While a fairly fun read, "The Compound" plays things far too safe for what it promises: a Love Island mashup with Lord of the Flies. For me, the appeal of any social-experiment reality dating show is the psychological manipulation and gamesmanship built into the format – the bedswapping, the betrayals, the catty backstabbing, the actual diplomatic skills required to get to the end of the show – all forced upon participants by unseen producers. "The Compound" overlays this with a hinted-at dystopian, apocalyptic future outside the boundaries of the show, which feels like a thrilling, natural commentary on where we're headed as a society, but the execution here is ultimately underdeveloped.

Protagonist Lily is an extremely passive, shallow, effortlessly beautiful participant. Her fellow male and female contestants are mostly interchangeable and indistinct. None of the characters seem particularly good at the underlying "game" of the show they're participating in, nor do the producers interject the kind of chaos-inducing drama that the author or book description promises.

Lily has men throwing themselves at her the entire time (to an incredulous degree), she's never in real danger of being ejected from the compound (duh, she's the protagonist), and while there's a show rule about not revealing personal information, she displays a complete lack of curiosity about any of the other people around her. Lily's main antagonist, whom I will not name here, is predatory, dangerous, abusive, and comes in the stereotypical physical package of every woman's fear, but we don't get enough context for why he acts as he does, even after the personal info rule is dropped in the final portion, and it bothered me that Lily was so incurious and self-involved all the time.

Ultimately, the premise of this book drew me in and I commend the author's debut effort, but I was really looking for her to go a lot deeper into the psychology of Love Island participants – or take a Hunger Games approach with the greater world/audience watching – so I'm bummed by the author's aversion to fleshing out her characters backstories and lives outside of the compound, and it made all the proceedings very surface-level and thin.

It took me about 10%-15% of the way to really get into this. At first I was a little thrown off by the writing, which could have been edited more and the conversations seemed unnatural. But once I got into it, the plot took a hold on me. Like Love Island mixed with Lord of the Flies, this ended being pretty intense with all the relationships, drama, and unknowns of how people would act or what they would do next. I found the ending a bit meh, more could have been done with it, not just plot wise, but subtle comparisons of everyday life and what we would do for material things to really seal the book with more of a bang.

I really loved this novel. It reminded me of Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas, which is a book that reminds me of the song “Pets” by Porno For Pyros.

Also, the ending was very sweet and not as terrifying as you might think from the oil painting on the cover. Because a book with an oil painting like that on the cover seems to always have that septic speculative wormhole of an ending. And those kinds of endings make me either forget the book entirely or hate everything that came before. This book satisfies and satiates. Which means I’ll actually remember it fondly.

Five stars.

A compelling premise from Rawle, and enough mystery to get me to keep reading. Some of the characters were difficult to distinguish from others in the first 60%-ish, but that could be a function of the satire...not everyone fits into predetermined reality television stereotypes easily enough for the machine to function. Enjoyable read, liked but did not love. Two and a half stars.

Aisling Rawle's The Compound is utterly and totally bingeable—a page-turner from the very beginning to the (anti-climactic) end. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. It's exactly what it describes itself as: a dystopian take on the reality shows you love. Rawle has taken your favorite shows, like The Bachelor or Love Island, and set them in a not-so-distant future, starring a cast of (mostly) unique, enjoyable characters.

We follow Lily, who wakes up in the compound—this novel's take on your favorite show's "villa"—surrounded by sexy singles with a wall of tasks to complete to win fabulous prizes, or in some cases, food. The challenges get more difficult as time passes, turning up the heat and thrill through the book's 300 pages. Like the shows this book is based on, you can't help but read on to see what happens next and who gets banished to the outside world. The author handles themes of relationships, love, consumerism, and more quite nicely.

But what makes this book so good—the suspense of what may happen next to these people—is also what hinders it from reaching the highs of stardom (similar to what Lily is after). I struggled to keep the characters apart from one another at first, but that becomes easier as we say goodbye to them at a clip. The author also approaches serious themes like biphobia and misogyny but doesn't say anything new about them. The former is handled interestingly, but we move on so quickly that it feels like it's happening in a vacuum.

Lastly, and this one is on me, but the entire time I was reading, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. It feels like sinister forces are at play at the compound, but nope, it's just a reality show set in a dystopian world. Speaking of this world, interestingly, the novel was once compared to Leave The World Behind on Goodreads. That comparison seems to be missing in the recent description of the book, but if you check out the author's profile, she has another version of this book with it. It's a shame since it reminded me of that book and what I loved/disliked about it. Like Leave The World Behind, some of the characters are interesting and there's a sense of dread, but ultimately what is happening behind the scenes and off the pages is more interesting. In the case of The Compound, Rawle has created a world that we only hear about in muted conversations that I thought we'd eventually face head-on with Lily, but that doesn't happen. Their world is at war. With what, we don't know.

