The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
Borrowed/Library

Eli- fifteen year old and son of a billionaire has spent the last six years in an underground compound built by his father. Nuclear war has destroyed the world and killed his grandmother and twin brother. The doors are time locked and will not open for fifteen years. Well with nine years to go and the food running out, Eli's father has some solutions in survival but things aren’t as they seem in the compound and Eli soon starts to question the sanity of his father.

Review: 

Eli is your average fifteen year old boy, loves basketball, The Matrix and his favorite candy is Snickers bars, but wait the one difference is he lives in an underground bomb shelter!! The Compound is an enormous complex, with rooms similar to those in the family's Seattle mansion. Anything you can think of is in this place. A gym, Movie Theater, music room, even a happy room with artificial sunlight. Sound far-fetched? It was for me at first, the actual compound itself sounded "out there" little too much paradise for Sci-fi and I’m thinking great "The bratty lifestyle of the rich living in luxury even after a nuclear war"! That only lasted a few pages... because reading within Eli's perspective made this world easy to believe and actually a very thrilling and fast read.

The first six years of the planned fifteen have been fairly routine; the family goes about life in almost the way they would do in their normal life above ground without the benefits of going outside or going anywhere. One can only guess the monster brewing within the paradise facade and when he will show his ugly head. Trouble hits when the food to feed the livestock is contaminated and the animals die leaving the family without a fresh meat and dairy supply. Then some of the storage food begins to spoil, things pretty much go downhill from this point and even if you think things will be ok...there not. Certain things just don't seem right, or even possible. The day to day living almost seems robotic and you can see the life slowly being sucked out of each character as the days go on and on and on. A few scenes were very weird especially when the milk finally runs out and what dad's solution was..ew...and...ew.....The family even goes to controversial lengths in an idea to supplement the dwindling food supply. The author is very careful in presenting this idea, she lets your mind make the connections as you figure out what the Yellow Room is all about.

Eli has mixed feelings about everything and knows that the Yellow Room will break his family, he's very suspicious of his father and fears that everything is a lie. Eli starts questioning the reasons for being in the compound, his sadness over the loss of his brother and anger for the life he's leading bring about courage and the bravery he needs to confront his father and take the story on an exciting twister.

A lot of the book was spent developing Eli's character. I thought this was really great writing and smart on  Bodeen's part to get the reader connected on an emotional level with Eli. We see Eli first as this over privileged spoiled kid but as the years pass in the compound, we get to see who Eli really is and why no one is allowed to touch him. Eli becomes full of teen angst and the anger that develops turns into a realization of what he must do in order to help his family survive. Eli is a very strong developed character who takes you on this intense sometimes heartbreaking road with him.

4/5 YA Sci-Fi