Quarantine: The Loners

By Lex Thomas

Quarantine Series, Book One

Book Description

It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.

A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.

In this frighteningly dark and captivating novel, Lex Thomas locks readers inside a school where kids don’t fight to be popular, they fight to stay alive.

MY THOUGHTS: 2 OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

David is starting the first day of his senior year, and his little brother Will is coming in as a freshman. On the first day at their brand new school however, the most unimaginable thing happens: the whole school becomes locked down and no one is allowed to come in or out. As it turns out, all the kids in the school under 18 are carrying a virus deadly to adults. And until the government can figure out what to do with them, hundreds of kids are living a nightmare.

After a year in quarantine, vicious gangs have formed and do whatever it takes to survive–even kill. David must protect his little brother at all costs…even if Will doesn’t want his protection.

For some reason I went into this book thinking it was a zombie novel…I was quite wrong. The premise of a whole school full of kids being confined is definitely what piqued my interest, but I’m not really happy with the way this novel played out.

There was not very much characterization at all, and I couldn’t connect with any of the kids, whether protagonist or antagonist. The book only tells of one event that happened prior to the quarantine, and in my opinion that wasn’t enough to get a good feel on any of the kids who were there. I know the reader is supposed to root for David and hate Sam…but I couldn’t really do either.

The gangs that formed in the school are really just extreme versions of the cliques that already divide kids in high school–Freaks, Nerds, Skaters, Varsity, etc. I suppose that having all these groups under one intense situation for so long would provoke things, but I have a hard time believing such violence and hatred would occur. Why wouldn’t all the kids try to work together to find a solution?

The book dragged a lot for me, and I only kept reading because I wanted to see if they would be rescued. But even the ending disappointed me. The last event happened so randomly and with no explanation as to how or why.

I know this is supposed to be the first book in a series, but I can’t see myself wanting to read anymore about this horrific group of kids.

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**I reviewed this book courtesy of NetGalley and Egmont Publishing.