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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace #1 by Alexander Gordon Smith.

Tony B. told me he liked really liked this book and Tony's dog liked it so well...well he pretty much ate the cover right-off the first copy we had in the library (thanks Tony for being so up-front and responsible about replacing the eaten book)!

"Beneath heaven is hell, beneath hell is Furnace"...Creepy, disturbing, gross are all words that describe this story, but it's the creepiness that pulled me in.  How DOES a person deal with an impossible situation and false imprisonment?  How does a pretty ordinary kid go from being a bully at school to a criminal?   When 14 year old Alex is framed for murder, he becomes an inmate in the new teen prison, Furnace, which is worse than maximum security prison, and worse than anything your nightmares can dream up.   Furnace is home to brutal inmates where gangs kill kids, sadistic guards oversee forced labor and escape is impossible.

Despite Alex's desperate situation, he becomes sickened enough at his experiences he takes action against the "unspoken and expected" that other inmates have managed to ignore,  and is very nearly killed for his effort.

A  fast-paced thriller of a book with relate-able characters and an "OMG" cliffhanger of an ending that had me pre-ordering the sequel soon after I finished reading Lockdown so we could find out what happens next.

Not  a book I'd recommend for younger readers, or those who are disturbed by mildly graphic or gross description.

 My rating:
A good read.  (nice change from vampire books)
Category:  Thriller 
















It's taken for freakin ever...but it's now or never

I don't know WHY I've had such a tough time getting this book blog started...I really like reading and writing isn't something I dread, but somehow I've made this project a much bigger deal in my mind than I wanted it to be...it feels kind of silly not really wanting to start...a bit like I've caught a touch of  commitment phobia or something-- sooo not me.  Anyway, while I'm waiting for the weather to cool off a bit before heading  back out side to get to work in the gardens-- I thought I'd give it a go.

Basically, I want some way to keep track of the books I've been reading (mostly the ones written for teens) and even though I've never been one to journal or keep a diary...blogging seems like a pretty good way to help me keep track of what I've read and why I liked something or didn't.  I'm going to start by revisiting the books that I've read this past year and also add books as I finish reading them.