Hey everyone! It’s time to try to get caught up on some of the backlog of reviews I’ve got, starting with these two books that I read last year.
About the Books
Title: The Remedy
Author: Suzanne Young
Series: The Program #3
Genre: YA Dystopia
Pages: 417
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: May 4 – July 1, 2021
Blurb: Can one girl take on so many identities without losing her own? Find out in this riveting companion to The Program and the New York Times bestselling The Treatment.
In a world before The Program…
Quinlan McKee is a closer. Since the age of seven, Quinn has held the responsibility of providing closure to grieving families with a special skill—she can “become” anyone.
Recommended by grief counselors, Quinn is hired by families to take on the short-term role of a deceased loved one between the ages of fifteen and twenty. She’s not an exact copy, of course, but she wears their clothes and changes her hair, studies them through pictures and videos, and soon, Quinn can act like them, smell like them, and be them for all intents and purposes. But to do her job successfully, she can’t get attached.
Now seventeen, Quinn is deft at recreating herself, sometimes confusing her own past with those of the people she’s portrayed. When she’s given her longest assignment, playing the role of Catalina Barnes, Quinn begins to bond with the deceased girl’s boyfriend. But that’s only the beginning of the complications, especially when Quinn finds out the truth about Catalina’s death. And the epidemic it could start.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Title: The Epidemic
Author: Suzanne Young
Series: The Program #4
Genre: YA Dystopia
Pages: 385
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: July 1 – 6, 2021
Blurb: Can one girl help others find closure by slipping into the identities of their loved ones? Find out in this riveting sequel to The Remedy and companion to the New York Times bestselling The Treatment and The Program.
In a world before The Program…
Quinlan McKee has spent her life acting as other people. She was a closer—a person hired to play the role of the recently deceased in order to give their families closure. Through this process, Quinn learned to read people and situations, even losing a bit of herself to do so. But she couldn’t have guessed how her last case would bring down her entire world.
The only person Quinn trusts is Deacon, her best friend and the love of her life. Except Deacon’s been keeping secrets of his one, so Quinn must set out alone to find Arthur Pritchard, the doctor who’s been trying to control her life. The journey brings Quinn to Arthur’s daughter, Virginia, who tells Quinn the truth about Pritchard’s motives. The former closer will start to see that she is the first step in fighting an epidemic.
But Quinlan doesn’t want to be a cure. And with all the lies surrounding her, she realizes she has no one left to rely on but herself—even if she doesn’t know who that is anymore.
Review
One thing that I really like about this series is how the six books of the series are broken up into three duologies. You could, in theory, read these two books without ever reading the first two (although it would be more challenging to read the last two books in the series without having at least a passing familiarity with the rest). These two books are actually prequels to The Program and The Treatment, so we get to see a bit of the history behind how things got the way they did.
The Remedy and The Epidemic are my favorite two of the series. I think it’s because I was just really intrigued by the idea of closers. At first it sounds a bit weird and a bit creepy – getting paid to pretend to be a deceased loved one? It sounds strange, doesn’t it? But I do understand the need for getting closure in some cases. I know I have felt that need when I’ve lost people. It is an act, but all of the people involved know this, including the ones grieving. It’s a very intricate, involved form of therapy.
It’s also not necessarily healthy on the closers themselves. They spend so much time pretending to be other people and there’s so much emotional intensity involved, it takes a toll. It’s easy to lose yourself completely, especially if you aren’t given time to decompress between assignments. We see this happen to Quinn and it’s heartbreaking. She is tired to doing this and wants to quit, but cannot do so because of a contract made by her father.
Quinn is also just a really great character. I loved reading about her and her strange life.
One of the things I liked best about these two books was the amount of twists and turns there were. Obviously I can’t go into detail about them because it would be MASSIVE SPOILERS and I don’t want to do that. Basically, if you read this series, don’t trust anyone. There are ulterior motives on top of ulterior motives and the thing that is scary is that none of them are really malicious. Everyone thinks they are doing something for the benefit of the world, even if it is or could potentially destroy people.
This was a great prequel to books and a story world that I was already fascinated by. If you’ve read The Program and enjoyed it, definitely check these out.
GoodReads rating: 5 stars for both books
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
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