Review of “The Compound,” by S. A. Bodeen

“The Compound,” by S. A. Bodeen is a chilling science fiction story about a rich family living in a specialized bomb shelter designed to help them survive a nuclear war.

Eli Yanakakis and his family entered the Compound six year ago, when they learned that a full scale nuclear war was about to begin.  When your father is a billionaire he can afford anything, even a multi-million dollar bomb shelter with enough supplies to outlast a nuclear winter.  The bomb shelter has rooms full of supplies, a kitchen, a gym, a music room, and even a small church.  But what it is missing is Eli’s twin brother Eddy and his grandmother.  They didn’t make it into the shelter in time.

Now Eli and his family are trapped in the bomb shelter for fifteen years.  The door has a time lock on it to keep it closed, and no one outside, or inside, can open it.  In the tight confines of the bomb shelter tempers flare.  Even though the bomb shelter is as large as a mansion, it sill feels as if there isn’t enough space for everyone.

Eli not only feels responsible for his brother’s death, but he also hates his siblings and his father.  Eli doesn’t really trust his father.  In the compound his father’s word is law but Eli is afraid that his father is not stable mentally.  He stays up for days at a time, then sleeps for days.  His dark and changing moods make Eli afraid.

After six years of watching movies, working out, and retreating within himself Eli finally begins to come out of his shell and look at things in the Compound in a new light.  What he finds are a series of clues that lead him to believe that something is not right.

When Eli ventures into the shut up room that would have belonged to his brother he finds something that he had almost forgot about.  Before the disaster both Eli and Eddy had laptops.  Their father faithfully reproduced everything they owned in the Compound, even down to the things they owned.  But shortly after they entered the Compound Eli’s father took away his old laptop and replaced it with a new one.  The only major difference between the old laptop and the new one is that the new one didn’t have wireless internet.

Soon after Eli discovers his brother’s laptop he powers it up and discovers that there is an available wireless network open.  Eli is shocked!  He thought that the world above ground was destroyed, but if there is wireless internet then they must be rebuilding things.

Eli goes online and opens his instant messaging program.  To his shock one of the contacts is online.  It is his brother Eddy, whom he had assumed was dead.  Eddy is equally surprised.  At first he thinks that someone else has stolen Eli’s old IM nick.  But when Eli tells Eddy that he and the rest of the family are living in the bomb shelter Eddy tells Eli that there never was a nuclear attack.  Rather Eli and his family have been assumed to be dead for six years after a mysterious accident.

Eli finally begins to face the facts.  There never was a nuclear attack.  Eli’s father has been lying to the family for six years, keeping them trapped in the Compound.  When Eli confronts his father he admits that there never was a nuclear attack.  Instead Eli’s dad engineered the entire situation so that he and his family could have a chance to try something risky and brave.  He wanted to see if his family had what it takes to survive fifteen years of confinement.  Eli finally realizes what he had always slightly suspected.  His father is insane.

Eli’s dad is the only one who knows the secret code to open the time-lock and release his family.  And he won’t let them leave, despite the fact that it is rapidly becoming obvious that the Yanakakis family does not have enough food to survive their fifteen year imprisonment.

“The Compound” is a very tense, powerful novel.  S. A. Bodeen knows how to keep readers on their edge of their seats with suspense.  The plot, though limited to the physically small area of the bomb shelter, has tremendous scope because of the in-depth examination of each character.  S. A. Bodeen’s depiction of how each family member responds is very fascinating.

I recommend “The Compound” to older readers interested in a science fiction novel with human psychology aspects.

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