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Quarantine: The Loners (Quarantine #1)

by Lex Thomas (Goodreads Author)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 982 ratings · 279 reviews

“As original as The Hunger Games, set within the walls of a high school exactly like yours.” – Kami Garcia, New York Times best-selling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures novels

It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and di...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published July 10th 2012 by EgmontUSA

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Aug 23, 2012 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya

i was very prepared to dislike this book. this is not the same as expecting to dislike it, mind you, i was hoping to like it, but i was bracing myself for it to be bad, because i am a realist. because as much as i love these kinds of books, plenty of them are lackluster and very samey: Trapped,The Way We Fall,No Safety In Numbers, etc.

and this one is not without flaws, but they are the kind of flaws where the sheer fun of the book dwarfs the flaws.

that is the only time i will use a kitten to d...more

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May 17, 2012 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: arc, net-galley, 5-star, drama, favourite, part-of-a-series, post-apocalypse, romance, science-fiction, ya, characters-i-want-to-be, galley, male-pov, swoon-worthy-male-characters, lived-up-to-the-hype, switching-pov, cliffhanger-ending, amazing-ending, reviewcopies

Review also posted on my blog

I think I should just let you all know that this review is going to be terrible. Not because the book was bad but because I am struggling to find anything bad to say about it. Expect this review to be full of gushing because I absolutely LOVED this book.

I thought it was smart, compelling and brave. It dares to go into territory that many YA books will not tread. It is brutal, violent, gruesome, frightening and at times overwhelming. Another thing that separates this...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Lelia Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: full-reviews

I have such mixed feelings about this book that I hardly know where to begin. The truth is, there is a lot wrong with it but I still kept right on reading, couldn’t make myself stop. What’s up with that?

For one thing, for a post-disaster scenario, which is pretty nearly always completely unrealistic, this one is way out there in left field. Here you have a school full of teens that have been cordoned off from the outside world. So far, so good. Why this has happened is at first a mystery to the...more I have such mixed feelings about this book that I hardly know where to begin. The truth is, there is a lot wrong with it but I still kept right on reading, couldn’t make myself stop. What’s up with that?

For one thing, for a post-disaster scenario, which is pretty nearly always completely unrealistic, this one is way out there in left field. Here you have a school full of teens that have been cordoned off from the outside world. So far, so good. Why this has happened is at first a mystery to the teens and I can buy that, too. What gives me serious pause is what happens within minutes of the teens first realizing something is wrong. Can you imagine our government quarantining an entire school so fast and so competently? Also, why do the adults on the outside cut off all communication with the kids and why do they fail to provide the necessities of life on a regular basis? Well, I suppose these questions are a large part of why I kept reading—I needed to know why even more than what.

In some ways, Quarantine can be compared to Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games, especially in the extreme violence and anarchy that develops and yet…it isn’t really anarchy. The gangs that these 1,000 teens form, based largely on their school hierarchy during normal times, rings true because teens tend to want to belong to groups. The violence is to be expected also when you understand just what they’re up against if they want to survive. The gangs are very distinct and this is one of the aspects of the story I really enjoyed. Each gang has a name and distinguishing colors, each has a leader, each has a responsibility for one or more aspects of life under quarantine, each is feared by the other gangs. There are a couple of gangs that are expectedly in the forefront, particularly the Varsity and the Pretty Ones, but the authors do a great job of building the reader’s empathy for all of them in one way or another.

Another thing the authors do well is come up with details that make the reader really understand the perils these kids face and how they react, such as the way they dispose of bodies and the barter system they develop. Protagonists Will and David are much like most brothers, full of love and antagonism, and the obligatory love triangle with Lucy actually comes about more naturally than in many other young adult novels. I did feel, though, that the extreme hatred Sam has for David is a stretch and Will’s self-centeredness and unwillingness to do his part is a bit much but these elements do add a great deal to the premise. Character development outweighs plot and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

I had issues with the way the government/military respond to the situation and with the behavior of the virus, especially how fast it kills and how it is spread, and these are the absurdities that most bothered me in the construction of the story, along with the difficulty I had tracking the passage of time. On the other hand, the pace of the book is breakneck and I can truly say I was never bored. What goes on with the kids is both disturbing and compelling and that is what made me have to finish. Despite its shortcomings, Quarantine is a thriller you don’t want to miss but, because of the violence and sheer darkness, I’d recommend it for older teens and up.

I must admit I also couldn’t resist a story whose first line is “Someone must have bitten off her nose.” Now that’s a grabber if I ever saw one so I guess I’ll have to read the next book, especially if I want to find out where the cliffhanger in this one is going to take us next. And I most certainly do.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, August 2012.(less)

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Oct 10, 2012 Dana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-scary, sciencefiction-fantasy, ya, first-reads

Ok, Quaranteen (as it says on my copy) or Quarantine is a fun, fast-paced read. It's violent, has mature content and requires a LOT of willing suspension of disbelief, but it works as a quick summer read. I can see a lot of my male sophomore students liking the book. The male protagonists are likable, the fight scenes are graphic, and there are a lot of mini-cliffhangers that will keep kids turning pages. Sure there are a lot of lingering questions & arguable plot holes (we'll see what gets...more

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May 13, 2013 Mark Mullins rated it 3 of 5 stars

Better than expected. imagine rewriting Lord of Flies on the set of the Warriors. Place it in a typical high school, trap the students inside, keep the adults outside, add just enough profanity, violence, gore and sex and you have a decent action allegory for every day growing pains. Surprisingly restrained and realistic, the story works as an exaggeration of the aftermath of the implausible. Classic comic fantasy, biased toward the male view of the order of things. Females aren't totally drawn...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Melissapalmer404 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Book #35 Read in 2013
Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas (YA)

This is the first in a dysptopian series. The school year has just begun when a mysterious virus, carried by teenagers and fatal to adults, causes the government to lock down high schools. In McKinley High, there is an immediate "Lord of the Flies" atmosphere. David and Will are brothers and David just wants to keep Will safe, especially worried as Will has epilepsy. Will doesn't want to be coddled by his big brother but the two reali...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really really really want to give this book 4 stars. It was suspenseful albeit unbelievable. Maybe I'm disenchanted, but I would like to think that the students would be more organized than what was portrayed. Also, I think the government would be more involved. In a nutshell, the kids in this school have a virus that is lethal to adults. When you reach adulthood (hormonally, I'm guessing), you can die if you are too close to someone with this virus. So, these kids were in school when the viru...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Lara rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: will-never-recommend-these-books, teen-contemporary, general-young-adult

I borrowed this book because what the heck I needed a book to read in the midst of my classes and tests and math.

Let's just say -- the idea / concept was good. I didn't find it spectacular, but it was good. The allusion to lord of the flies is great - but that's pretty much it.

The rest of the book (execution, writing style, character and plot development, world building) is ZILCH. Nothing. The book is written in a more tell-than-show method, and it bugged the hell out of me. The main characters...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Teen Boys & Civilization Regression Junkies

Actually more like 3.5 stars. I really wish this site had a 10 star rating system.

David Thorpe just found out that his girlfriend, Hilary, was cheating on him with his former best friend, Sam, so he knew his first day of school was going to be bad, but he didn’t predict that a plague would enter his school & infect all the students with a disease that caused adults in breathing range to bleed out & die within minutes. He really didn’t expect the East Wing to be torpedoed & whole scho...more Actually more like 3.5 stars. I really wish this site had a 10 star rating system.

David Thorpe just found out that his girlfriend, Hilary, was cheating on him with his former best friend, Sam, so he knew his first day of school was going to be bad, but he didn’t predict that a plague would enter his school & infect all the students with a disease that caused adults in breathing range to bleed out & die within minutes. He really didn’t expect the East Wing to be torpedoed & whole school to be quarantined under a dome.

But it was and now David and his younger brother Will are shunned by the other gangs that have formed during the past year. Sam leads Varsity, the deadliest & most powerful gang while Hilary leads the Pretty Girls who are protected by Varsity. Every two weeks a helicopter drops a load of food that the surviving teens brutally fight over.

The only bright spot is that you might live to ‘graduation,’ when your body decides it’s an adult and the plague no longer makes you deadly to other adults. On that day you get to leave through a heavily guarded door.

During the first year of quarantine, David’s found a niche for himself. David spends his time avoiding Varsity & the Pretty Girls while doing laundry and mending for trade with other gangs. He’s called a ‘scrap,’ one of the kids who don’t have a gang. His goal is to keep himself and Will alive while staying below the radar. But then one simple act pushes David into the spotlight.

This is a brutal world where ordinary teens have been trapped and reduced to a primitive, lawless, vicious lifestyle. Power comes from strength, numbers, & a willingness to do what the other guy won’t. The teens have no protection or contact with the outside world, the only help they receive is the food drops.

The story clips along nicely with hardly a let up. The teens are focused on survival and there is very little discussion within the confines of the book about what might be occurring outside the building. The readers know what the teens know which can be frustrating because none of them spend much time considering or theorizing about what might be happening outside the school. I expected them to spend more time discussing what their former lives were like and worrying about what happened to their families. It may seem sexist, but I believe the reason these discussions are only occasionally alluded to & not explored is because the authors are men (Lex Thomas is a two-man writing team).

YA fiction more often then not is a female dominated world. Before you gear up to point out that there are lots of YA books where the main character is male and well-what-about-this-male-author – stop. Yeah, you’re right there are exceptions, but the truth is that most YA authors are female and ergo limited to a female point of view. I think this would be a great book to give to teen boys.

Bottom-line: If survivalist, civilization-regression fiction is your thing, I thought this was a fantastic entry. The only downer is that the second book isn’t coming out until summer of 2013. Curses.
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Jan 29, 2013 Jordy Corcino rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jordy Corcino
5
1/28/13

Quarantine

This book was one the first book I have ever read, and it was a great book in my opinion. This book has it all drama; it’s funny, action-packed, romantic, and much more. So why not read this book. It would also be good to ready because it’s long and it has some high vocab words that can help you get a better understanding of it. What I like most about this book was the action it happens a look and it pretty nice this book will keep you holding your breath every...more Jordy Corcino
5
1/28/13

Quarantine

This book was one the first book I have ever read, and it was a great book in my opinion. This book has it all drama; it’s funny, action-packed, romantic, and much more. So why not read this book. It would also be good to ready because it’s long and it has some high vocab words that can help you get a better understanding of it. What I like most about this book was the action it happens a look and it pretty nice this book will keep you holding your breath every time you read it because of all the action. I would recommend this book, not just too all my friends but to everyone that likes to read, because it is full of action, educational, even though the ending is upsetting.

The book Quarantine is full with all types of action that will blow your mine. It will also make you want to keep on reading tell the book is over. This book starts the school “McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults (Thomas)”. This quote just talk about the beginning there is much more deadly parts and more death that goes on this book will you read on. This would just make you wonder that anything can happen at any pint of life. Also it would make you hope that something like this won’t ever happen.

This book has some high vocab words that can help you get your reading skills up. It’s also a long book this is good because it will keep you reading it which will help your reading skills too. This just shows some high vocab “McKinley has descended into chaos (Thomas)”. This is just one high vocab word that can improve your skills on reading but there much more words that will also help you. This is really important to have on a book when you are reading it. You would want a good book that can also help you with your reading by having some high vocabulary in this book just makes it even better to read.

This book was good but the one thing that I really didn’t like was the ending of it. I didn’t like it because the book could still continue on. I still had questions that need it to be answer but at the end of the book it did not answer any of them which got me really upset. I wanted to know what happened to his brother because “It’s just David Thorpe and his little brother, will ,against the whole school (Thomas)” some students from the school was trying to find them both and kill them. At the end David finds a way out of the school, but he had to live his brother behind. That was just one of the biggest questions I had in mind that didn’t get answered because the book had ended. If the book had answers that question it would have been much better.

I would recommend this book, not just too all my friends, but to everyone that likes to read because it is full of action, and educational, even though the ending is upsetting. This book can make you start to love reading these types of books, and it can get you better at reading too, something that you need in life. The book Quarantine will help you with vocab words and it will keep you reading which is good for everyone. It will get you to read on and on because it’s that good of a book. I would like for everyone that I recommend this book to just read the first page and I bet you will want to read on.
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Jan 27, 2013 FicTalk Blog rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-in-2013

Reviewed by Heather

Imagine going to a brand new high school for the first day of school and never leaving again. This is what happened to a group of teenagers at McKinley High.

When walking into class that morning, David Thorpe is met with a horrifying sight. His teacher drops dead right in front of him, only after the whole building begins to shake. After the large explosion tears down an entire wing of the school, the students are left alone, every adult in the building having died within minut...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Aube D'été Holgate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternate-pov, apocalypsee, battalion, boytoy, conspiracy, depressing-books, mysterious, sadness, series, lord-of-the-flies-y

From beginning to end this book is so messed up! I cannot believe the crazy crap people think up these days! I mean you have got to have an extremely-gory-eli-rothy-anti-colorful-full-on-scary-vivid imagination! I never would have NEVER thought there would be a new kind of fear short of zombies to scare the crap outta me and I read this!

The Party: David punches Sam and then gets dumped by Hillary (wench!).

The Virus: David finds out that the east side of their school was blown up after a deadly v...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Nancy rated it 1 of 5 stars

A fairly terrible book. I was excited when I first heard about this book, and nearly abused my librarian privileges so I could get it the moment it went into circulation. (I love locked room stories! and stories where people have to fight each other to survive! and gore!). But the more I read, the more my heart sank.

To begin with, the writing is bad and unpolished ("throwing her head back in ecstasy, her lips quivering" -- Jesus Christ, shoot me now). Then we have super drab cutout characters wh...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Cornmaven rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: high-school

The plotline about teens being carriers of an Ebola-like virus is excellent, once you suspend disbelief and ignore some obvious holes (such as why all communications are pretty much cut off, no attempt to help the teens establish control is made, and how the teen body knows that it has magically reached physical adulthood. The setting of imprisonment in a high school, and the resulting Lord of the Flies on steroids result was impressive.

But, I felt the writing was subpar. All the way through I...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Audrey Wilkerson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books-read, books-reviewed

Ink and Page's Quick & Dirty Review

Rating : 4

The Low Down : Just your typical first day of high school...first, David has no desire to face his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend (the one he beat up over the weekend); second, he finds out he is in the wrong classroom of their brand-new, huge school; third, there’s an enormous explosion; fourth, his teacher (literally) coughs up a lung on him and dies; and fifth, any kid that tries to leave the building is shot down by the soldiers that encircle...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Destiny Miller rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: ages 16 and above

Loved it. I really did.

Loved the characters. Loved the plot. Loved how the authors were able to take a fiction scenario and make it so real. Loved David's character. Will's attitude made me laugh most of the time. And i was honestly afraid of Sam's character. He broke the puppy's back? Really? .__.

Overall, it was awesome. I just gave it to my friend to let her read it.

Now: I'm only 15 years old. But I'm more mature than most people my age. So I was able to handle the gruesome details of this bo...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Leslee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalypse-dystopia, young-adult

What to feel about this book... not sure yet. It's still settling in my stomach like a large meal at a greasy spoon. I'm going to go with a very safe 3 star review because I did enjoy this book, despite the occasionally awkward writing, the terrible science, and the annoying moody teenager-ness of a lot of the main characters.

The entire plot centers around a scientific macguffin which, if read into too deeply, will make your brain explode with the inconsistencies of logic. Seriously. To get any...more What to feel about this book... not sure yet. It's still settling in my stomach like a large meal at a greasy spoon. I'm going to go with a very safe 3 star review because I did enjoy this book, despite the occasionally awkward writing, the terrible science, and the annoying moody teenager-ness of a lot of the main characters.

The entire plot centers around a scientific macguffin which, if read into too deeply, will make your brain explode with the inconsistencies of logic. Seriously. To get any enjoyment from this book you must completely disregard any possible fallacies or scientific inconsistencies and just go with the flow, or else you will drive yourself crazy with the 'that makes absolutely no fucking sense'-ness of it all.

Two brothers, Will and the older David, find themselves stuck in their high school which has been quarantined after a local chemical company was found to have been experimenting with illegal chemical weapons and one of their test subjects escaped into the high school population. The weapon that the test subject carried in his blood was one that effectively makes kids into walking time bombs - if any adult comes near them they actually throw up their internal organs. Once you turn 18, the disease starts to dissipate and you actually become one of the victims rather than a carrier.

So... yeah. Like I said. Don't get into the science, because the science, she is very bad folks.

The high school eventually devolves into this Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome type gladiatorial environment, with the major fights centering around 'drops' that the military makes which contain everything from food, and apparently hair dye, extensions, perfume, lotion, you name it. The various high school cliques have formed themselves into groups to help get as much of the supplies as possible - The Varsity (jocks), Nerds, Geeks, etc. It's all very Lord of the Flies, if aforementioned book had been written by a teenager with a fascination with dead bodies and disgusting stuff.

I suppose the book works as an allegory for the dog eat dog nature of the high school community, and it was a fun thrill ride, though I found some of the characters so annoying that occasionally I just skipped entire pages just so I could stop reading about them. The idea, I find, is better than the execution here which as a little clumsy. I think it would make a great movie, and I'll definitely check out the sequel. The writing team of Lex Thomas has come up with a fun idea if you don't peer too closely behind the curtains and think too deeply on how it all works.(less)

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Aug 18, 2012 Christy added it

Shelves: 2012-bt-hs, teen-fiction

Interesting. Not what I expected at all. Imagine Lord of the Flies meets the Hunger Games, then add in a dash of Gone by Michael Grant.

It is the first day of school, there is an explosion, all of the adults die gruesome deaths, and the remaining students are put into permanent quarantine. The school is now sealed off from the outside world and the students survive on regularly scheduled drops of food and materials.

I'm going to go into slight spoiler territory here....

The story is centred aroun...more

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Jul 15, 2012 P.M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

The blurb on the front compares this book to "The Hunger Games" set in an American high school. I surely hope it is not the high school attached to our school. David Thorpe and his younger brother Will have enough to deal with after their mother's death, Will's epilepsy, Will's freshman experience, David's girlfriend dumping him, and David's assault of the football team's qb. Throw in a killer virus carried by a teen who has sneaked into the high school, the military sealing off said high school...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Dorine White rated it 4 of 5 stars

It’s a new world where puberty means death. It is the world of Quarantine- Book 1- The Loners by Lex Thomas, a YA adventure full of suspense. It hits shelves this week on July 10th.

The Story-(market copy) When an explosion rocks David and Will's suburban high school one morning, a deadly virus is unleashed on the school. The virus only infects teenagers in their peak puberty years, making them lethal to adults and children until they finish adolescence. Within minutes, every faculty member is de...more It’s a new world where puberty means death. It is the world of Quarantine- Book 1- The Loners by Lex Thomas, a YA adventure full of suspense. It hits shelves this week on July 10th.

The Story-(market copy) When an explosion rocks David and Will's suburban high school one morning, a deadly virus is unleashed on the school. The virus only infects teenagers in their peak puberty years, making them lethal to adults and children until they finish adolescence. Within minutes, every faculty member is dead. The military quarantines the building, opening fire on anyone attempting to escape and installing bi-weekly food drops.

After a year of quarantine, with no adults around, the students have created their own society. All of the social cliques have developed into gangs--The Nerds, The Geeks, The Freaks, The Sluts, The Skaters, The Burnouts, The Pretty Ones, and The Varsity--and each gang provides a service with which they can barter for provisions. Without a gang, it's almost impossible to secure food, water, territory, or supplies.

David and Will float just under the radar, until one day David sees his brother's long-time crush, Lucy, about to be attacked by a Varsity jock. Impulsively, he steps in to protect her, and winds up accidentally killing The Varsity member. Suddenly, the whole school is on the lookout for David and Will. How will the brothers survive and what will happen once David no longer carries the virus?

My Thoughts- This is a great YA book. The story is intense and full of action. The kids take on a Lord of The Flies mentally- violence and all. I was swept away by this story of high school kids living on their own, waiting for food drops from the military to survive. The high schooolers quickly divide into groups, finding it easier to survive if someone’s got their back. But these groups lead to trouble, and soon kids are being killed or brutally attacked.

David and Will both stay outside the lines, taking on the job of washing laundry to survive. But when the Jocks decide it’s time for David to pay for an accidental death, the brothers are forced into a group of their own, a group of loners. They stand strong and soon have a place at the school, but the Jocks are out for blood. I really liked the group of loners that form. They seem to look at David as a savior figure. And poor Will, he is in his brothers’ shadow. Will’s feelings become very evident through his actions, you can feel where he is coming from, but still wish he weren’t doing stupid things.

Then a great twist, there is a machine at the school that registers when a person is free of the virus and then they are released. Suddenly the machine fails and the older kids left inside the school, including David, face immediate death. So, the hunt is on for a way out of the quarantine, and what they find in the outside world is a really great set up for book 2.

There is a lot of violence in this book, I recommend it for mature YA readers.(less)

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Jul 04, 2012 Tammy Cordeiro (devadasi7) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Probably closer to a 4.5, just for the kick-butt action!

You can also find this review on my blog: Into the Mystic. You can click over there to see the videos for the songs.

MY REVIEW

Initial reaction
Lord of the Flies much?

