The Compound – Aisling Rawle

A group of twenty young and beautiful contestants find themselves in the compound, competing in a reality show where they complete tasks, both communal and personal, to get the things they need to survive and to thrive.  As the numbers dwindle, the remaining players start to crack under the pressure, some wanting to leave and go home and some looking to go all the way.

Aisling Rawle’s debut novel, The Compound, was the winner of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Science Fiction.  Outside of some hints of taking place in a dystopian world, there isn’t much (or as much as I would have liked) in the way of science fiction.  Covering a similar ground as Ruth Ware’s One Perfect Couple, Rawle goes deeper into the psychology of why the contestants are participating in the show and what they hope, or had hoped at the outset, to get out of it.  This was a pretty good debut, and I look forward to more from her in the future.