Ultimately, the journey is much more interesting than the destination. But, like many of the reality shows you and I watch, isn't that the case? Especially when the couple we're rooting for doesn't make it to the end, or even worse, breaks up after the show airs? Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC.

Well written and exciting. A new kind of thriller novel that I think will really resonate with readers. I couldn't put it down.

I would have loved to have gotten more characterization early on, but I understand that was the nature of the story. Can't wait to read more by Aisling Rawle!

In the coming days, I'll share a review on instagram @stressiereads. https://www.instagram.com/stressiereads/

Thank you for the copy.

My Goodreads review:
Wow. This one flowed like a Black Mirror episode. I stayed up late into the night reading because it was so addictive.

The book is darker than the description would suggest. It's also deeper than I was expecting. While the novel is dystopian, it brings up real and serious questions about what we are doing with our lives and the things that we value as a society right now.

Thanks for the ARC. I enjoyed reading this so much.

4.5⭐️ I was dropped into a Love island thriller season reading this! Immersive, fun, & highly addictive. I couldn’t stop reading & finished it in one night, completely on edge and dying to know what would happen next. The main character’s point of view has this wry, unsettling undertone that immediately makes you question reality, and the story only becomes more unhinged as it progresses. I enjoyed the pacing and found it propulsive. However, I wish it had gone even more off the deep end. It did play it a bit safe. That said, character motivations and backstories also remained largely unexplored, and there are no real answers about how or why the world operates. Still, the lack of clarity wasn’t that important to my entertainment. If you like reality shows like love island, this is a fun & unique spin on the locked room thriller.

I love thinking and talking about reality television more than almost anybody, and am constantly defending its place as one of the great psychological experiments of our time. Unfortunately, while this novel seemed right up my alley, it didn't live up to my expectations. I felt as though the interrogation into the psychological warfare inflicted upon reality tv contestants was very surface level, and there was no exploration into the aftermath of this social experiment. It was entertaining and easy enough to read, but ultimately terribly disappointing. Still, I am grateful for the e-arc!

A bingeable debut novel that most will call dystopian, but I’d argue that it’s actually an accurate reflection of modern day entertainment and consumerism. The dystopian has already arrived, friends.

The Compound opens with our main character, Lily, waking up in an isolated desert compound that houses a revolving reality show. The show name is withheld in the book and the purpose is left somewhat ambiguous, but it feels like a blend of Big Brother and Love Island. Contestants have to partner up to stay in the game but also compete in physical and psychological challenges.

The book reads like watching a no holds barred episode of Love Island so if you don’t like trashy reality tv, you probably won’t enjoy this book. There’s social commentary in there, but it’s not so overt that the book caters to an audience that wants to feel superior to the industry. I loved the dig on brand sponsorship and the commodification of sex and romance.

I do wish there had been a little more meat either in character back stories or behind the scenes of production. It felt like the author kept trying to add depth to the main character, her best friend, and her love interest but always fell short of delivering something substantial. There are parts where the book purposefully drags to show the declining mental health of the contestants, and I would have loved some flashbacks or deeper conversations there. I also wanted things to get a little mooore unhinged based on the comparisons to the Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies. Like I said in the beginning, aren’t we already here in entertainment? (Looking at you, Zeus Network.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC of The Compound.

I am absolutely NOT a reality TV fan so I wasn't sure I would enjoy this book, but the plot sucked me right in! I was upset when I had to go to bed in the middle because I could have easily read it in one sitting. Getting to know each of the "girls" and "boys" as if I was a contestant on the show was really fun, as was the evolving dynamic within the group as the story progressed. The ending was a little less gratifying than I hoped for, but it did have a good message. Overall, very binge-worthy and my first 2025 "beach read" recommendation.

4 stars

Entertaining, if not unsettling read. Always interesting to see the darker side of human nature on display and wonder, "How far would I go?"

What the absolute heck did I just read!? And why oh why did I love it so much!?

This book was so thrilling. I couldn’t stop reading it. I love reality TV, dating shows, drama- all of it. So a book from the perspective of a contestant- YES PLEASE! but this isn’t an ordinary reality TV show, it’s up to them to earn what they need- food, hair brushes, sunscreen- yes they have to earn it.

What’s off limits? NOT MUCH! Making this read so thrilling!

