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Furnace Prison ...
Where death is the least of your worries.
Escape is just the beginning ...
We thought we’d made it, we thought we were free...
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reviews
Feb 09, 2011
Michelle
rated it: 
After putting down Furnace: Lockdown - which effectively stopped right on a monumentally massive cliff-hanger ending - wondering if Alex Sawyer actually, really and truly escaped from the underground prison Furnace, I simply took a deep breath, cracked open Solitary and plowed on ahead. You see, Alex has witnessed horror upon horror during his stay in Furnace and just when the possiblity of escape is dangled right in front of him, he's brought back to grim reality by the evil Warden and his soul
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Jan 03, 2012
Skyla (Happy Go Lucky and Lost in Books)
rated it: 
"Solitary" picks up moments after "Lockdown" ends. Alex, Zee, Toby and Gary are in the bowels of Furnace Penitentiary trying to escape through an underground river. Escape means freedom, being recaptured means life imprisonment in a place worse than hell.
Under heaven is hell. Under hell is Furnace.
If that doesn't make you want to pick up "Solitary" nothing will. The "Escape from Furnace" series feels like a miniseries TV Show, each epi More...
Under heaven is hell. Under hell is Furnace.
If that doesn't make you want to pick up "Solitary" nothing will. The "Escape from Furnace" series feels like a miniseries TV Show, each epi More...
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Jan 04, 2012
Chris
rated it: 
If you haven't yet read Lockdown (Escape from Furnace, #1), then I recommend quickly reading my review of it before continuing with this review. Just like the books, this review will be a continuation of that one and won't stand alone.
I gave Lockdown four stars because of its gripping action and I focused on the book's positives in my review. Everything I said there goes for this one as well, since it's a continuation (from one cliff-hanger ending to another). However, I'm giving More...
I gave Lockdown four stars because of its gripping action and I focused on the book's positives in my review. Everything I said there goes for this one as well, since it's a continuation (from one cliff-hanger ending to another). However, I'm giving More...
Nov 12, 2011
Dorine
rated it: 
The second book in the Escape from Furnace series, Solitary, is just as creepy and vivid as the first.(See review here ) Published by Square Fish, it ends at 225 pages.
The Story- At the end of Lockdown, Alex escaped the Furnace into the raging river underground. Too bad it didn’t go anywhere. Now he is imprisoned in Solitary for one month, and oops, the longest anyone has ever survived is one week.
Alex will do anything to prevent himself from going crazy in the pitch blac More...
The Story- At the end of Lockdown, Alex escaped the Furnace into the raging river underground. Too bad it didn’t go anywhere. Now he is imprisoned in Solitary for one month, and oops, the longest anyone has ever survived is one week.
Alex will do anything to prevent himself from going crazy in the pitch blac More...
Oct 11, 2011
Amy
rated it:
Just when I thought this series could not only get any better, it does. Just when I though Alex had been through enough already, it gets worse. Just when you think its over, it's not. In Solitary, we continue with Alex on his journey to escape Furnace prison.
While I was thrilled to jump into Solitary, I feel this book wasn't as great as the first book. Don't get me wrong! I really enjoyed this book as well in the series, but it just didn't have the impact as the first on More...
While I was thrilled to jump into Solitary, I feel this book wasn't as great as the first book. Don't get me wrong! I really enjoyed this book as well in the series, but it just didn't have the impact as the first on More...
Mar 11, 2011
Cheryl
rated it:
I was a little wary about starting this book because I'd read an excerpt in book one and knew that Alex did not succeed in his escape attempt. I didn't think that Smith would be able to make much of a plot out of Alex being put into solitary confinement. I mean, what would happen? He'd be bored in the dark and have hallucinations? Boy, was I wrong! I thought Lockdown was great; well, Solitary is equally so although much more brutal and disturbing.
Locked up in solitary confinement, Alex More...
Locked up in solitary confinement, Alex More...
Jan 24, 2011
The last time we see Alex Sawyer in Lockdown, which is the novel that precedes Solitary, he completes his daring escape from Furnace Penitentiary and hopes he is on his way to freedom on a beach with a sea breeze. Ah, Alex…if it were only that easy.
As it happens, and it is refreshing how realistically this plays out, underground rivers do not necessarily lead anywhere one might want to go, and it is almost a blessing when Alex and his fellow escapees are recaptured and More...
