The Treatment - YA Bingo

Book Completed On: May 3rd.

# of Pages: 344

Bingo Category: A Book With An Incredible Fight Scene

Originally I intended to categorize this book under "A Book Set In The Future." However, this is the 2nd book in the series and I couldn't remember from the first book (released last year) if there was an exact year when the boom took place. It's safe to say that these books, The Program and The Treatment, take place in a dystopian future where the biggest epidemic is suicide, specifically in teenagers.

The Program is a system put in place to combat the epidemic. Teenagers who exhibit signs of depression are submitted to The Program against their will, in which they are "cured" by means of therapy and medication. They are given pills that target and destroy memories that involve pain or sadness, and the person that leaves The Program is not the same as the one who is dragged in, their memories heavily edited and their personalities changed. Both books follow Sloane and James, two teenagers who have been effected by love, loss and The Program.

Instead of A Book Set In The Future, I decided to categorize this book under A Book With An Incredible Fight Scene. I will not give specifics, so as not to spoil anything in either book, but let's just say that this fight scene involves a fairly contemptible handler that completely deserves the beating that he gets. That is all you get to know ;)

It's probably obvious that The Treatment is the sequel to The Program. What I didn't realize until I was nearly finished reading the book is that The Treatment is the final book in the series instead of 2 our of 3, which is what I expected going in. Trilogies are so popular right now, I've even read articles written by editors and publishers in The Writer's Digest about how in-demand trilogies are in the YA book industry. It was strange to not realize until I was really close to the end of the book that what was happening wasn't a set up for a final book, but was rather an ending for the series. Because there wasn't any indication in the synopsis of the book or as I was reading, to me the ending felt very rushed. However, I believe that if somebody picks up this book knowing full well that it's the final book in the series, they may feel differently. I'd be very interested if anybody picked up this series and felt differently about The Treatment, knowing that it will wrap up by the end of the book.