School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 7-10-Alex Sawyer, 14, is in prison for a murder he didn't commit. He tried to escape the horrors of the underground prison known as Furnace in Lockdown (Farrar, 2009), and now he must battle the nightmare that is solitary confinement. The cells open from the top through a sort of manhole cover, and they are more like coffins standing on end than cells. Alex must fight the monsters and mutants that are his captors and tormentors, including the dreaded wheezers that have gas masks sewn to what should be their faces and the vicious rat and doglike creatures that spoiled their escape attempt. Alex's friend Donavan was thought to be dead, but as it turns out is part of the horrors going on in the infirmary. There are several disturbing episodes when Alex is alone with his thoughts in his cell, and his fatalism or depression leads him to contemplate suicide. The rest of this story is fast paced and packed with nail-biting scenarios, and the gross-out factor is high in many sections. Alex is coaxed into a leadership role by some of the creatures and his friend Zee, who occupies an adjoining cell, and through their attempt at another escape, discovers what is really happening to inmates in the infirmary. This is a dark story with a dark ending, but the gritty action and compelling characters will have reluctant readers enthralled.-Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School, Loveland, CO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Foiled in their attempt to escape from a sadistic penal institution for boys, Alex and Zee (Lockdown) struggle to survive solitary confinement, avoid becoming "specimens" subjected to pseudo-scientific experimentation, and discover a new escape route. Unrelenting action and violence leave little time for character development, but horror fans will relish the monstrous villains and labyrinthine underground world in this second installment. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 9 Up-Alexander Gordon Smith's second book (Farrar, Straus, 2010) in the Furnace series picks up with Alex Sawyer, Z, and Gary Owen trying to escape the Furnace penitentiary. The attempt fails miserably and Alex and his friend are thrown into solitary, which is basically a hole in the ground. Soon, a boy disfigured by the Wheezers, the gas masked figures who do testing on the inmates, frees Alex to convince him to try to find a new way to escape. Alex must overcome his fears of the Warden, the black suits with their glowing silver eyes, and the Rats, who are failed experiments of the Wheezers, along with his sense of guilt over his life of crime before Furnace. Alex's loyalties are tested when he must choose between his friends and a fate worse than death or escape and the chance to stop the experiments. Smith takes listeners on a terrifying ride through the underbelly of Furnace providing gory descriptions and thrilling chases. Alex Kalajzic brings Alex to life with his British accent. His voices for the villains, especially the Warden, are chilling. Those who enjoyed the first book in the series and fans of novels with gory descriptions will enjoy this fast-paced, suspenseful book. The chilling conclusion will leave listeners anxious for the next installment.-Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

In a sequel to Lockdown (2009) that is just as breathlessly paced and soaked with blood, mucus, and less savory substances, teen jailbird Alex's escape from the futuristic underground prison and experimental lab called Furnace leads first to recapture and then to a second flight that involves frantic chases through dark caverns and tunnels, face-to-face encounters with flesh chewing human-rat hybrids, and visits to a gruesome Infirmary, in which prisoners are modified into hideous monsters. Readers who relish lurid imagery and melodramatic prose will continue to be riveted and left eager for the next disgust-o-rama episode.--Peters, John Copyright 2010 Booklist