The Treatment by Suzanne Young (review)

Having escaped from The Program (BCCB 7/13), teenage lovers Sloane and James are now on the run and growing desperate for help. They join forces with an underground resistance group of other young escapees, camping out in safe houses and dodging Program handlers. Things get more complicated when Realm, Sloane’s romantic distraction from the first book, returns, stirring up resentments within the group and confused longings in Sloane’s heart. Meanwhile, Sloane still has the mysterious pill Realm gave her, the Treatment that would give her back the memories the Program had stolen, but she worries what recovering her past might do to her sanity, her new life, and her future with James. Before she can decide what to do with the pill, she and her friend Dallas are captured, and the group must decide how much they are willing to risk to get the girls back. With its shift to a narrative full of near escapes and threats of lobotomy, this sequel is a more conventional adventure story than the first volume, but many of the other essential elements of the original remain: the intense psychological drama, the passionate romance between Sloane and James, the frightening power of the Program to steal one’s past away. The fast-paced plot will also keep readers fully engaged, and the introduction of the scene-stealing new character Dallas will give them a new heroine to root for in future novels.