The Furnace series
* Book 1: Lockdown (2009)
Positing a near-future backlash against teen crime (and teens in general),
Smith sets his series opener in a squalid prison for juvenile offenders
built deep underground and patrolled by surgically altered supermen with
vicious, skinless dogs. Framed (like a suspicious number of his fellow
inmates) for a murder he did not commit, Alex is plunged into a desperate
struggle for survival amid constant sirens, lurid lighting, nightmares,
gang violence, and terrifying encounters with the prison.s scary guardians.
Smith establishes a quick pace with an opening chase described in staccato
prose, closes with a convoluted but explosive escape for Alex and a handful
of allies, and in between crafts a picture of prison life less raw and
hideous than what is found in, for instance, Adam Rapp.s Buffalo Tree (1997),
but frightening enough to boost reader interest in sequels. Grades 6-9.-John
Peters
* Book 2: Solitary (2009)
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.
* Book 3: Death Sentence (2009)
In order to escape them, I must become one of them.We were so close. We had
one last shot at freedom and we failed. This time the warden will show us no
mercy. This time, our punishment is a death sentence.Only death won't come
for us here, not in Furnace. It wouldn't dare. No, our fate is something much,
much worse. Because in the bloodstained laboratories deep beneath the prison
lies the horrific truth behind the warden's plans. Down here, monsters are
made.
* Book 4: Fugitives (2010)
I am no longer trapped in the darkness. But the darkness is still trapped
inside me.We did it. We cracked the gates escaped from Furnace. We"re out
but we"re not free. Not yet. Now the whole city is in lockdown - the roads
sealed the police scouring every building. And there are worse things here -
creatures of unimaginable fury hunting us down. An unholy army sent
by Alfred Furnace himself. Now a war is raging as he tries to bring the world
to its knees.I can still feel the warden"s poison inside me. It"s the only
thing keeping me alive but it"s turning me into one of them into a monster.
I don"t know how much longer I can fight it before the rage takes over.
If I don"t find a cure soon then it will be me out there tearing this city
apart me feasting on blood. If I ever want to be truly free then I have to
travel into the heart of the darkness. I have to find Alfred Furnace before
he finds me.We made it out but the nightmare followed us and soon the whole
world will be our prison.Prison Break meets Darren Shan in one of the most
addictive terrifying and surprising series ever to have been published.
With huge appeal to Anthony Horowitz and Darren Shan fans it will leave the
heart racing for days.
* Book 5: Execution (2011)
The whole world has become a prison and Alfred Furnace is its master.
Monsters rule the streets beasts of pure fury that leave nothing but murder
and madness in their wake. Those who do not die are turned becoming slaves
to Furnace"s reign of cruelty. It is a war to end all wars one that will
leave the planet in ruins.bI am a monster too. I am one of Alfred Furnace"s
children. And I am the only one who can stop him. I have to find a way to
use my powers to destroy Furnace but in doing so I risk becoming the very
force that kills us all.I don"t know if I am the executed or the executioner.
I don"t know who will die: me Furnace or the entire human race.All I know is
that one way or another it all ends today
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