The Compound by Aisling Rawle

✦ BLURB ✦

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.

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✶ PRE-READING ✶

I was intrigued by the high-concept setup - reality TV dystopia with literary overtones is right up my alley. The Lord of the Flies comparison had me bracing for chaos, and I was curious how the Love Island influence would play out. I went in expecting social critique, some darkness, and possibly uncomfortable moments.

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✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... It had a slow start, but once it found its footing, it delivered strong momentum and a sharp commentary on surveillance culture and performative relationships. The reality show satire was well done and very pointed - Big Brother fans will find it especially effective.

It surprised me by... Leaning harder into the dystopian elements than I expected. The sex-based disqualification rule was a discomforting but deliberate narrative device - it effectively underlined how control, image, and survival are intertwined in this world. It raised the stakes in an unsettling way, which worked thematically even if it made for uneasy reading.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

Book Recommendation: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett – for another haunting, feminist survival story with ritual and isolation. It's a little younger than this one, but just as gripping a story.
TV or Movie Recommendation: The One (Netflix) or The Circle – if Black Mirror and reality dating shows had a nightmarish child.

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

A colour palette: sun-bleached beige, neon pink, and CCTV grey
A soundtrack: synthetic pop laced with static and ominous strings
A season: high summer - relentless heat and rising tensions
A mood: glossy, anxious, increasingly claustrophobic
A scent: sunscreen and sweat with a chemical tang

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

The Devil – from the Tarot of the Divine.
This card captures the story’s entrapment - both literal and psychological. The women are baited with freedom but bound by rules designed to manipulate desire and conformity. Like The Devil, the book asks: how complicit are we when the chains are made of choice?

The Compound publishes on the 3rd of July, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.