A summer thrill for teens

  “T.S. Eliot was wrong. My world ended with a bang the minute we entered the Compound and the silver door closed behind us.
  “The sound was brutal.
  “Final.”
  In "The Compound" by S.A. Bodeen, Eli and his family have been living underground for six years. The Compound, built by Eli’s billionaire father, is the family’s shelter from the nuclear attack they fled years before, though not everyone made it into the bunker. Eli’s twin brother and their grandmother were both left behind, and Eli sometimes feels he has lost the best part of himself.
  The shelter is decorated like their home. It is stocked with everything they could need in the 15 years it would take for nuclear winter to end. There are clothes in all different sizes, lots of food, birthday and Christmas presents.
  As the years pass, Eli becomes a teenager and the family’s living situation worsens as food supplies dwindle. Their livestock dies so there is no milk or meat. Eli’s father pushes them to go to extreme means to survive. Measures that make the other family members cringe in disgust.
  Eli begins to explore the hidden corners of the Compound and slowly discovers not everything is as it seems — his father has been keeping secrets, secrets that will change all their lives forever.
  This thriller, written for young adults, is disturbing at times. The twists and turns are shocking — some really shocking — and the suspense moves the story along at a fast pace.
  Bodeen's "The Compound" sure adds a bang to summer reading.