The Books - The Epilogue - Audio - Extra Furnace Books - Extract - Videos (including the Lockdown in Lockdown read-through) - Poster - World Editions - Reviews and Awards - Fan Art
Escape From Furnace
The internationally bestselling series, loved by millions of readers worldwide and soon to become a feature film. Escape From Furnace follows teenage criminal Alex Sawyer as he is thrown into Furnace Penitentiary, the world’s worst prison for young offenders. Action, horror, friendship, gore, heroism and hope—Furnace is fresh and ferocious, breathtakingly scary, relentlessly addictive, and utterly unforgettable.
"Ferocious!" James Patterson
"Addictive!" The Daily Mail
"Sign me up for a life sentence!" Darren Shan
"Relentlessly Horrific!" The Independent
"Superb!" Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books
"Adrenalin Packed!" The Sunday Times
"Terrifying!" Bookbag
"A Punch Between the Eyes Kind of Read!" The Financial Times
“A tour de force of action!” VOYA
“Uniquely horrifying!” Realms of Fantasy
“Breathtakingly scary!” The Book Zone
Escape from Furnace…
Beneath heaven is Hell… Beneath Hell is Furnace!
Furnace Penitentiary. The world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. One way in, no way out. Once you're here, you're here until you die, and for most of the inmates that doesn't take long - not with the sadistic guards and the bloodthirsty gangs. Convicted of a murder he didn't commit, sentenced to life without parole, ‘new fish’ Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world.
Only in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and as dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison.
Together with a bunch of inmates - some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers - Alex plans the prison break to end all prison breaks. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex's actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that's hidden from the eyes of the world.
Escape From Furnace: Lockdown
My name is Alex Sawyer, and I’m not a killer. They framed me for murder, condemned me to life in Furnace with its punishment and pain.
I’ve got to get out of here.
If I don’t, it will be me the wheezers come for. Me who’s dragged kicking and screaming from my cell. Me who’s brought back scarred, twisted, and hungry for blood.
I’ve got to get out, before they turn me into a monster.
Escape From Furnace: Solitary
We thought we'd made it, we thought we were free. But we should have known there was no way out of Furnace.
All we did was slip deeper into the guts of the prison: into solitary confinement, where the real nightmares live - the warden, the Wheezers, and something much, much worse.
The clock's ticking. Because if we don't escape soon they will turn us into freaks - like them. Forever.
Escape From Furnace: Death Sentence
We had one last shot at freedom and we failed. This time our punishment will be much worse than before, because in the bloodstained laboratories beneath Furnace lies the horrific truth behind the warden's plans.
Down here, monsters are made. I'm changing - something evil is being pumped into my veins. How can I escape when the darkness is inside me?
Escape From Furnace: Fugitives
We broke out of Furnace but we're still not free. The city is in lockdown - roads sealed, police everywhere. And there are worse things here: creatures of death sent to bring the world to its knees.
I'm turning into one of them, into a monster. To put an end to this blood-crazed madness I have to travel into the heart of darkness. I have to find Alfred Furnace before he finds me.
Soon the whole world will be a prison.
Escape From Furnace: Execution
The whole world has become a prison, and Alfred Furnace is its master.
Monsters rule the streets, beasts of pure fury that leave nothing but murder and madness in their wake. Those who do not die are turned, becoming slaves to Furnace's reign of cruelty. It is a war to end all wars, one that will leave the planet in ruins.
I am a monster too. I am one of Alfred Furnace's children. And I am the only one who can stop him. I have to find a way to use my powers to destroy Furnace, but in doing so I risk becoming the very force that kills us all.
I don't know if I am the executed or the executioner. I don't know who will die: me, Furnace or the entire human race.
All I know is that one way or another, it all ends today.
THE EPILOGUE
For those of you reading the early editions of Execution in the UK, you won’t have the epilogue. I just didn’t get it written in time to make the print date! However, just click the button below and you can read it here! (If you’d rather read the PDF, click here!)
AUDIO
The first three Furnace books have been released on audio by Brilliance Publishing.
Click the links for more information!
