Imagine this: your dad is a Bill-Gates kind of billionaire, and he has decided to build an underground fortress to protect your family in case of nuclear attack. The book is a fast read, although some aspects are a little creepy such as the father's plan to use his extra children, who he calls supplements, like livestock if they are facing starvation. Eli finds out that there really wasn't a nuclear attack, his grandma, dog and brother are not dead, and that their father appears to have lost his mind. He accidentally connects to the Internet which shouldn't exist, and within minutes he's talking to Eddy. When he finally works up the courage to go into Eddy's unused room, he finds a computer that the two of them got when they were nine. However, when Eli is fifteen, after they've been in the compound for six years, he starts to dlscover things that don't seem quite right. The family is sealed into the compound for 15 years, which is the length of time it will take for the nuclear fallout to dissipate.

It is then that the father discovers that the grandmother and Eddy didn't make it. He shoves everyone into a hole in the ground which leads to a secret compound he has constructed. The country is under a nuclear attack, but he has made provisions for their safety. Eddy crawls into his grandma's car that night, but later that night their dad takes off in the RV. He does that so Eddy won't be there the next day when they get to ride in their multi millionaire dad's new plane. The night before their ninth birthday, Eli tricks Eddy into hiding in his grandma's truck when she goes back to the house.

And for the love of Jesus don’t force kids to read this one.Eddy and Eli are twins. The author is obviously very talented to have sparked these emotions that still unsettle me to this day, but maybe wait till your kids/ you are at least 16 to read this one. A deep take on mental health and psychological horror/thriller. From what I remember the story isn’t bad perse but just really dark. But it was enough for 11 year old me to forever hate this book and start me in therapy young lol.

In the end it’s revealed that the dad is a nut job and they don’t actually eat the babies.

Spoilers to follow, this book subjects HEAVILY around a wife being forced to birth children just so her older children can eat them because the dad poisoned the cows. I am now 21 and this book still gives me nightmares. I was forced to read this BY MYSELF for school when I was 11 not even in group read. I was scrolling through my read on audible and this monstrosity came up and let me tell you this book has followed me.

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen