Alexander Gordon Smith

In Fugitives, Smith leaves the relative literary safety of Furnace, and has to really step up his world-building. In this book, there are new horrors, worse than any found in Furnace. For example, a kind of zombie/reverse vampire. If that doesn't make sense to you, read the book.

I definitely loved the fact that escaping didn't make anything better. Obviously, I thought law enforcement would be against the escaping convicts, but the broadening of the scope of what was going on made it pretty show more epic. I look forward to finding out just exactly what Furnace has been doing in the next book; Alex's view and knowledge of what's happening is limited, and we can only know what he does.

Smith's bread and butter is monsters and mayhem. He does that well, and comes up with such strange and creepy creatures that I do not envy him his dreams. Anyway, I want to give him props for also drawing attention to the fact that regular people can be just as bad, possibly worse (?) than the monsters. Certainly I tended to find those scenes most discomfiting, probably because they seemed much more realistic and pertinent to real life than the rest of this series.

Although I'm somewhat concerned about how long Smith is going to drag this series out, I am willing to continue reading along when the next installment, Execution, comes out later this year. For those who have enjoyed the series thus far, it only gets more crazy and exciting in Fugitives. show less

The story picks up immediately where the first book, LOCKDOWN, left off, and the suspense and action doesn’t stop. The imagery and feeling present is still so gritty, dark and hopeless. Alex is still just as determined to escape Furnace as ever, and he latches on to any hope he can get. Alex doesn’t just sit and except his fate, or let it break him (though he’s definitely damaged. He wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t effected by the horrors of his prison). I missed seeing the day to show more day interactions of Alex and the other inmates of Furnace, but SOLITARY gives a deeper look into the Warden, Wheezers and the men in black suits that run Furnace, and terrify the prisoners. There are some other…monsters, I suppose, introduced and the Rats are truly horrific.

SOLITARY brings us so much closer to understanding how the Warden can get away with how he runs Furance, and I just want to scream at anyone above ground. How can they not realize what is going on in this prison for teenagers? Obviously there is a massive conspiracy, and I so want Alex to be the one to bring it all crashing down. But he’s a criminal…a teenage criminal (for murder, no less), and even though he was framed, who will believe him over the Warden, and the mysterious person who is really in charge? I’m so anxious to see where everything ends up, and how Alex is going to escape being changed into something not-human.

SOLITARY is definitely a solid second-story, and will chill readers with it’s dark descriptions of Furnace, a place that would rival Hell. This book holds it’s own, and though it sets up things nicely for book three, it in no way feels like filler material. Readers will hope for Alex to succeed in escaping and bringing down Furnace…but Smith takes advantage of the cliffhanger and leaves you breathless and wanting more. Right now. show less

One of the best novels in the young adult novels that I have read in a long time. Sometimes simply a string of bad or just so-so novels will cause me to just LOVE the next good one I pick up. Even so, "Lockdown: Escape from Furnace" was absolutely amazing! I only put this book down to work and picked it up afterwards and read till 4 a.m.! I devoured this book as it was full of thrills.

Alex is just a kid, framed for a crime he didn't commit. Only now, after a summer of heinous murders show more committed by a group of teens, the juvenile system has cracked down. Now you do the crime and you definitely do the time -life, no possibility of parole in a prison buried deep underground in natural rock; no way out. No visitors, no letters from home, no one but the other prisoners. Only Alex didn't do the crime, he and a few other prisoners have all been wrongly convicted.

Not only is the claustrophobia of the Furnace maddening, but there are also violent prison gangs to contend with, evil dog creations that hunt and tear their victim limb from limb, the black suited super strong prison guards, the crazy inhuman mask faces, and the mysteriously evil prison warden. But Alex has a plan, he doesn't plan on rotting his life away in the hell hole, he is going to escape.

I have so many good things to say about this novel it is ridiculous! Wow, this was enthralling, energetic, and even spine tingling. I was on the edge of my seat glued to every word... all the time. Alexander Gordon Smith did the perfect job of balancing, giving enough detail to feel trapped inside Furnace myself but not overkilling the plot with boring detail. I loved his writing style, and I thought the plot was perfectly executed.

The only thing I'm confused about is the country where the novel is set. At the beginning, pounds are mentioned as currency so I assumed Great Britain, but then the judicial system seemed very American and the slang did not seem British at all. I don't think the novel is set in the very distant future either. While this detail was slightly muddy, it didn't much affect the story and I did not find it at all distracting.

One of my favorite details is knowing all the crimes Alex has committed but still seeing through to his innocence once he reaches Furnace. I loved seeing this bully become the savior and I really enjoyed Alex's character development in the story.

What a cliff hanger! I will undoubtedly be picking up the next book in this series and, WOW, I cannot wait to read it! I definitely recommend this read and I think it would be perfect for a teenage boy, no romance, a touch of violence, and raw emotion. show less

Oh boy, this was quite the thrill ride. I thought the last novel in the series was the best so far, but this just takes things one step further in story depth, action and twists.

I liked the way the author blurred the lines between who was objectively bad and who was objectively good in this book.

There's even more action in this than any of the former books in the series but that being said I didn't think it was out of place or over the top, it seemed very much to suit the unfolding story show more and sense of desperation the characters were experiencing.

Overall an exceptional cap to the series, I really liked this set of five stories even though the protagonists were kids and this book just finished things off nicely. show less