Lex Thomas

A fairly terrible book. I was excited when I first heard about this book, and nearly abused my librarian privileges so I could get it the moment it went into circulation. (I love locked room stories! and stories where people have to fight each other to survive! and gore!). But the more I read, the more my heart sank.

To begin with, the writing is bad and unpolished ("throwing her head back in ecstasy, her lips quivering" -- Jesus Christ, shoot me now). Then we have super drab cutout show more characters who make the lint in my dryer look witty and scintillating. Top this off with rigid cliques and stereotypes, and heaps of unexplained world-building, and you've got a book that didn't so much drop its potential as it did hurl it off the peak of Kilimanjaro, never to be seen again.

Also, a huge warning that I would not enjoy this book probably should have been the fact that every female character of note is impossibly beautiful (the first two girls namechecked in the novel are described as "gorgeous" and "if she ever posted a naked picture on the internet, all the comments would be angry claims that she was photoshopped.") On one hand I have to laugh because a lot of female-driven YA books do this too, where all the guys are super gorgeous and buff omgz1!!! But on the other hand, it made me roll my eyes because come on. Books like these that base one gender's main worth on their unbearably torturous beauty (unicorns weep, angels pass bricks, etc), are not going to be books that are particularly intelligent and/or nuanced, let's just say. show less

Picking up and reading QUARANTINE: THE BURNOUTS, the third book in the series, is a different experience now than it would have been a few months ago. A novel where a deadly virus and a quarantine figure prominently in the plot resonates strongly in the middle of real life global pandemic where such terms are mentioned on every news broadcast 24 hours a day, not to mention the ways it has impacted the daily life of everyone. For me, it made the plight of the characters real in a way that was show more absent when I read the first two books, their fear and despair more palpable. Of course the parallel between real life and the dystopian world depicted in this YA series is tenuous at best, but there is no denying that reading the third book was a unique experience compared to the first two.

The QUARANTINE series is one of those teen dystopia epics where a group of kids are isolated from the rest of the world without adult supervision, and forced to fend for themselves. The results are THE LORD OF THE FLIES on steroids. In this series, the catalyst is one of those pesky laboratory manufactured viruses that exists solely in fiction, one which gets loose and infects the student population of a suburban Colorado high school, said virus being deadly to anyone who has passed puberty. The school is sealed off from the outside world, and the kids are on their own. The social hierarchy of high school, so hallowed in pop culture for decades, becomes a dictatorship, as cliques become gangs that prey upon one another, and bullies terrorize those perceived as weak. The books center around a few “nice” kids who want to do nothing more than stay alive until they “graduate.”


The third book in the series, subtitled THE BURNOUTS, picks up right where the second book left off, with brothers Will and David reunited outside the school after Will was forced to leave or succumb to the virus, which makes its victims cough their lungs out. Lucy, the girl both boys love, is still trapped within the halls of McKinley High, and is now an outcast. Through a plot complication, both brothers don gas masks and re-enter the school to rescue Lucy, risking instant death if they should breathe the same air as any of the infected students. Meanwhile, Hillary, an uber Mean Girl and David’s former girlfriend, has taken control of the school and she wants revenge on Lucy for a past humiliation. The plot is derivative, and many of the characters are nothing more than “types” found in any teen drama, but I found myself invested in Will, David, and Lucy, and their plight, and cared what happened to them. About half way through, I had a hunch as to where the story was going, and I was proven right. There is a bittersweet resolution that might leave some in tears, but it felt earned. Some readers are surely going to be disappointed at the ending, but this has been a series that has not been afraid to go dark, reveling in it at times, and I felt the finale was true to what came before, even if it is very cruel to a character most readers have come to love. This third book has slightly less gore than the second, and that is not a bad thing. But there are a couple of gross scenes that will make readers wince. The author, Lex Thomas, is the pen name for two collaborators, and they have done a good job in giving us one the better Teen Dystopias, a subgenre that includes THE HUNGER GAMES, and my favorite, the GONE, series by Michael Grant. They’ve wisely wrapped up the story of McKinley High with the third book, as this particular arc has used up all the gas in its tank, although there is a fourth book taking up the story of a supporting character.

I wonder how “viral apocalypse” stories, like the QUARANTINE series, will fare in a world where we have come uncomfortably close to the real thing. Are they no longer the escapist fiction we once craved, or are they a way to deal with very real fears? Time will tell, but I am thinking about picking up that unabridged copy of Stephen King’s THE STAND that has been on my book shelf for too long. show less

I make no secret that though I am many years past the target demographic; I have a great fondness for certain teen dystopias such as Michael Grant’s GONE series, and the QUARANTINE series by Lex Thomas. I have finished with the former’s original books, and having read and reviewed the first QUARANTINE novel some time back, I have finally gotten around to reading the second book, subtitled THE SAINTS.

The first QUARANTINE book did a very good job of setting the table for the series, as an show more entire student body of a suburban Colorado High School is infected with a deadly virus that kills anyone who has passed puberty – the government seals the school off from the rest of the world to contain the outbreak, with snipers shooting any kid carrying the virus who tries to escape. Inside McKinley High, it quickly becomes LORD OF THE FLIES, as various cliques form into gangs that war with each other for scarce resources; naturally, the jocks and pretty girls come out on top and make life hell for everyone else – it’s basically high school on steroids with the kids in charge. The first book followed two brothers, David and Will, and the girl both of them have feelings for, Lucy, as they try to survive in this hell on earth. The first book ended with David narrowly escaping McKinley when he began showing symptoms that the virus is about become active inside him.

The second book follows Will and Lucy, who attempt to go on with life without David, but without his older brother to lead them, Will cannot keep his gang together, and he and Lucy go their separate ways, even though they are clearly attracted to each other. For a moment, it looks like the kids are going to escape their prison, but it turns out to be a fake out, but this allows for the introduction of a new gang from the outside, The Saints, made up of kids from a nearby private academy, led by an unstable charmer named Gates. These newcomers shake things up, disturbing the status quo, and managing to blackmail a group of parents, who have taken over managing the school from the military, into providing things like liquor, video games, and other luxuries. Will becomes best buds with Gates, while Lucy undergoes a harrowing initiation into an all female gang called The Sluts. But things take a turn, and Will and Lucy are fleeing for their lives by the last chapters.

One thing every reviewer of this book has mentioned is the sex and gory violence that pops up regularly in the story, much more so than the first book, which was not shy about it to start with. I have the feeling that an editor told the authors to “take it up a notch” to make the story stand out in an increasingly competitive market filled with YA teen dystopias. There is also a lot of hard profanity, which used to be verboten in teen books, but times have changed. There is attempted prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse, outright sadism, some pretty graphic sex scenes, and some animal cruelty. All things that teens would indulge in if left on their own – at least in popular dystopian fiction. None of this bothers me, but parents should be warned that this is not a series for sensitive younger kids.

In Will and Lucy, the authors have created protagonists we care about and root for; we worry for them when they make poor choices, and we are happy when they have a moment of intimate pleasure. But the standout character in this volume is Gates, who is something of a YA trope – the troubled kid from the private academy. Gates is the guy who shakes things up, who brings the party with him wherever he goes, the guy who is always fun to be around, at least at first, before the darkness inside him begins to come out. Then there is the dethroned jock, Sam, and his former best girl, Hilary (who has an interesting quirk), both of them mean and loathsome, yet the authors make us feel for them at some point in the story. And though this book is an installment in a series, it does have an arc that plays out to completion, and one that left me satisfied. There was no treading water the way some series books do while making the reader wait for the finale.

All in all, I think I liked QUARANTINE BOOK TWO: THE SAINTS better than the first book, it’s a quick read and the pace never lags, and though the POV changes often, I never got confused as to who’s eyes the story was being told through at any given moment. But I do note that this book came out six years ago now, and I do wonder if it’s sometimes frank and brutal sexuality might draw condemnation in a changing era of hyper criticism, where “activists” daily point their fingers online and seek to dictate to the rest of us what will be permissible in the popular culture. Oh well, QUARANTINE BOOK TWO: THE SAINTS left me wanting to read more, so as far as the duo known as Lex Thomas is concerned, mission accomplished. show less

Originally reviewed on A Reader of Fictions.

I've been through a couple of these kids-trapped-in-a-building-without-adult-supervision books already this year, like This Is Not a Test and Monument 14. In theory, I really like that basic structure, because it leaves a lot of space to do interesting things with social dynamics. Here, it was mostly just a way to isolate kids so they can do really awful things to one another.

