The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

Eli was nine years old when the fallout occurred. The world was under nuclear attack, and his family is safe in the compound his father built. But his twin, Eddy, and his grandmother? They didn't quite make it...

The compound Eli's father built isn't your ordinary bomb shelter. It's extraordinary, filled with everything from a huge library and music collection, a workout gym complete with a basketball court, a gigantic storage room full of supplies, and a gourmet's kitchen. It helps that Eli's dad is a billionair. But everyday Eli wakes up, he realizes that life has changed...and the changes keep coming...

Eli is no longer nine, but fifteen. And the changes have come about slowly but surely. The last six years haven't been difficult, just different. All he had to do is wait nine more years, and the seal to the outside world will be opened. But can he, his parents, and his two sisters make it?

And then there is a beam of hope...with his dead brother's old laptop, Eli finds a wireless internet signal!! There is life outside!! He wants to tell his father, but during the time in the compound, Eli, his mothers and Terese his sister, realize that perhaps his father's can't be trusted. Something isn't right...it's a feeling, but the feeling is strong...

Now the flour is contaminated, the animals have died, and the hydroponic lights for the vegetables are beginning to flicker. With the supplies drying up, his father has figured they'll run out of food a year before the door is opened. But Eli's father also has alternate plans and Supplements to rely on. But is what he doing moral? Ethical? Eli isn't sure, but he is scared...

What a gripping first novel for S.A. Bodeen. What I first thought was science fiction in nature quickly turned into realistic terror with a psychological twist. Readers of this book will have to wonder and think, "What lengths would I be willing to do to survive?" Although at times predictable, it was nonetheless a book that was a page turner. YA readers will keep this book checked out!