Death Sentence - Escape from Furnace 3 - Alexander Gordon Smith

Death Sentence:
Escape from Furnace 3
Alexander Gordon Smith (blog)
US Edition
Farrar Straus & Giroux
(Fall 2011)


UK Edition
Faber and Faber
ISBN 9780571245611


This third book in the Furnace series was riveting. Once started you do not want to put it down, and yet part of you wants to take your time because book 4 is not out yet, and a timeline for the final in the series, book 5, has not even been whispered. Alexander Gordon Smith has created a riveting series that feels like a roller coaster ride through a house of horrors. Beneath Heaven is Hell and beneath Hell is Furnace, as we discovered in book 2, Solitary. Beneath Furnace is the warden's private playground. Or more correctly the warden's lab, for the warden himself is just a puppet to the dark sinister Alfred Furnace. But what can be worse than hell? In these books we find out.

In Lockdown Alex Sawyer escaped from furnace; in Solitary he escaped from solitary confinement, orchestrated a devastating attack against the guards and almost climbed to freedom. Escaping once had infuriated the warden, escaping a second time had almost enraged him. Now Alex and his friends, Zee and Simon, are guinea pigs or subjects for the terrifying Wheezers' experiments. They are pumping a dark and terrible liquid into his veins, trying to turn Alex into one of them. Alex has two options - to die during the process or to become a creature of Furnace. And yet there might be a third option. He has been told that if they catch him to remember his name. Can he hold on with so much darkness swirling around in his blood and with the pain of the experiments being done on him?

This book is an excellent read, the characters well written, the story compelling and intoxicating. You find yourself rooting for Alex and his gang and hoping for the downfall of the Furnace prison system. But what can a few ragtag prisoners really do against an old evil trying to regain power again? Read the "Escape from Furnace" books and find out.

Escape from Furnace:
Lockdown
Solitary
Death Sentence
Fugitives
Execution
Execution Epilogue - Short Story
The Night Children - Short Story

Fury Series:
The Fury

The Inventors:
The Inventors
The Inventors And The City of Stolen Souls

Non-Fiction:
1001 Questions and Answers
Inspired Creative Writing: 52 Brilliant Ideas from the Master Wordsmiths
The Solar System
Family Quiz
Writing Bestselling Children's Books: 52 Brilliant Ideas for Inspiring Young Readers

Mystery Books as Alex Smith:

Six Days, Six Hours, Six Minutes
...

Softley Softley Series:

1.0 The Harder They Fall

2.0 Hard Luck House
...

DCI Kett Series:

0.5 Cry Baby

1.0 Paper Girls

2.0 Bad Dog

3.0 Three Little Pigs

4.0 Whip Crack

5.0 Run Rabbit Run

6.0 Stone Cold Dead

7.0 Every Mother's Son

8.0 Sweet Briar Rose

9.0 Jaw Breaker

10.0 Knock Knock 

11.0 Rat King 

12.0 Knuckle Bone

13.0 Lucky Number 7

...

The Art Of Furnace
Author Profile Interview With Alexander Gordon Smith