The Epidemic by Suzanne Young | Review | *spoiler free*

WHAT DID I JUST READ?!

Ever since I finished reading The Remedy – the third installment in The Program series – almost five months ago, I have been asking and quite literally begging (and bugging) the librarians at my school library to buy Suzanne Young’s newest release, and latest installment in The Program series; The Epidemic. 
The Epidemic is the fifth installment in The Program series. So far, this series consists of four books and one ebook (which I read quite recently).

These include;

• (1)      The Program
• (2)     The Treatment
• (2.5)  The Recovery (ebook)
• (0.5)  The Remedy
• (0.6)  The Epidemic!
• (3)      The Adjustment (coming 2107)

The series tells the story of what would happen if suicide spread through teenagers like the common cold and it becomes the norm to hide one’s own feelings in order to not be suspected of being depressed. In this dystopian universe, a secret organization called The Program takes control of the situation and appeals to people’s fears. They feed people lies of protection and wellbeing when in reality they’re ruining the very people’s lives in which they’re trying to save. They wish to control the people, contain the suicide epidemic, but they do not see the effect that they have on their victims. They only see results. They only show results. No one knows what goes on on the inside.

Epidemic vs. Pandemic; an epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time, and a pandemic is a disease that is prevalent over a whole country or the world. The outbreak of suicide described in the series is an epidemic as it is only confined to specific states in the USA where the series is set.

The Epidemic picks up directly from where The Remedy left off.

Quinlan McKee has always been a closer. Has always delt with death.

All her life she has had to pose as other people’s loved ones in order to provide the families the closure they need to move on. Until her patner and exboyfriend Deacon are assigned to two very similar cases, the both of them start to get suspicious as to why the details of the cases have been undiclosed to them.

In an attempt to find out more about her life before she became Quinlan McKee, Quinn boarded a bus with Deacon – the only person she now trusts, leaving everyone she thought she had ever known and trusted behind, in pursuit of The Program’s founder Author Prichard who she believes, holds the key to her true identity.

I will try not to spoil this book too much, so you know what to expect when you read it, because I do believe everyone who has read – or hasn’t read – The Program series should read this book. I do want to say that I was quite indifferent about the story.

Going into this book, I wasn’t so sure what I wanted to expect in terms of the narrative, but in terms of the content of the novel, I expected more clarity with the explanation of the origins of The Program.

I rated this novel ★★★★☆ (4/5 stars) on Goodreads because although it didn’t live up to all the excitement of The Program for me, it did entertain me and keep me engaged the entire time I was reading it.

I went into this book with the expectation that it would consist majorly of the cause of the suicide/ depression epidemic and the origins of The Program. Although it did this and so much more, I felt that it was hidden behind the drama occurring between Quinn, Deacon, and Marie. I also had a problem with a few minor characters coming into the story then leaving abruptly with an excuse, making it seem as if Young did not want to further develop them, and I was very disappointed with this because I understand that there are already enough characters in the story, but due to the abruptness of their exit, it didn’t seem necessary to even include them in the story in the first place.

Although this book managed to clarify the origin of the suicide epidemic, I felt that the story was quite slow and repetitive, containing unnecessary information and events that didn’t build on the story. Despite all of this I did enjoy finding out about how and why the Epidemic began. I was deeply satisfied with the ending, as Young left no loose ends or cliffhangers, which allowed the storyline to diverge neatly into the start of the first book The Program, clearing up any questions I had about some of the more mysterious characters mentioned in the earlier books.

Despite these minor disagreements, I loved this book and I cannot wait for the final installment in this series, The Adjustment.

 

Hope you all get a chance to read this;

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© Jasper+Spice 2015. All Rights Reserved. Please do not use without permission. This book review was not sponsored in any way and all opinions are entirely my own. Rating + review also posted on my Goodreads page. The photo used was originally posted on my Instagram @jasperandspice.