As it happens, and it is refreshing how realistically this plays out, underground rivers do not necessarily lead anywhere one might want to go, and it is almost a blessing when Alex and his fellow escapees are recaptured and More...
Jan 10, 2011
Rachael
rated it:
Alex Sawyer thought his plan worked, but temporary escape from Furnace Penitentiary didn’t mean that he was actually free. Just when he and Zee thought they would make it, the unimaginable happens and they are recaptured. Just like that, Alex and Zee are prisoners once more, but this time, Furnace has a lot worse planned for them—solitary confinement. If thirst doesn’t kill them first, the unraveling of their own minds surely will. But Alex has not come this far just to give in this easily. But
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Dec 31, 2010
P.M.
rated it:
As the sequel to Lockdown, this story begins right after Alex and his friends blast a hole that will lead them from the prison of Furnace to freedom - they hope. But the jump into the river only leads them deeper into the bowels of the earth below the prison. Unfortunately, the sadistic warden is waiting for them and orders a month's solitary confinement in the Hole for Alex and Zee. Gary is dragged away to the infirmary for the purpose of experimentation. To stave off insanity, Alex figures out
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Jan 24, 2012
Brandi
rated it:
4.5 Stars
This second installment was just as thrilling as the first, and even went deeper into the creepy than Lockdown did! I devoured this book in one sitting, and the only thing stopping me from tearing into the third is ability to get it right now. I had a pretty lengthy review for Lockdown that can be seen here and most of what I said still applies.
One thing that I was bothered by in this book though was the switching of terms (slang?). Sometimes I would be jarr More...
This second installment was just as thrilling as the first, and even went deeper into the creepy than Lockdown did! I devoured this book in one sitting, and the only thing stopping me from tearing into the third is ability to get it right now. I had a pretty lengthy review for Lockdown that can be seen here and most of what I said still applies.
One thing that I was bothered by in this book though was the switching of terms (slang?). Sometimes I would be jarr More...
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Dec 06, 2011
Cassie
rated it:
Summary: After the worlds biggest cliff hanger in book one, Solitary opens up in the midst of Alex and his friend Zee's escape attempt from Furnace, jumping into a raging river with no way of knowing whether they'll survive. Just when all seems hopeful, however, the cruel fate Alex has become so familiar with sets in, and the group is caught and sentenced to 1 month in solitary confinement. Life in "The Hole" consists of a small pitch-black cell, little to no food, licking water off of
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Sep 12, 2011
Heather
rated it:
Mixed emotions about this one guys. I LOVED, “Lockdown: Escape from Furnace” and I expected to read equally good things with this book.
I must say there were some great well written lines.
“My entire body was rice-paper frail”
“The human mind is a powerful thing in many ways. But in others it’s endlessly fragile- it takes only a single moment of pure terror to tear a hole in it, like a finger through a cobweb, leaving you forever just a shadow, a hal More...
I must say there were some great well written lines.
“My entire body was rice-paper frail”
“The human mind is a powerful thing in many ways. But in others it’s endlessly fragile- it takes only a single moment of pure terror to tear a hole in it, like a finger through a cobweb, leaving you forever just a shadow, a hal More...
Aug 10, 2011
Xavier
rated it:
Before I start I'm gonna try to make this a soiler free as I possibly can.
WOW!!! This book was so intense that it was beyond AMMMMMMMAAAAAZZZZIIIINNNNGGG!
After a failed atepmt to escape furnace, the warden decides to throw Alex, and Zee (not telling what happens to Gary) into Solitary Confinment. If you've forgotten what happens in the first book, this is an underground hole 10x worse than furnace. So small even if your not clostrophobic, you become clostrophobic. With More...
WOW!!! This book was so intense that it was beyond AMMMMMMMAAAAAZZZZIIIINNNNGGG!
After a failed atepmt to escape furnace, the warden decides to throw Alex, and Zee (not telling what happens to Gary) into Solitary Confinment. If you've forgotten what happens in the first book, this is an underground hole 10x worse than furnace. So small even if your not clostrophobic, you become clostrophobic. With More...