Title and Cover
My copy has “Quaranteen” as the spelling for the title, but apparently, they have changed that. ::shrugs:: I kind of liked it. It was a clever little play on the word that worked. Otherwise, the title is basic and tells you what the book is about and once you are f...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I blame this novel for my anxiety dreams the first night I was reading it, I did enjoy it. I love that the main relationship was the sibling relationship of David and Will. From the protective feelings of family to the flashes of sibling rivalry inspired hatred, their relationship was the most important. I hope the sequel doesn't vere off into the well trodden "triangle" path, which inevitably leads to one point looking like a jerk. The Loners also manages to escalate frenemies to a whole...more

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Jun 16, 2012 Marius Viktor Aragon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This book surprised me, I rarely read Dystopian YA books, but I found this one amazing.
I got hooked the first time I saw the description (and the cover), I instantly fell in love with it. I was captivated by the first part and couldn't stop myself until it was finished.

There were a lot of fun elements in this one. The fast pace keeps it entertaining and the twists holds your attention. It was very intriguing, I just wanted to know what was going on and that kept me reading. A...more

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May 29, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Quarantine is set in what could be any suburban high school and examines how a society might develop when all of the students are locked in the school after the release of deadly virus. Brothers David and Will attempt to navigate this new society and fly under the radar, avoiding the attention of the more popular and deadly cliques throughout the school. They are moderately successful until they rescue Lucy, a target of one of the cliques, and find themselves in the crosshairs of a class war. Qu...more

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May 19, 2012 Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mallory Anne-Marie by: Great Minds Think Aloud

Shelves: may-2012-reads

Genetic engineering gone badly wrong motivates the focus in this action-packed YA adventure thriller. On his epileptic young brother Will’s first day at Pale Ridge’s brand-new high school, David expects trouble because on Saturday he had punched out a rival for his girlfriend’s affections, and opened a vendetta among his former football teammates. But moments after entering the school, that becomes a minor problem, as first an explosion destroys the east wing of the high school, then teachers st...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Annette rated it 1 of 5 stars

I consider myself fairly good at suspending disbelief in order to connect with a good plot, but Quaranteen: The Loners just didn't get there.

It's the first day of school for David and his freshman brother, Will, at their brand new high school. Soon after they arrive, there is an explosion, and all of the adults die a horrible, graphic death. The school is quickly quarantined by the military.

The school kids almost immediately form gangs, based on the usual high school cliques. There are food and...more I consider myself fairly good at suspending disbelief in order to connect with a good plot, but Quaranteen: The Loners just didn't get there.

It's the first day of school for David and his freshman brother, Will, at their brand new high school. Soon after they arrive, there is an explosion, and all of the adults die a horrible, graphic death. The school is quickly quarantined by the military.

The school kids almost immediately form gangs, based on the usual high school cliques. There are food and supply drops twice a week, which the gangs must battle for. The swiftness of the teens' demise into anarchy was unbelievable. I can believe this would happen over time, but there would have been some attempt at organization and governance first.

Speaking of time, it was very difficult to decipher the passage of time. At times, we were told weeks or months had passed, and supposedly over a year passes during the story, but it was very ambiguous.

Will has epilepsy, and because of the absence of his medication, has a seizure very early in the book. This fact is alluded to a couple more times, but he doesn't have any more seizures until it is necessary for a very convenient plot device at the end of the book. It would have been much more believable if he had experienced some other difficulties because of this disease.

The authorities drop food and supplies every two weeks. Every drop causes an aggressive battle as the different gangs try to procure enough food for survival. Why? If they could drop food every two weeks, why not every week? Why did students have to be starving? Why not include some communication -- letters or news -- from the outside world?

There is no significant world building. We have no idea what is going on outside. The school has been quarantined because the teens carry a virus that kills adults. The military is able to enter the school to install a high-tech device so that the students can determine when they are no longer adolescents. Therefore they can leave, but must do so before they die. Other than that, there's no outside communication or assistance. Why? I couldn't get over the fact that the adults didn't communicate in any way. If they can come in once, why not come in and take over and restore order?

Thomas made it really difficult to bond with the characters. I just kept thinking that everything they were going through didn't make any sense, and it was frustrating to see their suffering.

