockdown is a fun ride. Pick it up for a great action thriller!