Reader Score
78%
78% of readers
recommend this book
"Every bit as addictive as your favorite guilty pleasure binge-watch, but with all the substance of a literary classic."--Oprah Daily
"I dare you not to tear through The Compound at lightning speed."--Zakiya Dalila Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl
ONE THE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER: The New York Times, Vulture, Time, Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Forbes, Betches, Publishers Weekly
Lily--a bored, beautiful twenty-something--wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door.
Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she'll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams--but what will she have to do to win?
Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends.
MJ Franklin is an editor at The New York Times Book Review.
A debut novel about one woman trying to win an absolutely demented reality TV competition... This book is a really, really fun one... like the best reality TV shows, you stay hooked because you want to see what deranged thing is going to happen next.
"Rawle’s novel offers a disorienting view of a world that doesn’t seem too far removed from how we are already living — trapped between the desire for connection and the impulse to only look out for ourselves."
"Rawle’s writing is gripping and propulsive, and she hints at a dystopian hellscape just beyond the compound’s gates...With nods to The Hunger Games and even Black Mirror, The Compound offers prime poolside reading. A binge-worthy guilty pleasure."