Anna's Reviews > Lockdown

Lockdown follows the story of Alex Sawyer, a young delinquent who, along with his best friend, makes a habit of entering people’s houses and stealing whatever they can put their hands on. One night though, everything goes wrong. Alex promised himself that after one last job, he’d stop stealing. But nothing goes as planned after his best friend is murdered right in front of him, and Alex is the one convicted for the murder. He’s then thrown into Furnace, an underground prison, where are sent young murderers and teenagers who, like Alex, were framed for murders they didn’t commit. Alex soon realizes that Furnace is a place worst than Hell, where the only way to survive is to find a way to escape.

The best way to describe Furnace is probably with a direct quote from the book:

“Beneath heaven is hell, […] and beneath hell is Furnace”

Let me just start out by saying that I think Alexander Gordon Smith is an amazing author. The way he described things in this book was breathtaking and just so realistic. The book isn’t incredibly graphic, but I could picture every single thing that happened along the way. Some things were actually pretty gross and I can’t imagine what it would feel like to live in there. Actually no, scratch that. Smith has such a great way with words that I did sometimes feel like I was actually living the journey with Alex, Donovan, Zee and all of the boys in there. I was nervous and scared for them… I remember my heart racing so fast at some points.

Speaking of characters… I just loved them so much! Well… I loved Alex, Donovan, Zee and Toby, that is. I wanted to punch the living hell out of Kevin, all of the Skulls and later on Gary… They would’ve probably killed me in less than 5 seconds though, haha! Anyways, about the character that I did love: I just liked how they were so realistic. They were just scared teenagers sent into this place to rot but they still found the strength to make an escape plan, and always had each other’s backs. Donovan and Alex were definitely my two favourite characters though. I think they both were amazing, and I loved the friendship that was built between them. (view spoiler)[What happened to Donovan though, right before the day they planned to escape chocked me up. The only reason I didn’t cry is because I still had hope that Alex would find him in the second book and he’ll be ok :( (hide spoiler)]

Anyways, I can’t wait to read the second book and the rest of this series because it’s definitely one of my favourites series now and I need to find out what happens next because of that huuuuge cliffhanger at the end of this book. So yeah, I’d definitely recommend this book to people who like thrillers, action and gore.

By the way: Donovan and Alex ?