The last two books, Fugitives and Execution, are published via Tantor.
A different narrator, but the same great story! Click the links for more!
EXTRA FURNACE BOOKS
THE NIGHT CHILDREN
It is December 1944 and Europe is still gripped by war. In the densely forested mountains of Belgium one of the conflict’s most brutal battles is raging. Cut off from the front, a ragtag group of young British and American soldiers finds itself being hunted by a patrol of elite German Special Forces, including a newly commissioned officer called Kreuz—a teenage boy who will grow up to become Warden Cross (the fearsome prison director who will one day rule Furnace Penitentiary, the terrifying underground prison specially built for teen offenders).
As both sides fight for their lives in the unforgiving terrain, however, they start to realize that there are worse things hiding in the snow than soldiers. There are creatures out there with gas masks and piggy eyes (ancestors of Furnace prison’s “wheezers”)—demonic entities that cannot be killed by guns and grenades, monsters who do not care what uniforms their victims are wearing so long as they bleed, and so long as they scream…
A brand new prequel to the Escape From Furnace novels—discover the origin of Warden Cross!
SILENT NIGHT
It's nearly Christmas-at least, that's what the inmates of Furnace Penitentiary think, even though it's impossible to tell for sure when you're buried a mile beneath the ground. For one prisoner, Carl Donovan, it's the perfect time to put a dangerous plan into action-a plan that could beat the infernal prison once and for all.
But for the plan to work, Donovan must overcome the blacksuits, fight the gangs, avoid the Warden and his wheezers, and-most difficult of all-convince his cellmates to join him. As Furnace boils into a festive season of violence and death, Donovan risks everything for one last chance at freedom.
A prequel story set inside the Escape From Furnace universe, Silent Night shows Carl Donovan as you've never seen him before. Prepare for an unforgettable Christmas.
All for one, and let's get some figgy pudding.
Cover image by @lasoledadcatalina!
EXTRACT
NO WAY OUT
If I stopped running I was dead.
My lungs were on fire, my heart pumping acid, every muscle in my body threatening to cramp. I couldn't even see where I was going anymore, my vision fading as my body prepared to give in. If the siren hadn't been hammering at my eardrums, then I'd have been able to hear my breaths, ragged and desperate, unable to pull in enough air to keep me going.
Just one more flight of stairs, one more and I might make it.
I forced myself to run faster, the metal staircase rattling
beneath my clumsy steps. Everywhere around me other kids were panicking, all bolting the same way, to safety. I didn't look back to see what was behind us. I didn't need to. I could picture it in my head, its demonic muzzle, silver eyes, and those teeth—like razor wire.
Someone grabbed my arm, pulling me back. I lost my balance, spilling over the railing. For a second the yard appeared five stories beneath me and I almost let myself go. Better this way than to be devoured, right? Then the beast shrieked through its wet throat and I started running again before I even knew I was doing it. I heard the rattle of the cell doors, knew they were closing. If I was caught out here, then I was history. I leaped up the last few steps, hurtling down the narrow landing. The inmates jeered from their cells, shouting for me to die. They stuck out their arms and legs to trip me, and it almost worked. I staggered, lurched forward, falling.
Somehow I made it, swinging through the door an instant before it slammed shut, the mechanism locking tight. The creature howled, a banshee's wail that made my skin crawl. I risked looking back through the bars, saw its huge bulk bounding past my cell, no skin to hide its grotesque muscles. There was a scream as it found another victim, but it didn't matter. I was safe.
For now.
"That was close," said a voice behind me. "You're getting good at this."
I didn't answer, just stared out across the prison. Six stories of cells beneath me and God only knew how many more above my head, all buried deep underground. I felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on me, like I'd been buried alive, and the panic began to set in. I closed my eyes, sucking in as much of the hot, stale air as I could, trying to picture the outside world, the sun, the ocean, my family.
All things I would never see again.
"Yup," came the voice, my cellmate. "Bet it's starting to feel like home already."
I opened my eyes and the prison was still there. Furnace Penitentiary. The place they send you to forget about you, to punish you for your crimes, even when you didn't commit them. Only one way in and no way out. Yeah, this was my home now, it would be until I died.
