** spoiler alert ** 
 I didn't love this book, but I also didn't hate it. For only having about 250 pages, Bodeen was able to do a lot, but I felt there were parts that weren't as well developed. 
 Eli and his family enter the compound due to being told there is a nuclear war about to start. They have lived in the compound for six years with little things going wrong here and there (which felt a little thrown into the story and not incredibly well developed... perhaps true flashbacks would have felt more natural to me). All of sudden, Eli and his family start to question their father's role in the creating and keeping of the compound. The sudden questioning by Eli youngest sister Terese (I believe she is 11 or 12) felt incredibly rushed. There was no build up that would lead the reader to think that Eli's father has done anything wrong and the fact that Eli's youngest sister recognizes something over Eli (he is 16) feels lacking and fishy. I realize that Eli "lost" his twin brother in the rushing to the compound, but his physical and mental pulling away from his family would probably make him more suspicious of his father... not less. Unless Eli was seriously just that oblivious - which I don't think he is since he was born to a genius of a father. 
 There were other parts that felt suddenly thrown into the story and weren't very well explained after the initial "throw in". Eli's father feels the need to create "Supplements". This word is randomly throw out there for the reader to see and then wonder about the several pages (or chapters perhaps?) before it is ever fully explained. We know at this point that Eli and his family have already had several problems with the food sources that Eli's father has set up for them in the compound. After the death of their cattle and poultry, the growing light bulbs being incorrectly stocked, and other foods beginning to dimish even after about a year, Eli's father has decided they must create an alternate food source (or at least they are alluded to in this way). Eli's father and mother have 3-4 more children. WHAT THE HELL!? Obviously Eli's father is the bad guy... but even so, the "Supplements" feel either poorly explained or poorly executed in the writing them into the story in the first place. 
 These were just a few of the issues I had with the story, but overall I liked the premise and plot of the story. I thought Eli was a relateable character who grew overall (as seen when he cuts off his mountain of hair after keeping it long throughout their stay in the compound). Other characters' growth would have been interesting to include a little bit more, but I realize that the story was focusing in on Eli. Bodeen did a good job of creating an villain that was both difficult to hate and at times confusing to trust. Parental figures are tricky ones to create as villains. I will definitely be reading the next book in the duology (The Fallout) to find out whether or not Eli's father survived the explosion of the compound and how the family will adjust to the world they were not a part of for six long years.