The Compound by S.A. Boden
Series: The Compound #1
Publisher: Square Fish
Source: Bought
ISBN: 9780312578602
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Pages: 248
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Eli and his family have lived in the underground Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone, and they’ve become accustomed to their new life. Accustomed, but not happy. No amount of luxury can stifle the dull routine of living in the same place, with only his two sisters, only his father and mother, doing the same thing day after day after day. As problems with their carefully planned existence threaten to destroy their sanctuary—and their sanity—Eli can’t help but wonder if he’d rather take his chances outside. Eli’s father built the Compound to keep them safe. But are they safe—really?
"T.S. Eliot was wrong. My world ended with a bang the minute we entered the Compound and that silver door was closed behind us.”
The Compound was a concept I loved. An über rich family goes into a secret compound as the world is ending? This is my kind of story. It was a nice easy read and I honestly didn’t have too many problems with it. In the beginning it reminded me of the movie, Blast From The Past, but instead of a comedy it was a more serious spin on it.
The story centers on Eli, the son of a billionaire. Eli has a twin, Eddy, and two sisters. The night of the evacuation to the Compound Eli’s twin was trapped on the outside with their grandmother and left to survive a nuclear fallout. Eddy and the grandmother are presumed dead and this is something that has haunted Eli for years. Eddy was the popular twin. The twin was could do no wrong and never got into trouble. Eli was the “bad” twin. He was a bit of a loner and was constantly getting into trouble. Eli’s flashbacks showed how much he misses Eddy, their dog, and grandmother. Eli had a lot of anger built up in him. He would barely speak to his family and refused to let anyone touch him. His issues could have to do with the fact that he survived while Eddy is presumed dead from the radiation.
The Compound had a nice pacing to it. As it a fairly short book there wasn’t a lot of action almost until you get to the end, but S.A. Boden did a wonderful job building the backstory slowly over the course of the book. Secrets were revealed (and there are a lot of them) in the right times and it wasn’t overwhelming. The ending had some fabulous action. It was very intense almost to the very end.
The father was terrifying. He so controlling of the family and they were all so scared of him. The whole book was building on how controlling and secretive he was. He was psychologically frightening. He controlled everything and refused to lose control. It was like he didn’t care that he was down there with his family. He treated them like employees who must obey every freaking word he said and never to doubt or question his authority. For example, the Supplements were his solution to a problem and no one was to fight him on it. It was a disgusting experiment and when you find out what is behind the yellow door and the Supplements’ purpose, gross doesn’t even begin to describe it!
The ending was a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed the book. One thing that annoyed me was how much the kids said frickin’. It really got on my nerves. I know what you are trying to say so just say it! I did love how there wasn’t even an inkling of romance. Man has it been awhile since I’ve read a book, especially a YA book, without it, but I guess it would be pretty gross considering the only other characters were Eli’s family.