That wouldn't be long. Not with the gangs that eyeballed me from behind their bars. Not with the blacksuits, the guards who ran their shotguns along the railings as they checked the cells. Not with those creatures, raw fury in their eyes and blood on their breath.
And there were worse things in Furnace, much worse. Maybe tonight the blood watch would come, drag me from my cell. Maybe tonight they'd turn me into a monster.
I dropped to my knees, cradling my head in my hands. There had to be a way out of here, a way to escape. I tried to find one in the hurricane of my thoughts, tried to come up with a plan. But all I could think about was how I came to be here, how I went from being a normal kid to an inmate in the worst hellhole on Earth.
How I ended up in Furnace.
VIDEOS
LOCKDOWN IN LOCKDOWN
Oh boy, what a year we have had. One of the reasons that 2020 wasn’t entirely awful for me was that I decided to read the entire Escape From Furnace series on YouTube. It was so much fun getting back into the series and seeing all of my old friends again. It was only supposed to be a lockdown thing, but I’ve decided to keep it up there forever, or at least until somebody orders me to take it down… Expect laughter, coughing, mad hair, and lots of tears. Watch the first instalment below, or check out the full list of videos here.
POSTER
WORLD EDITIONS
Escape From Furnace can be found in a number of countries around the world!
Click the covers to head straight to the relevant website!
REVIEWS AND AWARDS
The Concorde Book Award, The Fabulous Award for Best Series, IL Abraham Lincoln High School Book Master , IL Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award Master List, South Carolina Children's Book Award Master List, American Library Association Quick Picks for Young Adults, New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award Master List, American Library Association Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adults, Georgia Peach Book Award Master List, South Carolina Children's Book Award ML, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adults, New Jersey Garden State Teen Book A ML.
“Fresh and ferocious, Lockdown will hook boys with its gritty, unrelenting surprises.” —James Patterson
“Furnace is hotter than hell and twice as much fun! Sign me up for a life sentence of Alexander Gordon Smith!” —Darren Shan, author of the Demonata series
“This nightmarish start to a new series is unrelentingly bleak, uniquely horrifying, and strangely compelling.” —Realms of Fantasy magazine
“A great next choice for fans of The Maze Runner, The Grassland Trilogy . . . or Lord of the Flies. As for me, I'm looking forward to future books. Recommended for dystopia, thriller, and horror fans, or anyone looking for a fast-paced, spine-chilling ride.” —Jennifer Robinson's Bookpage
“Readers will be turning pages without pause, and the cliff-hanger ending will have them anticipating the next installment. Most appealing is Smith's flowing writing style, filled with kid-speak, colorful adjectives, and amusing analogies. Fans of James Patterson's ‘Maximum Ride' and Darren Shan's ‘The Demonata' series will find this satisfying fare.” —School Library Journal
“One of those leave-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrill rides that will grab the reader right from the start. Teens will appreciate Smith's vivid imagery. His writing is extremely fluid, and he makes the reader feel for the characters, especially the young protagonist, Alex. Readers will be cheering him on from start to finish.” —Voice of Youth Advocates
“Not for the faint-hearted, this dramatic British import is both a page- and stomach-turner . . . The pacing is superb, building on the tension as each horror is revealed while saving the ultimate monstrosity for the cliffhanger ending. . . . Readers will find themselves rooting for even the most violent of the inmates as they try to make their escape and defeat the Furnace.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“Smith establishes a quick pace.” —Booklist
“Lockdown is a beautifully written book that builds itself up on violence, suspense, and mystery.” —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader
“This is a compelling book.” —Ellaina, age 14
“The whole book was extremely compelling. The . . . plot was alluring and drew you in with its dark undertones.” —Hannah, age 17
“Lockdown was a brilliant book that gives vivid imagery to the life of Alex within the Furnace . . . it kept me captivated till the end.” —Ryan, age 16
“Lockdown is a beautifully written book that builds itself up on violence, suspense, and mystery.” —Gabe
