Thomas wakes up in a box, remembering nothing but his name. Soon enough, hands are pulling him out, into the Glade, and he knows he's in a very strange place. The other boys have been here for quite some time, and none of them remember a life before, either. Their only hope is to find an exit from the maze, but that's not easy when the walls move every night, and the giant semi-organic, semi-mechanical beasts come rolling out with a thirst for blood. When a girl shows up--the first girl ever sent through the box--the day after Thomas's arrival, the entire Glader community is thrown into chaos. Who is she? Why did she arrive so soon after Thomas? How does she know him? And what should anyone make of her warning that "everything is going to change"? 
 The story moves along briskly with a fair number of turns and plot twists (the one reveal I was waiting for hasn't come; I'm curious to know if I'm right come future volumes). Thomas is said to be about 16 but in my head he was more like 12 or 13; I don't know why, but this reads younger to me. Fast-paced action should draw in middle- and high-school boys, though adventure-seeking girls will like this too. 
 The ending sets up a post-apocalyptic Book 2. In the meantime, a pretty decent pairing with William Sleator's House of Stairs or even Percy Jackson (the labyrinth one, specifically); I'd have expected some Lord of the Flies but the boys remain pretty well civilized. Throw in a smattering of Maria Snyder's Inside Out (for maze-like elements and search for escape) and Incarceron (for maze-like prison) for good measure.