For Eli, no amount of luxury can stifle the dull routine of living in the same place, with only his two sisters, 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—or sorry?(
REVIEWS:
NANCY:The country suffers a nuclear attack when Eli and his family are on a camping trip. Fortunately, they have been prepared for this, and their father leads them to a huge, well-constructed, and well-stocked bunker where they can survive for at least fifteen years--the soonest he considers safe for the family to leave. Unfortunately, Eli's twin, Eddy, their grandmother, and their dog, Cocoa, don't make it in time.
The story starts in the sixth year of their confinement, and things have been going wrong: the livestock have all died, the replacement bulbs for the hydroponic gardens are in very short supply, the flour has gone bad, and the plans for future food are morally reprehensible.
Then Eli discovers that they are not disconnected from the Internet as his father has all along claimed. This leads him to doubt everything they have been told, and as he uncovers more and more lies perpetrated by his father, Eli realizes they must escape.
The tension builds and Eli and the rest of them find themselves racing against time as the diabolical plans of his father are revealed. Moral dilemmas combined with tense plot action make this a good read.
Liz: This is a rather interesting take on the post-apocalyptic novel. Eli has lived in an underground compound for six years with his family. His very wealthy father built the compound in case of a nuclear attack. Six years ago on a camping trip their worst nightmare happened and the whole family was hustled in, save for Eli's twin, Eddy, and their Gram who had gone to get medication for an allergy attack that Eddy was suffering. The compound is well stocked for almost any eventuality; tons of food, clothes in many sizes, and media of all sorts. Despite the fact he's glad to be alive; Eli has gone through the past few years like a zombie, cutting himself off from the rest of his family. However, six years in when the story begins, his youngest sister makes some comments from his little sister, he begins noticing some discrepancies in their life. Between that and the dwindling food supplies, Eli begins to pull himself out of his stupor, takes a look around, and begins to realize that no matter what is causing his current situation, he may be the only one who can save his family.
The author did a very good job a dropping clues about life in the compound and why the characters behaved the way they did. The writing was suspenseful and gripping - I ended up finishing the whole thing in less than a day. I highly recommend picking this one up.
05erikk: The way that Eli was portrayed in the story really drew me in. He went from being an innocent child to a lonely teen afraid of socializing with his own family. He didn’t even want to be touched by another person. It made me feel sympathetic and made me get involved at many points throughout the book. The worst part of the book, and this is really picky, is that there was no direct lead in to a sequel. I would really love it if the author wrote a sequel just because I loved it that much. I know it would be incredibly hard to pull it off but even another story just similar would be good enough for me. Thrillers like this are why I like reading and I barely ever read anymore. Hopefully she can become a success and keep turning out books like this one,
I was hopeful from beginning to end that they would get out and start a new, or even continue their old, life. Every time a new trouble emerged I would get excited and wonder what could happen next. It was hard to even put the book down at times. Family is one of the most important things that you will ever have in life and you should cherish it. But what happens you can’t even trust your family. The answer lies within you because sometimes the best thing to do is just put yourself out there and lays it all on the line. That is what I took away from this book and that is what I think the overlying message of this story was.
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