I just wish it had an epilogue… maybe we will get another book from this one…. Hint hint 😉

Liked The Compound a lot. It is quite the page turner and I read it in a few sittings. There is an air of mystery throughout that I enjoyed. We don’t know how the stars were picked or how they got there, and we get nuggets of the scope of the game throughout. The reviewers comparing this to Black Mirror and The Hunger Games were a bit misleading to me. I would have liked to see it veer further into twistier/darker territory. Instead it follows a similar trajectory throughout and feels a tad repetitive over time.

The concept of this book immediately grabbed my attention—it’s like a dystopian Love Island, blending a post-apocalyptic vibe with the chaos of reality TV. The factual, straightforward writing style added to the immersive experience, making me feel like a contestant myself, as we’re given minimal insight into the characters’ personal lives or the world beyond the competition. While this approach worked well for creating tension and atmosphere, I found myself wishing for more background information to deepen the plot and enrich the stakes.

I also think multiple POVs could have added an extra layer to the story, giving a fuller picture of the characters and their motivations, which felt just slightly out of reach at times. That said, it was still a highly entertaining and bingeable read—quick-paced and fun from start to finish. While I enjoyed it overall, I was left wanting just a bit more from the execution to fully deliver on the fascinating premise. That said, I did binge this book all in one sitting and am looking forward to reading more from this author in the future! .

I devoured this book. I couldn’t put it down! This book is perfectly described as a mix between Love Island and Hunger Games. It becomes more sinister as time goes on and it leaves a pit in your stomach. You’ll find yourself asking, “how far would I go?”

This novel chips down to the basic human instinct on what you’d do to survive and how far you’ll go to get what you want. Loooooved it!

this was an entertaining read! I do think that this is a perfect read for fans of love island and other reality dating tv shows! I think it was lighthearted and fun. I liked the premise and the writing

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Great, if chilling, premise, that does feel very much like watching a reality show while also seeing behind the scenes through Lily's eyes. A more modern Hunger Games, this novel asks serious questions about what we want versus what we need, and the lengths we will go to secure those things--and people.

I really loved this book, I could barely put it down after I got past the second chapter. I was a little dubious by the premise, I've never been a huge fan of reality shows, but I thought the plot did a wonderful job of drawing the reader into the world of the show. I loved the mystery as Lily slowly reveals to the reader the layers of the shows rules, both literal and subtextual. The characters were beautifully drawn and felt like real people I might have met. The dystopian nature of the world the book occupies felt both immediate and futuristic. All in all I was pleasantly surprised by The Compound and I will be thinking about it for a long time. Can't wait to pick up a physical copy when the book comes out!

Hell yeah!! From the minute I saw this described as Love Island meets Lord of the Flies I knew I had to read it!

While it’s not perfect it’s a very fun?, twisty, trashy, and dark ride. It’s reality tv meets black mirror and it totally worked for me!

If you like reality tv, love island, traitors, housewives, survivor and the like you will find something to enjoy in this book.

You meet Lily, a pretty blonde twenty something made for TV. You learn that she’s trying to escape her sad life. Job’s got her down, she isn’t close with her mom, she wants to lowkey be an influencer. She’s a contestant on this show that brings a bunch of other hot twenty-something’s together to fall in love and compete for luxurious prizes. However there’s a twist and things definitely take a turn. Some of the writing fell flat for me. I wish the author had taken it further. It felt too tame at times and then too brutal out of the blue other times. Like Tom as a character could have been so much worse.

I wish there had been more character exposition despite the rules of the game. Getting a better understanding of each character’s motivation to be on the show would have been great. However, that was never the point of the games to begin with. Why care about what makes people human when there are diamond necklaces, bottles of champagne, and fluffy robes to win? At the end of the day, I commend Rawle for writing a book that reads exactly like a produced and edited reality tv show.

Overall, I really enjoyed this despite its flaws. I can’t wait for others to read it. Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for a digital ARC.

The Compound was a fascinating and dark take on the ethics (or lack thereof) of reality television. The setting is eerie and Black Mirror-esque. The contestants offer very little information about what is going on in the outside world aside from references to a gruesome war and possibly extreme climate change, and the reader’s lack of knowledge makes me feel like I’m isolated alongside the contestants.

The story explores themes of isolation and greed, and almost reads like horror as you wait for the violence to escalate. The vibe is very unsettling, and also forces the reader to look inward and ask themself what they would do in these situations.

My only complaint isn’t much of a complaint, but I think the main character Lily lacks depth and does not feel very relatable. I’m not necessarily rooting for her, I mostly just feel sorry for her, but that may well be the point.