Common Sense Media Review
By Joe Applegate
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fast thriller turns into fairly tame adventure-romance.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
THE TREATMENT follows Sloane and her boyfriend, James, as they flee the government's massive effort to stop a teen suicide epidemic by wiping out the memories of anyone deemed at risk. Joining a network of other fugitive teens, Sloane and James find they can rely only on themselves and their promises to each other to fight for their identities. Sloane finds herself isolated in a treatment center being led toward a lobotomy when she risks everything to see James again.
Is It Any Good?
Concluding The Program, which presented a creepy world of rampant suicide and government intervention, The Treatment devolves into a classic romance with the heroine choosing between two admirers. Being on the run from a government effort to kill or lobotomize fugitive kids is rendered in paper-thin detail. When true love's never in doubt, the result may be uplifting, but not for long, no matter how fast the story unfolds.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about memories. Is there anything good about a sad one?
What's the best thing to do when you feel your saddest?
If there were a pill that would wipe out just one memory, would you take it?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Romance
- Topics : Adventures , Friendship
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Simon Pulse
- Publication date : April 29, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 352
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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