Book Review: The Program

I started another series, God help me.  I can't keep up with all these series! However, here is another futuristic story where Depression and Suicide have become an epidemic.

The Program

Suzanne Young

Sloane is a teenage girl with a loving boyfriend and best friend.  But there is an epidemic running rampant among teens.  Supposedly, depression and suicide are now an infection, and it's spreading.  The Program has been put in place to help those showing signs of depression---which means teens can't cry or get frustrated in front of the handlers.  They can show no emotion, lest they be misinterpreted as depression and taken to the Program.

The Program seems like it should help, but those who come back are empty shells.  They have lost every memory that had a negative connotation associated with it.  Friends forget friends and boyfriends.  When Sloane is taken by the Program, she must fight to keep her memories at all costs.

This is a FANTASTIC premise for a teen book.  Suicide and Depression are HUGE these days.  The story comes up with the theory of doctors and parents that it is an infection spread much like a virus.  It seems like a misunderstanding of the turmoil teens go through.  You get so frustrated throughout the story, because you KNOW what should happen to help these teens, but it's always the Program that determines the rules.

This modern take on depression is especially important, and I love the way everything was twisted, between Sloane dating her brother's best friend, her brother's suicide, entry into the program, and trying to remember her boyfriend after being released.  There is so much going on in this book, and I can't quite figure out who to trust! Luckily, there is a second book to the series! Here it is: