Book Review: Quarantine: The Loners

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.

 

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Quarantine: The Loners. I thought, zombies, maybe? People were dying left and right because of a virus, but only the adults. The more I read, however, the more I realized this book has absolutely nothing to do with zombies. *sad face* lol

When we first begin the story, it dives into David’s POV, along with his younger brother Will. Will is an epileptic, it’s his first day of freshman year, and he looks up to his big brother, David. David’s main concern is that Will might have a seizure in the middle of class, and David won’t be there to help him. Unfortunately, David doesn’t have time to worry about his brother’s epilepsy, as an explosion goes off inside the school before first period ever begins. David watches one of his teachers vomit blood and die. The school is in chaos. Chunks of people’s hair fall out, until everybody is bald. Worse, nobody knows what the hell is going on.

Soon, the military tells them they’ve been quarantined. Somehow, a virus from a local lab/factory got out, one of the workers escaped, and then brought the virus to the school. This is the part I don’t get. I never understood the link between the worker taking residence in the school to hide and the bomb/explosion going off. Oh, well. Whatever…

Every couple of weeks, the military drops a school-bus-size load, and the entire student body fights for food and provisions. The school forms cliques (imagine that) and dye their hair different colors with Kool-Aid packets so everybody knows who is in what clique. We have Varsity, The Pretty Ones, Freaks, Nerds, Skaters, Sluts, and Scraps. I’m probably forgetting a couple. It’s basically your typical high school groups. Well, David and Will only have each other, so they have to keep their minds intact to survive. But the loners of the school need a leader, especially if they’re going to live to see “graduation.” Can David be the one to save them?

Overall, this was like The Hunger Games inside a school. And this book definitely doesn’t hold back on the gore, so if you have a queasy stomach over blood and guts, you probably shouldn’t read this. If, however, you enjoy books with a lot of action and multiple POV changes, then you should pick this up.

**ARC courtesy of publisher via NetGalley