The Compound

Starred review from June 2, 2008
Bodeen, acclaimed as the writer of such picture books as Elizabeti's Doll,
turns out a high-wire act of a first novel, a thriller that exerts an ever-tighter grip on readers. Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows—and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a solution—provided they jettison all morals and ethics. Repulsed and already suspicious, Eli begins investigating his father's claims, and sets up a family death match against a man who grows increasingly irrational and sinister but no less powerful. As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax. Ages 12-up.

July 1, 2008
Gr 7 Up-In a burst of panic about a nuclear attack, nine-year-old Eli, his sisters, and his parents move into an underground bunker built by Eli's billionaire father. It's an enormous complex, with rooms similar to those in the family's Seattle mansion. Only his grandmother and twin brother don't make it in. The first six years of the planned 15 have been fairly routine, but now some food has spoiled, and certain things just don't seem right, or even possible. Eli is starting to have doubts about his father's motives, explanations, and sanity. Readers might find the first third of the novel to be slow as a lot of time is spent developing Eli's character as a spoiled, self-centered child. There is considerable foreshadowing, and astute readers will likely figure out the ending. As the years pass, Eli is full of teen angst and anger that develops into a realization of what he must do in order to help his family survive. The novel becomes full of tension and suspense and turns into a true edge-of-the-seat thriller. There are numerous social issues addressed that could lead to great classroom discussions."Dylan Thomarie, Johnstown High School, NY"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2008
Ever since their world was destroyed by a nuclear attack, 15-year-old Eli and his family have lived in the Compound, a state-of-the-art bomb shelter built by his billionaire father. Despite having every comfort, Eli is haunted by the fact that his twin and his grandmother were left behind. He also begins to question his fathers sanity after an inventory miscalculation threatens their survival, and his dad hatches a morally corrupt plan to enhance their food supply. Elis worst suspicions are confirmed when he discovers a live Internet signal using an old laptop. Did the world really end six years ago? Why else would Elis father want to keep his family underground? Debut novelist Bodeen effectively builds the claustrophobic suspense with each chapter as readers slowly discover the Compound is not the refuge it seems. Combining elements of Margaret Peterson Haddixs Running Out of Time (1995) and Kazuo Ishiguros Never Let Me Go (2005), published for adults, this postapocalyptic thriller will also pique the interest of Nancy Werlin and L. J. Adlington fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2008
When Eli was nine, his autocratic billionaire father led his family into the Compound, an extravagant underground bunker built to protect them against nuclear war. After receiving word that a strike had been launched, they had forty minutes to get inside and lock the door behind them (a door only Eli's father can open again). In the chaos, Eli's twin Eddy was left behind, and Eli, the self-identified "evil twin," spends the next six years in bitter guilt and loneliness. Now fifteen and worried about the dwindling food supply and his father's disquieting plans for supplementing it, he begins to question the one constant of his restricted existence: is the outside world really gone? To follow the clues, he must work through not just his father's suspicious habits but his own selfish, even cruel, tendencies. Bodeen's straightforward, action-packed writing conveys through apt detail the Compound environment -- physical and emotional -- and its subtly debilitative effects. As the plot builds from unease to intrigue to outright peril, Eli believably and satisfyingly grows from a spoiled, disturbed bully to the persuasive and empathetic (if still disturbed) man of the family. Taking full advantage of a unique premise, this tense portrait of a family in crisis probes the psychological and moral costs of survival.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2008
When Eli was nine, his billionaire father led his family into an underground bunker built to protect them against nuclear war. Now fifteen, Eli begins questioning: is the outside world really gone? Bodeen's action-packed writing conveys the Compound environment and its subtly debilitative effects. This tense portrait of a family in crisis probes the psychological and moral costs of survival.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)