" My favorite time to read is just before bed (in fact, it's usually the only time I get to read.) This is the first book that I can remember ever interfering with my sleep, though! The situations are so disturbing and graphic that they are sometimes hard to handle. Alex is a self-confessed thief, and he tells the reader just how that came to be. During one housebreak, Alex and his friend Toby are sabotaged by a mysterious crew who frame him for murder, tell him to run, then chase him down so that he is caught and arrested. He is tried, found guilty, and sentenced to serve in the prison called Furnace. On his way down (it's far underground) he meets other boys, also guilty of crimes they didn't commit. The rest of the book tells of the daily routines and horrors that occur in Furnace, a place that is truly hellish. And of course, Alex wants to escape that hell. But can he find a way? He thinks he can and he comes up with a plan. But will he be able to escape the solid rock walls that are guarded by the monstrous "blacksuits" and their mutant canines...not to mention the wheezers and the Satan-like warden. As I was finishing this book, I decided not to read the next--just because it was so disturbing--until it left me with a cliffhanger. Now I am cowering and cringing through book #2. Furnace is a well written book, with an unbelievable premise--that a place like Furnace would exist and be allowed to continue it's nefarious operations. But the author brings the place alive, and Alex is a fully developed and believable character. Secondary characters are also well developed. Read this if you like to read a book that gives you goosebumps, even during an early June heatwave! "
— Victoria, 1/22/2014