Review: The Treatment by Suzanne Young

Title: The Treatment
Author: Suzanne Young
Series: The Program, book #2
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: April 29, 2014
Source: received from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Can Sloane and James survive the lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end? Find out in this sequel to The Program, which Publishers Weekly called “chilling and suspenseful.”

How do you stop an epidemic?

Sloane and James are on the run after barely surviving the suicide epidemic and The Program. But they’re not out of danger. Huge pieces of their memories are still missing, and although Sloane and James have found their way back to each other, The Program isn’t ready to let them go.

Escaping with a group of troubled rebels, Sloane and James will have to figure out who they can trust, and how to take down The Program. But for as far as they’ve come, there’s still a lot Sloane and James can’t remember. The key to unlocking their past lies with the Treatment—a pill that can bring back forgotten memories, but at a high cost. And there’s only one dose.

Ultimately when the stakes are at their highest, can Sloane and James survive the many lies and secrets surrounding them, or will The Program claim them in the end?

I really enjoyed The Program when I read it last year, and because of that and because of where the first book left off, I had some seriously high expectations for this sequel. The Treatment pretty much lived up to them, despite the fact that it still felt like something was missing, but overall it was still a really great conclusion to this story.

Duologies seem to be the current trend in YA literature, and I have to admit, I'm on board with it. If an author can't fit the entire story into one book, then I'd still much prefer they tell it in two rather than making me wait for a third book to get to the resolution. I felt like I'd already been waiting much too long for the rest of Sloane's story -- even though it had only been since April -- so when I got that approval on Edelweiss, I immediately started the book, which meant I was reading it around Thanksgiving.

I tried to savor it, but you know how it is when you've really been anticipating a book. The mere thought of setting it aside for one mundane task or another makes you twitchy. Yet, even though this story was pretty compelling and was go-go-go nearly from cover to cover, I still felt like some of the driving force of the first book was missing. Maybe it's because this was one of those always on the run books, where the characters are always running, always being chased, and I never got the opportunity to feel settled. I felt like I never had the chance to reconnect with these characters in the way that I did in The Program.

I know some people are worried about that potential love triangle/quadrangle, but honestly it doesn't even really exist, nor is it really all that relevant. Realm -- who I don't even think I mentioned in my review of the first book because he was of such little import to me -- is in love with Sloane, and Sloane and James are still trying to rediscover what they had before The Program took their memories away. And Dallas -- a new character you'll love to hate or hate to love, I'm still not sure where I fall on that one -- is in love with Realm. The thing is, so much of what these kids feel is based on how they felt before The Program got a hold of them -- even if they have no memory of it -- or what they did after they got out. They're on the run so much in this story that I don't think any of them really have a chance to stop and consider what they're feeling. Because of this, I was never sure I could trust anything they said or did when it came to their feelings. And yet, I still had a good idea how this situation would turn out romantically.

Because of that, I didn't really focus too much on the romance. No, my favorite aspect was all of the questions this story raised. Some really thought-provoking questions. Like, what role does memory play in a person's relative happiness? As a society, are we over-diagnosing mental health illnesses, perpetuating the myth that prevention through early, and sometimes aggressive, treatments is what's most advantageous? I don't think the author set out to answer these questions, only to make the reader ponder them, and more, as the story progressed.

I'm sad to say that I am a little disappointed in this sequel, only because it didn't have that same oomph I felt while reading the first book. Also, the ending was a tad anticlimactic, considering the build-up leading into it. Even so, I'm still really impressed with this series, with the writing, and with the author's handling of such a sensitive, controversial subject. I definitely plan to read more from Suzanne Young, as I've now enjoyed two great series from her.

GIF it to me straight:

Sad that it's over, but it left me with a lot to think about.

About the author:

Originally from New York, Suzanne Young moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death. She currently resides in Tempe, where she teaches high school English. When not writing obsessively, Suzanne can be found searching her own tragic memories for inspiration.

Suzanne is the author of several books for teens, including THE PROGRAM, A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL, and A WANT SO WICKED.

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