Feb 11, 2011
Courtney
rated it:
Well, this was an interesting follow-up to Lockdown, though I'm not quite sure I liked it as much. Things just keep getting worse and worse and each tiny step forwards seems to land Alex and Zee about 10 steps back. They thought they were free from the prison. Now they're in solitary, as the title implies. I have to hand it to Smith though, for making a book where nearly 40% or so of the proceedings take place in a dark concrete cell and for making it interesting to read. We find Alex askin
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Jan 23, 2011
WilowRaven
rated it:
Another big WOW! Picks up right were book one leaves off. Second latter really - which was totally awesome. I didn't feel like I had missed anything AND I was thrown right back into the action which I loved.
Alex is still fighting - and he still hadn't given up.
In Solitary we get to meet a few new characters and we learn more secrets. This series has so many layers to it and I really like how each book adds something different.
Final verdict:
A few more gory momen More...
Alex is still fighting - and he still hadn't given up.
In Solitary we get to meet a few new characters and we learn more secrets. This series has so many layers to it and I really like how each book adds something different.
Final verdict:
A few more gory momen More...
Jul 30, 2011
Johnp
rated it:
Wow! Book 2 of this intense, action-packed series picks up where #1 left off and doesn't stop!
Alex has escaped - but somethimes what you ask for isn't what you expected. He and his band of escapees go from the frying pan (the Prison) into the fire (a raging river). Not so good.
As you may have guessed from the title of the book, they get caught and are sentenced to - you guessed it - solitary. In book 1, Alex's friend Donovan said nobody has ever lasted in Solitary l More...
Alex has escaped - but somethimes what you ask for isn't what you expected. He and his band of escapees go from the frying pan (the Prison) into the fire (a raging river). Not so good.
As you may have guessed from the title of the book, they get caught and are sentenced to - you guessed it - solitary. In book 1, Alex's friend Donovan said nobody has ever lasted in Solitary l More...
Oct 09, 2010
Newengland
rated it:
The Fugitive goes underground in this thriller that is all about plot and nothing else, meaning I'm left with the neverending rating problem of starring a book for what it is or starring a book for what it could be. SOLITARY is set under an underground prison, ironically, as the protagonist Alex tries to escape by going the wrong way (well, who would've thunk a kid would go deeper into the earth to escape an underground prison?), only to find that there are some BAD things down under the down u
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Feb 04, 2012
Kimberly
rated it:
So obviously, Alex didn't make it out of Furnace. His escape attempt from Book #1 is quickly foiled, and he is quickly thrown into solitary confinement.
I was hoping for Alex's time in solitary to turn into a real psychological mind trip, but he doesn't spend enough time in there for his head to reach the breaking point. This book followed the same formula has the last one did, with Alex realizing the key to this next escape attempt was something in had encountered halfway through the More...
I was hoping for Alex's time in solitary to turn into a real psychological mind trip, but he doesn't spend enough time in there for his head to reach the breaking point. This book followed the same formula has the last one did, with Alex realizing the key to this next escape attempt was something in had encountered halfway through the More...
Mar 09, 2011
Ana
rated it:
Solitary (Escape from Furnace, Book 2) / 978-0-374-32492-6
I thought the first "Escape from Furnace" novel, "Lockdown", was an instant classic that filled my soul with gritty terror, and gave me a fair share of nightmares to boot. The horrors of being locked up in a claustrophobic underground hell-hole prison, surrounded by guards strongly reminiscent of the possessed puppet villain from Hellboy, and encouraged by a trapped prison mentality to lose all sense of humanity and de More...
I thought the first "Escape from Furnace" novel, "Lockdown", was an instant classic that filled my soul with gritty terror, and gave me a fair share of nightmares to boot. The horrors of being locked up in a claustrophobic underground hell-hole prison, surrounded by guards strongly reminiscent of the possessed puppet villain from Hellboy, and encouraged by a trapped prison mentality to lose all sense of humanity and de More...
