The Program

Young, Suzanne. The Program. 2013. 405p. ISBN 9781442445802. Available at FIC YOU on the library shelves.

Suicide among teens has become an epidemic, with over one in four teens taking their life. At a loss, adults have turned to the Program, an intensive therapy involving involuntary commitment, heavy doses of sedatives and other chemicals, and forgetting one’s own memories. So far, the Program claims a 100% success rate in preventing suicide in teens who have been admitted and released.

But the Program is hated by all teens because it robs them of their memories and of their personalities. Teens that come out of the Program and are reinserted in society do not remember key events of their lives, and in many cases their personalities have changed.

Sloane and James, her brother’s best friend, have been dating for a while now, but when her brother committed suicide James was the only one left. As more and more people in her circle of friends succumb to the epidemic, Sloane worries that the Program will come for them. James is the first to crack, and is hauled away. When he returns eight weeks later, Sloane barely recognizes him. Feeling bitter and antagonized from society, she heads down a dark path. Her mother, worried for her daughter, has her committed to the Program.

Alone and terrified, Sloane tries to resist the therapy mandated by the program, but finds it more and more difficult. But then she meets Michael, another patient in the Program. He’s not James, but he wants to help Sloane. Can Sloane survive the eight weeks of treatment, and, more importantly, will she remember who she loves, and who she really is?