Review: The Remedy by Suzanne Young

What: The Remedy (The Program #0.5) by Suzanne Young

Who: Simon Pulse

When: April 21st 2015

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Simon & Schuster Australia for review.

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.

OKAY, I was all ready to cry and wail and flail and hiss and kind of boo before doing some research.

WHY was I all ready to cry etc etc etc? Because this book ended SO openly and there were NO answers to any of the MANY questions that The Remedy raised. Seriously. When I finished it at 11pm after pretty much devouring it in one day, I actually just lay there in my bed, mouth open and “WTF” on my tongue. Because I freaking loved The Remedy, and I couldn’t believe that I had fallen in love with these characters and invested so much in their future only to be left completely hanging. But, thankfully, there is another book being released called The Epidemic which I pretty much need as much as I need air right now.

So. I’m 99% sure that I liked The Remedy more than The Program, which is saying a lot because I really liked The Program. But The Remedy just had characters and a storyline that just completely grabbed me from the get go. Our narrator is Quinn, who pretty much acts as dead people to help their family to get over the loss of the dead person. Creepy? Hells to the yeah. This was creepy in the best way possible, and I loved it.

This acting as dead people thing (which includes more than Quinn – they’re called closers, I guess because they close the grief experienced by the family hiring them? I’m not entirely sure) is really getting to Quinn, and she starts to forget who she really is, and where she should be, and who she should trust. But Deacon is there for her. Deacon who loves her but won’t be with her because ~reasons. Deacon who is gorgeous, and who I ship Quinn with 100%. I was constantly wondering WHY Deacon was pushing and pulling Quinn at the same time. Why wouldn’t he just be with her when it’s so clear he loves her? WELL. We find out, and boy is it an interesting scenario.

A lot of the book takes place where Quinn is on assignment to be girl called Catalina, whose death is “undetermined”. This was so painful, because Quinn was subject to a mother and father who adored her, and a boyfriend who loved her, and she wanted it so badly. But she was also subject to a lot of hate and cruelty, which tore her to pieces (and me, too). I just kept on feeling so much for Quinn because she just wants a normal life surrounded by people who love her, and she doesn’t have it (well she has Deacon but they’re a bit screwed up). She starts toeing the line between being a closer and actually becoming Catalina, and that was all kinds of sad.

As I said at the beginning of this review, there are a HELL of a lot of questions raised in The Remedy regarding Quinn, Deacon, and how their story leads into that of The Program and The Treatment. I am so, so, SO glad there is another book because I need to know how everything ties together, and if Quinn finally gets to live the life she’s always wanted.

© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.