When I read Monument 14, one of my issues was that none of the kids are show more particularly likable. Well, compared to the kids in The Loners, I pretty much want to be best friends with everyone from M14. Seriously, there's no one in this book that isn't a RAGING asshole. Even before the apocalyptic scenario, these kids were horrific.

David, the main character, is supposed to garner my sympathy because his mother died and his girlfriend, the hottest piece of ass ever apparently, cheated on him with the guy who took his spot on the football team when he quit. Boohoo, poor Mr. ex-QB. I would have felt badly for him, because both of those things suck, except that, by the time I learn this, he's already commented on how much he wants to sex a couple of different girls. When he finds out about his girlfriend's infidelity, the first thing he does is grab her arm really hard. Not cool. Then he gets drunk and starts a fight. I would hate this guy in real life and I hate him in this book.

His younger brother, Will, seemed like he might be better at first. He should have added some depth to the book, since he has epilepsy, further complicating survival. Unfortunately, his epilepsy was used only for dramatic effect and not to enhance the plot or make a point. Further, Will proves to be driven entirely by sexual urges. Seriously, he has the opportunity to buy useful stuff or to purchase a gold necklace for a girl he's crushing on (that doesn't like him back), and he chooses the necklace. He's so goddamn stupid. Plus, his brother totally had his back and he didn't do anything to help and was generally an ass as thanks. I mean, I don't like David, but Will was even worse.

The women in the book were awful too, every single one of them, which I guess fits nicely with their male counterparts. The kids in the school break down into gangs, two of which are all-female: The Pretty Ones and The Sluts. Yup. Unsurprisingly, girls have limited options in this scenario, so far as I can tell. They can barter sexual favors to a man for safety. They can defend themselves by joining The Sluts, which means they will be called lesbians and fight with the boys, thus get the worst injuries. Besides them, you've got the ugly girls, the ones that don't matter, who exist only to juxtapose their patheticness with that of the others, like Belinda the fat girl. Of course, there's the one girl outside of this, ex-Pretty One Lucy, who, by nature of being a beautiful virgin gets to be protected and survive.

The world building is exceedingly minimal. It exists only to trap the kids in this school. Blah blah virus, blah blah kills adults, blah blah food deliveries every two weeks. Of course, nowhere in the whole paragraph we get explaining why these kids are locked in their school is a reason given for why all of the kids lost their hair when the outbreak happened. Nor do we find out why their hair grows out white.

Anyway, once the first deliveries arrive and they realize the schedule, the kids form gangs, aka cliques based on high school social status. Even in a post-apocalyptic scenario, apparently, hot people do not hang out with uggos. Good to know. Throughout all of this nastiness, the focus upon appearance remains exceedingly important to everyone. Then, of course, they fight about everything.

Seriously, Lord of the Flies has nothing on these kids. They are doing all of this shit for NO REASON. If they don't cause trouble, the government's going to keep giving them supplies. As far as post-apocalyptic worlds go, this really should not be that bad. Unfortunately, this was apparently a school for demon children, so rape, beatings and deaths are going to be fairly common. Basically, everyone fights for stuff like it's the opening off the Hunger Games, where everyone grabs stuff from the cornucopia, only it's like that ALL THE TIME. Really though, the society they've set up here seems more like prison than anything else; they're all serving their terms, but, while they do, they're fighting for position, for sex and for vengeance.

Also, one thing that really bothered me about this? They had SO MANY WEAPONS. For the most part, that's cool. Just like with prison, you can make weapons out of pretty much anything. I get that and accept it. However, at one point, David mentions having a machete. Where the heck did that come from? It's not like you can easily construct a machete like you could a sort of knife or spear. Did that come in the supplies? If yes, that raises other serious questions. If no, was it in someone's locker? This just seemed inaccurate to me.

What I really don't get is why everything would turn into such a ridiculously violent mess. In Monument 14, the kids realized they had enough for everyone and worked together, making everything bearable. Here, the kids have enough food but make the situation impossible because the gangs hoard food. The Loners ends up reading like some sort of Battle Royale scenario where the kids HAVE to kill their classmates in order to survive. The issue here is that no one is forcing them to do this. They just ARE, because they WANT TO.

If you go to dystopias looking for gratuitous violence, The Loners just might be the book for you. The Loners reads like a horror movie, running through the standard tropes and focusing on gore, blood and violence. show less