Saints (#2 Quarantine)

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 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