Dec 11, 2010
Raelena
rated it:
Almost from the get go my heart was in my throat when reading this book. The first in the series, Lockdown, left off in a very tense situation and that continues on in Solitary. The story picks up after the explosion and the fall into the river. Alex and his friends venture into unknown territory in an attempt to escape the horrors of Furnace, but as the title of the book suggests, they fail and are put in solitary...a place meant to break their will and their minds. Darkness, Black Suits, twist
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Jan 20, 2012
Charlotte -awesome&uknowit-
rated it:
Oh. My. God. This book is the definition of a gut-wrenching-pulse-quickening adventure that I could not put down. Though it is reinforced that Alex is a bad kid, you can't help loving everything about him. The characters are SO complex, but not impossible to figure out. Alex's and Zee's code made me grin from ear to ear. I laughed, I cried, I screamed. All that in a small 200 somethin' pages. The action never stopped. How is that even posible? Master storytelling. I could see everyhyting that ha
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Jul 10, 2011
Heather
rated it:
These books are really hard to put down! I'm really starting to feel for Alex-I don't want to give anything away, but not only can this kid not catch a break-he comes painstakingly close...the kind of close that breaks your heart after it has it pumping. Starting to wonder about the creator of this prison-and what his connection is. I'm also wondering more about the "wheezers". We know now more about the "Blacksuits" but have been largely left in the dark about their sinister
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Jan 23, 2011
Tina (Fantastic Book Review)
rated it:
After reading LOCKDOWN, I couldn't wait to delve into SOLITARY. You would have had to pry my hands off this book - there was no escape for me because I was so immersed into the sinister setting that Gordon had created. I lived and breathed the disturbing evil that inhabited Furnace.
The writing just lures you in page by page and I would often find myself saying, “just one more chapter,” and the next thing I know, I've read more chapters. I couldn't put this mind boggling thrill More...
The writing just lures you in page by page and I would often find myself saying, “just one more chapter,” and the next thing I know, I've read more chapters. I couldn't put this mind boggling thrill More...
Oct 29, 2011
Rachel
rated it:
The cells in Furnace Penitentiary are small. Those in solitary are even smaller. Solid walls. Pitch black. Soundproof.
Except for the sounds of scratching from above. As if something wants in. Something strong enough to dent the heavy metal lid that locks you in a cell that is not much more than a hole.
A solid lid that locks in place, leaving you no way out. And hopefully keeping you protected from whatever wants in.
They say that three days is the most that anyone ca More...
Except for the sounds of scratching from above. As if something wants in. Something strong enough to dent the heavy metal lid that locks you in a cell that is not much more than a hole.
A solid lid that locks in place, leaving you no way out. And hopefully keeping you protected from whatever wants in.
They say that three days is the most that anyone ca More...
Jan 10, 2011
Lila
rated it:
This book rocked!!! I thought that maybe because it's a sequel, it wouldn't quite live up to the first book, Lockdown, but it definitely did and then some. Solitary has everything a reader may look for in a good, action packed thriller. It's full of nasty characters you just love to hate and want annihilated almost as much as the good guys do, it's very fast paced, almost not allowing a reader to surface for even one intake of breath, and the protagonist, Alex Sawyer along with his friends (old
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Jul 05, 2011
Barky
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jan 28, 2012
James
rated it:
This book is okay but not especially fantastic. It needs to be read back to back with the first book (Lockdown) since I don't feel Lockdown really completed a full story arc and combined, this provides a better conclusion. I still ends with a cliffhanger but it either feels like a more natural stopping point or, more likely, I just figured the author would pull the same crap of stopping the story in the middle of the action without resolving everything.
The book does have good pacin More...
The book does have good pacin More...
Jul 20, 2011
Victoria
rated it:
I was feeling relieved that I was almost finished Lockdown, then I read the cliffhanger ending and had to run to the library to get Solitary. These books are disturbing to read, they actually physically affected me and I've had trouble sleeping the whole time I've been reading them, but the story is so compelling I can't pass it up. In this sequel to Lockdown, Alex and Zee have made an attempt to escape the prison called Furnace, but just as they thought they were home free, they are captured
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Oct 02, 2011
Kristina
rated it:
3.5 stars. I am really impressed by the way the author portrays Furnace and how he evokes the feeling of terror and desperation from not only his characters but the people reading it as well. This book took place in Solitary, hence the title, and I felt like I was experiencing it along with Alex. It's definitely a unique series and not something I think everyone would enjoy but I'm pretty open and don't mind horror/gore/disturbing things. I have to say that the wheezers are some of the most terr
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Jan 09, 2011
Phair
rated it:
Not as riveting as #1 but maybe that's because I read this in book form whereas book one was a listening experience that had more immediacy as well as a really strong Aussie accent. Almost this entire book was one futile escape attempt after another with many more graphic horrors encountered. It also had a cliff-hanger ending as did book one. I *can* wait till the next volume comes out [and did not sneak a peek at the included excerpt at the end of the book]- I think I need time to catch my
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