Lockdown (Escape From Furnace) [Audiobook][MP3 Audio][Unabridged] (MP3 CD)

~ (Author), Alex Kalajzic (Reader)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Fresh and ferocious, Lockdown will hook boys with its gritty, unrelenting surprises.”—James Patterson

 

“Furnace is hotter than hell and twice as much  fun! Sign me up for a life sentence of Alexander Gordon Smith!”—Darren Shan, author of  the Demonata series

 

“This nightmarish start to a new series is unrelentingly bleak, uniquely horrifying, and strangely compelling.” —Realms of Fantasy magazine

 

“A great next choice for fans of  The Maze Runner,  The Grassland Trilogy. . ., or Lord of the Flies. As for me, I’m looking forward to future books (Lockdown: Escape from Furnace is the first of a planned trilogy). Recommended for dystopia, thriller, and horror fans, or anyone looking for a fast-paced, spine-chilling ride.” —Jennifer Robinson’s Bookpage

 

“Readers will be turning pages without pause, and the cliff-hanger ending will have them anticipating the next installment. Most appealing is Smith’s flowing writing style, filled with kid-speak, colorful adjectives, and amusing analogies. Fans of James Patterson’s ‘Maximum Ride’ and Darren Shan’s ‘The Demonata’ series will find this satisfying fare.”  —School Library Journal

 

“One of those leave-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrill rides that will grab the reader right from the start. Teens will appreciate Smith’s vivid imagery. His writing is extremely fluid, and he makes the reader feel for the characters, especially the young protagonist, Alex. Readers will be cheering him on from start to finish. Look for the sequel, Solitary, forthcoming in 2010. Readers will be anxious to see where Alex’s adventures take him next.” —VOYA

“Not for the faint-hearted, this dramatic British import is both a page- and stomach-turner. . .  The pacing is superb, building on the tension as each horror is revealed while saving the ultimate monstrosity for the cliffhanger ending. . . . Readers will find themselves rooting for even the most violent of the inmates as they try to make their escape and defeat the Furnace.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Smith establishes a quick pace.” —Booklist

"Lockdown is a beautifully written book that builds itself up on violence, suspense, and mystery."

—A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Furnace Penitentiary is the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Alex Sawyer is the “new fish.” Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, he knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to death in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. 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.
Escape is Alex’s only option. But it’s not just about saving his own skin. The more he discovers, the more he understands that he is going to have to do whatever it takes to expose this nightmare hidden from the eyes of the world.
Fast-paced and full of shocks and terrors, Lockdown is the incredible first book in Alexander Gordon Smith’s Escape from Furnace series.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• MP3 CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD; MP3 Una edition (November 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441830332
• ISBN-13: 978-1441830333
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOCKDOWN, November 1, 2009

By	Haley "~Haleyknitz at haleymathiot.blogspot.com~" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lockdown: Escape from Furnace (Hardcover)

My summary: Alex was like any other boy. Go to school, hang out with his group, and control the monkey bars. But when he started stealing, his life changed for the worse. Out of nowhere, his best friend is murdered, and he is framed for it. he is sent to the child prison: a Hell hole. Worse than Hell. Furnace. When he's there, he is disgusted with the way people live. Kids do hard labor like chipping rock. Gangs kill kids. and he isn't the only innocent person who was framed. But there's no hope of escape. Nobody can escape furnace. Or at least, that's what they all say. But that's only because nobody ever has...

What I felt: Personally, the first time I looked at the cover, I found it just a little disturbing. I thought "eh, I doubt very seriously I'll like that book. But hey--they want to send me a free book? I'll take a free book." So no, I didn't really like the cover. They could have done much better, either artistically or graphically or even with the colors. But that's just me as an artist and a girl :D so I did judge it. boy was that a mistake.

The first sentence of this book seemed to grab me by the neck: "If I stopped running, I was dead." From there, the entire book held me and wouldn't let me go, from that first sentence to the very end. In fact, it held me after the end, too. I distinctly remember my blood racing, heart beating, sweating, adrenalin searing through my veins while I read this book! It was breathtaking and riveting to the last word. And even after the last word. I sat there, staring at the blank page, gasping and panting like a dog from lack of oxygen from reading a book. (that doesn't happen very often, people.)

Characters: The characters in this book were very relatable. They weren't super people, they were real. They handled the horrific experiences of Furnace the same way I would have--screaming in their sleep, crying, throwing up from the horrors.

Writing: the writing was very good--not one of those books where the author just says what he wants to say. Alexander Gordon Smith followed my creative writing teachers' first rule: Show, don't tell. It was an amazing thing to read, the language was very full in vocabulary, and it had good prose. There wasn't any really bad foul language either, like some of the other teen books I've been reading lately.

Recommendation: this book is a thriller, not a horror book, even though it's mildly graphic (mildly. Not really that bad. Descriptive enough to be kinda gross at times... but hey, it could be just because I'm a girl.). It's not the most horrific book I've ever read, but it's certainly not for an eight-year-old. Personally I'd recommend it for anyone fourteen and up (but that's just me).

I hope everyone gets a chance to read this book! It ranked my highest list: up with Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Not only was the writing very good, but the plot was thick and complicated, intricately laid out, and mind boggling, and the characters were real people.

[...]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant read, January 3, 2010

By	B. Gray - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lockdown: Escape from Furnace (Hardcover)

I learned about Lockdown at a YA Literature conference. The presenter recommended Lockdown to teachers and librarians and claimed it was comparable to Hunger Games. Indeed, it was! I enjoyed reading Lockdown so much that I stayed up late every night devouring the text.

The superb description of the Furnace captivated me. I could envision the claustrophobic sense of the deep and dark world. Describing everything in terms of black, gray, and red created an eerie, desperate tone that kept me reading. The characters were complete and believable. Their hopelessness, and ultimately their undying sense of hope for freedom, captured me. As an exciting read, Lockdown lacked nothing! It certainly was a brilliant read. I cannot wait to share the novel with my students! They will impatiently await Solitary; as will I.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, but certainly for older readers, December 2, 2009

By	Enna Isilee "www.squeakybooks.com" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lockdown: Escape from Furnace (Hardcover)

Ooh. I still have the chills. This book was delightfully disturbing. It was The Hunger Games, meets The Maze Runner. I found myself on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. It's oh-so-very creepy & cruel to children. Which is my only warning, though that's a pretty big warning.

This book was surprisingly clean when it comes to language. After all, a bunch of teenage boys in a prison that the cover describes as worse than hell probably wouldn't have the best language, but the swearing wasn't extreme at all. Mind you, that doesn't mean there wasn't any swearing, but it didn't bother me too much, and I'm quite sensitive to it.

This book may end up giving me nightmares, but it was worth it. I love books with a good mystery.

If you don't mind horror-books, and you liked The Maze Runner, and you're okay with characters that are FAR too young to be dealing with that kind of stuff, then check out Lockdown: Escape From Furnace

Summary:

This book is creepy, and definitely for older teen readers, but oh-so-very good.