The Compound

The Compound is a 2008 young adult novel by S.A. Bodeen. Much of the story is set in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic setting: a compound built by the narrator’s father, which houses the main characters after a nuclear attack destroys much of humanity. However, the characters begin to suspect that the world outside the Compound may exist, and that their father has been lying to them. Bodeen examines themes of family, shame, survival, and loyalty in this award-winning book.

Plot Summary

When the story begins, sixteen-year-old Eli, his two sisters, his mother Clea, and his father have been in the Compound for six years. His father, billionaire Rex Yanakakis, built the Compound to last for fifteen years. It is locked by a silver door, opened by a code known only to Rex. When Eli learns that their food supply has been compromised—the flour is going bad and their hydroponic crops are threatened by the potential failure of their light source—he worries that the family will not have enough food to last for fifteen years.

During the time in the Compound, Eli’s mother has given birth to two additional children, whom Eli refers to as the “supplements.” She is also pregnant again. The supplements are a result of Rex’s experiments in cloning humans as a potential meat source. They live in a room with a yellow door. Eli never visits them, because he sees them as commodities, not humans or family members. He does not see the point in risking potential attachment to children that may be used as food.

While exploring the Compound, Eli learns that the Internet is connected. Logging on briefly, he discovers that his twin brother, Eddy, might still be alive. Not only that, he suspects that the entire nuclear attack may have been invented by his father. After confronting his father, he learns that Rex faked their deaths before taking them to the Compound. The entire scenario is false; Rex used the time in the Compound as an experiment to test his own ingenuity and scientific brilliance under stressful conditions.

Eli manages to find the code to the hatch. After confronting Rex and knocking him unconscious, he opens the door and goes outside. A helicopter lands. Rex’s accountant, Phil, is inside. He says that Rex is going to take them all to another Compound on an island he purchased. While fighting with Phil, Eli triggers a countdown that leads to the destruction of the Compound by explosives. He manages to get his family out in time. The FBI takes them away on other helicopters.

When the book ends, the family is reunited, but Rex’s body has not been found. Rex is the subject of an international manhunt, raising the tension for the second book in the series, The Fallout.