Lockdown

Reader: Luke M
Age: 16
Title: Lockdown
Author: Alexander Gordon Smith
Publisher: Faber
Pub Date: 10-27-09
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: A horrible prison where a framed boy is sent.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: I liked how the prison was deep underground and the different things that happened to the inmates.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: I thought that Donovan being picked was really predictable. Monty being a black suit person seemed wrong. Who would recruit inmates to be guards, especially if they can still help other inmates, like Monty did?
Comments: Several things that could be improved:1-Alex needs to be guilty. This prison is full of bad people and Alex needs to be really bad. Too many books have been written about people who are framed. 2-This prison would never have been built, especially by a private
company and then ran by that private company. No matter what happened in the Summer of Slaughter, they wouldn't have a prison like this, randomly torturing and killing prisoners. Also, more description of the Summer of Slaughter would be nice. What did kids do to deserve a place like this and a judge to treat them like that? 3-Make the prison more realistic. The security is horrible! No cameras in the cells, the huge area for kids to meet, shanks, giving out digging tools are all a recipe for disaster. Let’s have the guards separated from the prisoners, armed better and only letting a few kids out at a time, not letting the whole prison wander around as they please. The gas was way too explosive, no gas is like that and if it was, it wouldn't be used in stoves. Why didn't the prison seal up room 2? Dogs would not be used to enforce lockdowns. The cell doors are horrible, if you can stop them with a toilet seat. I wouldn't feel safe with that prison around, inmates would be escaping all the time!
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover was very interesting, as skulls do that. I don't really know what it represents in the book other that maybe a lot of deaths.
Age Range: 16-17
Quality: 3Q Readable
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal