“The air in the room tastes sterile.”

From Suzanne Young’s The Program.

Sloane is a normal teenager; she spends time with her boyfriend (James), dreads school, and fakes her happiness to avoid being sent to The Program for a mental reset. When an “epidemic” of teenage suicides sweept the nation, the government was forced to develop a treatment program to stop, save, and fix teens before it was too late. The Program does seem to fix teens’ desire to end their life, but those that come back from the program are memory-less, subdued shells of their real selves. Sloane survives her brother’s suicide, creepy handlers (Program orderlies stationed at school), and the reprogramming of several friends, with only James to help keep her sanity. Sloane manages to keep it all together until James dives into depression and The Program; knowing that her boyfriend will be unable to support or even remember her, Sloane’s world crumbles and she’s also taken by The Program. Sloane makes a few friends (mainly, the attractive Realm) while undergoing therapy sessions that slowly erase her memories. When she’s finished, The Program told her she tried to kill herself and that she’s healed now… but when Sloane gets a memory back, things really get crazy.

The first book in Young’s dystopian series is captivating and intriguing throughout. The characters are honest and believable for the most part, although it does take a bit for Sloane’s character to resonate with the reader, but once circumstances really push her, she develops into a solid, easy-to-root-for lead character. Some readers may have issues with the idea of the suicide epidemic aspect of the story, but it is not presented in a joking or irreverent manner. The Program is a captivating read that will draw readers into Sloane’s world and require readers to continue reading into the rest of the series.