Quarantine Book 2: The Saints

Description

A cross between the Gone series and Lord of the Flies, Quarantine #2: The Saints continues this frenetically paced and scary young adult series that illustrates just how deadly high school can be. Nothing was worse than being locked in--until they opened the door... McKinley High has been a battleground for eighteen months since a virus outbreak led to a military quarantine of the school. When the doors finally open, Will and Lucy think their nightmare is finished. But they are gravely mistaken. As a new group of teens enters the school and gains popularity, Will and Lucy join new gangs. An epic party on the quad full of real food and drinks, where kids hook up and actually interact with members of other gangs seemed to signal a new, easier existence. Soon after, though, the world inside McKinley takes a startling turn for the worse, and Will and Lucy will have to fight harder than ever to survive. The Saints brings readers back to the dark and deadly halls of McKinley High and the Quarantine series.

Lex Thomas is the author team made up of Lex Hrabe and Thomas Voorhies. Lex Hrabe was a Drama Geek in high school as well as student body president. Lex received a BA in Drama and English from the University of Virginia and has worked as an actor, director, and writer. In addition writing screenplays, he heads development at Cinespire Entertainment, a boutique production company (www.cinespire.com). If Thomas Voorhies were a character in the Quarantine trilogy, he would be a member of the Art Geek gang. Thomas graduated with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and continues to create and exhibit realist oil paintings. To see his work, visit www.thomasvoorhies.com.

The craziest thing about 2012's rash of teens-in-quarantine books was that all of them were good. But as enjoyable as were Emmy Laybourne's Monument 14 and Dayna Lorentz's No Safety in Numbers, it was Thomas' Quarantine: The Loners that blew the doors off the joint with a dirty bomb of sex and violence. The sequel picks up moments later, with infected teens streaming out of the newly breached high school until a school bus smashes into the opening, once again walling them in. Yes, it's a bit of a head fake, but it's a reset with a significant tweak: two adults are now lowering rationed supplies into the quad. Until Gates, the thrill-seeking leader of the new Saints gang, turns the tables by discovering that the adults are parents of the loathed Sam. By holding Sam hostage, they can demand anything--food, alcohol, condoms, whatever. The resulting bacchanalia has things looking up, despite Gates' worrisome obsession with protagonist Will and Lucy's extended naked hazing by the Sluts gang. With its morally dubious characters, charged sexual content, and double-take violence, this might be the darkest series going. Meanwhile, Lord of the Flies allusions (the adults' benevolent arrival and, believe it or not, a pig hunt) add further interest. Here's our demand: deliver the conclusion yesterday. --starred, Booklist -- "Journal" (5/1/2013 12:00:00 AM) 4Q 4P J S In the not-so-distant future, teenagers carry a mysterious and deadly virus, and a large group has been quarantined in their high school for over a year. Conditions inside the school are bleak, and gang warfare is escalating to new levels. Will and Lucy have survived being locked up, and it looks like they finally have a chance to escape, but when freedom is pulled away from them, they must reevaluate the strategies that have helped them get through the dangerous lockdown zone of the school. The gang structures that helped them survive the first eighteen months of the quarantine have shifted dramatically and the arrival of the Saints, a group of teens who escaped the quarantine, changes things even more. Will and Lucy are faced with the choice of clinging to their failing gang or forging new alliances with the strangers. But will any alliance be enough to save them from the cruelty which is escalating in the school? Although action-packed, the violence in this novel is a bit off-putting. Cruelty and gruesome behavior typify most of the characters in the book, and even Will and Lucy are not immune. This fast-paced novel will, however, appeal to fans of The Hunger Games trilogy. --VOYA -- "Journal" (8/1/2013 12:00:00 AM)