Quaranteen: The Loners consisted of one violent scene after another. Boys (and yes, I think this can definitely be considered a boy book) who enjoy violent displays will probably enjoy this book, even with the lack of a coherent explanation of the situation. I, however, only finished this one because I had to review it for a printed publication. Quaranteen: The Loners would have been a DNF, except for that fact. I wouldn't recommend this necessarily to reluctant readers because it is fairly long at over 400 pages. I'm pretty tolerant, but you really have to love violence to connect with this book. I need more than violence....(less)

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Apr 04, 2012 Kathy Russo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads rating “Liked it”: 3.5 out 5 stars

Found Quarantine: The Loners to be similar to Michael Grant’s series Gone. A far bloodier, violent, and darker version, but nevertheless similar. No cute dystopian love story, no supper beautiful teens taking on an unjust government, no fluff. The Loners was a grimy, ugly, dangerous example of human nature descending in to chaos.

My attention was snagged the moment I started reading this book, but it soon wasn’t able to fully keep my attention. I was...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-13, series-adult

David had the life. He was the star quarterback who had taken his team to the playoffs. He was dating a hot girl at school for a couple of years. And then it all crumbled with the death of his mom. He just never recovered. He quit the team right in the middle of playoffs. He found out his girlfriend was cheating on him with his teammate, who replaced him as quarterback. He was miserable, and the school year was just about to start. He wouldn't have gone to school that day, except that it was his...more David had the life. He was the star quarterback who had taken his team to the playoffs. He was dating a hot girl at school for a couple of years. And then it all crumbled with the death of his mom. He just never recovered. He quit the team right in the middle of playoffs. He found out his girlfriend was cheating on him with his teammate, who replaced him as quarterback. He was miserable, and the school year was just about to start. He wouldn't have gone to school that day, except that it was his little brother's first day in high school and he needed him there.

Even before the first period started, an explosion rocks the newly renovated McKinley High School. An entire wing of the school is demolished. Those that run out and try to escape the school are only met with the military, intent on shooting anyone who tries to leave. What??!?!

As it turns out, a nearby weapons factory engineered a highly deadly virus that thrives in pubescent teens that cause them to constantly excrete a toxic pheromone that kills adults and children if they come close enough. The military had raided this facility, but one of the infected teenage test subjects got away and was seen running into their school. They fired the missile hoping to contain the virus, but the subject had already gone on to infect other teens at the school.

So, McKinley was quarantined, all exits sealed. But, there were teens turning into adults every day. They too would die once they reached "adulthood." So, a testing booth was constructed at the front entrance. There were signs and symptoms the students were told to look out for. Once those symptoms manifested, they had 1 or 2 days before they would die from the exposure to the virus. So once they tested and it showed that the virus was leaving their system, they would be allowed back outside through the testing booth.

In the meantime, no other communication was afforded these teens and they were only provided with food/supply drops every 2 weeks.

There were some unbelievable elements. Like there was no way adults would just leave the kids there without any guidance and allow the teens to turn into these savages. I would also think that the parents of these thousands of teens would make a huge fuss on the containment of their children, even if they were infected. And there is no way that the military would be allowed to just shoot students like that. Shooting kids with tranquilizers would be more likely.

But...those were easy to get over and boy was this an intense read.

Oh my goodness, I'm so reading the next book! I guess I really do love horror, and humans are the worst type of horror!(less)

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Dec 01, 2012 Riolu Dawson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: micah-s-faves

I just finished reading Quarantine moments ago and OMFG! This book is absolutely amazing. I literally was in love with the book right from Page One. It reminds me so much of Gone by Michael grant which is my favorite series so you'll likely here me compare them.

Let's Start the Review

A. Characters:
There are a lot of characters in Quarantine...A LOT but the main ones who matter are David, Will, Lucy, Sam & Hillary.

David is the lead character and honestly, i felt bad for David in the beginning...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Haley rated it 3 of 5 stars

3 1/2 stars
This book was similar to a lot of books I’ve read, but also very unique. It would have been a very good book if it weren’t for the disgusting parts, where I gag when I pictured them. I think the white hair and dyed hair gangs were interesting. I know that I would definitely be in the art Geeks, so I’d have to dye my hair black. The beginning happened to fast though. Why did the explosion happen first thing in the morning, on the first day of school? Couldn’t it wait a few periods? The...more

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About Lex Thomas

Lex Thomas is the pen name for the writing team of Lex Hrabe and Thomas Voorhies. Their first novel, QUARANTINE: THE LONERS, earned a starred review from Booklist, and Huffington Post Books called it "one of the best books that I have ever read."

Lex received a BA in Drama and English from the University of Virginia and has worked as an actor, director andwriter. Thomas graduated with a Bachelors o...more

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