The Compound is an unsettling psychological thriller. The focus is on reality TV and the consequences of this on those involved (influencers). Not very far removed from our current society and shows like Big Brother and Love Island. I loved the dark take on reality TV and how this explored themes of happiness, power, connection and consumerism. We follow one point of view and this really worked and brought out themes subtly. Lily is this main character who questions her own values and beliefs. It is sad that she has been rewarded for her looks and feels she brings nothing else to the world. I think overall this is an interesting book that would be great to study as part of a sociology course, or psychology due to the psychological warfare.
The narrator did a great job, it felt like I was inside Lily's thoughts. Very easy to listen to and I would recommend this as a format.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Love Island meets Big Brother meets Lord of the Flies is a very accurate description of this book. What I will say is the 'Love Island' aspects of this book are very much side plots, with the aim of the game being survival, it just so happens that in order to survive, you have to be 'coupled up' and can't be single. Overall I thought this was a good book. I was engaged and wanted to keep reading. The plot was somewhat predictable but I did like the dystopian feel to the story which added tension to the plot. Lucy Boynton's narration was great and I think she was the perfect for this. I love a book that feels like you're watching a TV show so this was always going to be up my street.

Thank you to Netgalley and the UK publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you are looking for summer vibes, this book definitely delivers. Remote villa, pool, sprawling mountains. I definitely enjoyed that. It also provides an interesting commentary on love island and what it says about the society outside watching it and the care of the contestants in it.

Unfortunately, I think where I struggled with the book is I felt it was poorly marketed. It is being marketed as a thriller and love island meets lord of the flies. For much of the book, it didn't really fit that billing and I've watched some real seasons of love island which provided more thrills.

I found it very slow paced and some of LOTF moments didn't come to the end. In my opinion, even when they did arrive they weren't nearly dark and twisted enough and it left me just wishing it had gone wayyy further.

It unfortunately wasn't for me but it may be for someone else if they go in with the right expectations.

Have you ever sat and watched the first episode of Love island or big brother and sworn it wasn’t for you yet you end up completely hooked and not missing a moment? Compulsive viewing, but you’d be hard pushed to explain why. Well, The compound is pitched as Love Island meets Lord of the a flies, and for once they’re not wrong, and after a rocky first few chapters where I wasn’t interested and I didn’t even like the narrator, there I was completely hooked.

I am genuinely not sure what I’ve read. I’m not sure why I was hooked and I’m definitely not sure why I enjoyed it so much but I did! I waited overnight to write a review and I’m still a bit gobsmacked.

Bizarre yet brilliant if you can stick with it.

I ended up loving Lucy Boyntons narration 🎧

Huge thanks to HarperCollins UK audio via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

This audiobook tells the story of a group of 20 young people, 10 men and 10 women, who are sent into the desert to live in a house and meet challenges while being recorded for television viewing. Billed as a cross between Lord of the Flies and Love Island, it definitely lived up to this premise, with plenty of drama and tension.
However I thought that it unfortuntely tailed away towards the end and found it finished rather unsatisfactorily.
That said, I gave it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Excellent narration by Lucy Boynton.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley, Aisling Rawle, HarperCollins UK Audio and The Borough Press for my advance audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb for this book states that "The Compund" is akin to mixing "Lord of the Flies" and "Love Island". I would say if you threw in "And Then There Were None" and "Black Mirror", you'd be closer to the overall result
You follow the perspective of Lily from when she first awakens in "The Compound" and then stumbles around meeting the other contestants. The details of why they are there and what the world outside looks like are littered liberally throughout, building tension and keeping the reader wanting more.
The main criticism I would have lies in the ending; which feels abrupt given the chaos of the final few chapters. I listened to the audiobook, which was brilliant- beautifully narrated!

The Compound brings everything that you'd expect from a Love Island-esque reality TV show full of young, beautiful people - vanity, selfishness, fakeness, rivalry etc, but underpins it with a sense of eerieness and discomfort. Little hints are given about the state of the world outside the Compound as the activity inside the Compound ramps up. Tasks quickly become more cruel, reminiscent of the more degrading Big Brother tasks.

The narrator of The Compound did a fantastic job at embodying the FMC, Lily. In the first chapter, Lily describes herself as a passive person, and that is reflected so well in the narration. She has a particular intonation or style to the narration - it's not to the point of monotony, but it has a slow and passive style to it that both sums up the main character and also brings like a creepiness to the book, which increases the tension.

I enjoyed the story and genuinely didn't know who was going to be evicted/banished next, or how it would end. However, the ending was quite abrupt and I would have loved an epilogue. Without an epilogue picking up after the events inside the compound, it's hard to know whether there was much impact on Lily in the end. Did she undergo any character development? Did she find happiness after the show? I like definitive endings rather than ones open to interpretation or left completely open, so that's something that I would have preferred to see on page.

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Listener Copy from Harper Collins UK Audio and NetGalley but this is my voluntary and honest review.

The description, “Lord of the Flies meets Love Island” is spot on!

10 men and 10 women arrive in a compound where they will have to meet challenges for rewards and be judged by each other, and by a TV audience. And it’s brutal.

The rewards are initially almost worthless and the group have no food and very little in terms of other useable resources. As the game progresses and the number of contestants reduce, the rewards change and human nature towards material things is a key factor.

It has a dystopian feel and there are references to events in the outside world that indicate it is set a little into the future.

The book started brilliantly, but was a bit too slow in pace for my preference and then the ending was a real let down for me. It just…. ended. I felt I wanted more clarity and a reaction from the outside world.

Lucy Boynton‘s narration of the audiobook was excellent.

3 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book.