The Program by Suzanne Young

Imagine a future where 1 in 3 teens commits suicide, and no one knows why. That is the not so far away future that Suzanne Young created in The Program. Teen suicide is at an all time high, and after all theories and medications have been tossed aside, the United States funds a new tactic, The Program. The Program is the only thing that has been shown to work in preventing suicide, but it might not be worth it. All teens are monitored at school, taking daily assessments on their mental wellbeing, and are encouraged to report strange and depressed behavior. When a student is determined to be depressed, suicidal, or in danger of becoming suicidal, they are taken away by the government and doctors. Locked in a facility, they are monitored and have their memory erased becoming a blank slate, a shell of what they were.

Sloane knows to be careful, she doesn’t cry or throw tantrums, she keeps her feeling inside all the while putting on a brave face to the outside world. She does what she is supposed to do in order to fly under the radar, especially because she knows she has been flagged. Her older brother committed suicide in front of her, and her friend Lacey went into the program a few weeks earlier. But Sloane isn’t contemplating suicide, she has her boyfriend James and Miller (Lacey’s boyfriend) to keep her grounded. She thought they could stick it out till they turned 18 and left, but that was before Lacey came back from the program.

Contact with people returning from the program is limited, and they aren’t to have contact with friends they had before. Miller is determined to see her though, he wants to see if she’ll remember him. So he keeps going to the center trying to jog her memory, but its been wiped completely clean. Devastated, he kills himself, wanting to die rather then be sent to the program where all his memories will be taken away.

The lose is more than James can bare, Sloane finds him cutting after the incident and knows that James isn’t going to make it. James will get flagged and taken in, they will wipe him clean and she’ll have nothing left. Sloane takes in upon herself to try and get him through, doing his homework, dressing him, being overly affectionate with her attention at school, anything she can think to try and keep him there with her. But it doesn’t work, and men come and take him away one day in class.

Sloane slowly unravels after that; she tries to hold it together, but after her brother’s suicide her mother doesn’t want to take any chances, and turns Sloane into the programs main facility. Sloane is scared and attempts to be rebellious, but the drugs they give her make it hard to fight back, and slowly she is losing memories. Memories of James, and she’ll do anything to try and hang on to something, anything. And one of the handlers can give her one memory to hang on to, in exchange for a physical relationship.

Sloane thinks it might be worth it, but then there is Realm. Realm who is in treatment with her, and makes her feel special and that things will be okay again. As her memories of James continue to be erased, Realm starts to fill the void and emptiness inside. But something is wrong, something is going on inside the walls of the program, and every time Sloane learns one of its secrets the information is wiped away.

That is only the first half of the book. It is an intense book, and I cried more than a handful of times. I was a little worried that is would be to much of a romance for my taste, but to me it read more like a dystopian mystery novel that happens to have a relationship. I couldn’t put the book down, and upon finishing the novel I not only made it my Facebook status, but tweeted the author to tell her how amazing the novel was. I cannot wait until the sequel comes out, and I already preordered it. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy, mystery, teen, young adult, science fiction, and can deal with emotional turmoil.