“Someone must have bitten off her nose.”

From Lex Thomas’ Quarantine: The Loners.

Before the world fell apart, brothers David and Will Thorpe had gone to school just like they had hundreds of times previously.  Both students at McKinley High, the Thorpe brothers were in the building when an explosion kicked off a terrible nightmare, because if the explosion wasn’t enough, all the teachers began to die violent deaths when they come in contact with the students.  The students quickly learn that a terrible, uncontrollable disease has infected all the students, which makes them deadly carriers to adults, a disease that teens will lose their immunity to once they finish going through puberty.  Unable to leave the school because of their threat to public safety, the school is locked down under military control and the students are sealed inside.  Over the next year, the school divides into sections that are ruled by violent clicks-turned-gangs and loners like David and Will are often hunted.  Hiding out while trying to survive, the brothers face more evil in the months since the lockdown that they ever would have expected to hear about in their entire lives, but each day seems to be worse than the day before.  Unwilling to join any of the gangs, both Will and David try to survive and protect the other in the best way they can.

This series opener easily creates a world that is gritty, deadly, and totally captivating.  Thomas draws readers in from the first page and the thrilling story doesn’t let up until the very end.  The violent content of the story will make it difficult for some readers to engage with as it shows the rapid downward spiral of the students from civilized society to Lord of the Flies-like carnage and dysfunction, but The Loners provides the perfect fix for fans of edge-of-your-seat post-apocalyptic thrillers.