Book Review: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (October 27, 2009)

Furnace Penitentiary: 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: resign himself to death in the darkness at the bottom of the world or find a way to break out of this escape-proof nightmare.
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Hands down the best book I have read so far this year. I was sucked into the suspenseful, frightening story and could not put it down. I can't wait to get my hands on the next 2 books in the Furnace series. Kids struggling through such horrors just to hold on to what meager and miserable lives they have left. I got so involved in the story I found myself chanting in my head "Keep going! Don't give up!" to the main character and his friends. Their struggles felt personal. The writing is amazing and made me feel like I was living the hellish nightmare that is the Furnace.

5/5