Lockdown

February 1, 2010
Gr 7-10-When Alex Sawyer, 15, is sentenced to life in a horrific underground prison for a murder he didn't commit, his nightmare is only beginning. Ever since the Summer of Slaughter, when gangs such as the Skulls and the Fifty-niners went on a murderous rampage, the government has been throwing away the key on juvenile offenders. "New fish" Alex and cellmate Donovan sleep in pitch-black darkness patrolled by furless dogs with silver eyes and "blacksuits" in gas masks. Unpredictable siren wails keep prisoners in check, forcing them to race back to their cells before the bars closelockdownor risk being killed. Alex is also "Skull Fodder," at the mercy of inmate gang members, and he realizes how similarly he once bullied kids in his own school. Smith builds a convincing atmosphere of fear and oppression until one day Alex catches a waft of fresh air from an off-limits area near his work zone. He becomes obsessed with the idea of escaping, and the mood shifts with the glimmer of hope that there could be a way out. Once a plot is hatched, readers will be turning pages without pause, and the cliff-hanger ending will have them anticipating the next installment. Most appealing is Smith's flowing writing style, filled with kid-speak, colorful adjectives, and amusing analogies. Fans of James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" and Darren Shan's "The Demonata" series (both Little, Brown) will find this satisfying fare."Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2010
Grades 6-9 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 prisons 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 Rapps Buffalo Tree (1997), but frightening enough to boost reader interest in sequels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)