I love thrillers with isolated settings, especially creepy ones like the rehab center in this book! Sometimes POV shifts in thrillers can be a little annoying because there’s one that is much more interesting than the other, but I actually really enjoyed both POVs here. The twists felt a little far-fetched and I wanted a little more explanation

I lived this book! I devoured it in two days, it is told from two pints of view which added to the intensity. I didn’t know who to trust!
Great ending.
It really showed you that trauma as a child can really affect you as an adult.
Many thanks to the author and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Meg has just found out that her sister Haley is dead. The famous singer has apparently committed suicide at the rehab facility she had recently checked in to. Meg knows her sister had drug and alcohol problems, so does she, but she knows that Haley would never kill herself. To find out what really happened to her sister, Meg checks herself into rehab. There are six other patients, one of them killed her sister, will she be next?

This was a pretty decent thriller, full of twist and turns. We have dual POVs; Meg and Cara, the manager of the clinic. The chapters are very short, which I love, and made the book super easy to fly through. I read it in one day, I had to know what was happening!

Meg is a super unreliable narrator, as she is going in and out of withdraw. Are her hallucinations real? Is someone really trying to kill her, or is it all in her head? Cara's chapters are basically showing us all the behind the scenes of what is going on at the clinic. Through her, we get to see what the local police think of Haley's death, and what experimental therapy the owner of the Clinic, Dr. Lutz is performing.

I really had a good time reading this one, but the ending kinda lost it for me a bit. It was exciting getting to the climax of the ending, but then the epilogue had another twist that you don't see coming, and is hard to believe. <spoiler> I mean....how many times can one person die? </spoiler>

Overall, it was a fun, fast paced read! I hope others enjoy it just as much as I did.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Sourcebook Landmark and NetGalley for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. This book was a wild ride. I really enjoyed the inside view of the rehab clinic where the majority of the story takes place, and I never did figure out the murder mystery. This was twisty, gritty, and fun to read.

Meg of working a late night at the casino when she hears her celebrity sister, Haley had died in rehab. Something makes her wonder about Haley’s death, so she decides to go to rehab to find out what happened. Only, Meg discovers that she has to break her own traumas to get to the bottom of her sister’s death.

Meg is used to living life undercover, working as she does catching crooks for a Los Angeles casino. Almost no one there even knows that she’s basically Hollywood royalty, the younger daughter of a famous actress as well as the younger sister of platinum-selling singing star Haley Banks. It helps that Meg is a social chameleon, a skill learned while surviving her nightmare childhood. While Meg wants little to do with her narcissist mother most days, her relationship with her sister is more tempestuous, as the two seem unable to break out of a cycle of fighting and staying estranged for weeks or months before finally reconciling.

They’re in one of these periods of estrangement when Meg hears, via Haley’s insistent texts, that Haley is back in rehab. The last thing Meg wants to do is talk about therapy, so she puts off responding. This is a choice she’ll regret when she inadvertently catches a news story informing her that her big sister is dead, the apparent victim of a suicidal drug overdose while staying at a fancy clinic in the Pacific Northwest.

Meg might be in denial about a lot of things, but she knows one fact with absolute certainty: Haley would never kill herself. With the help of her co-worker Harry, she goes undercover at the clinic, posing as a casino employee who wants to get clean. Of course, Meg has no intention of giving up the alcohol or painkillers that help her get through her days, and soon finds herself stymied by both the treatment program and the lack of solid leads.

Gently, Harry suggests that maybe trying to get clean and face her demons will actually help in her investigation. Being vulnerable towards her fellow patients, most of whom were present when Haley died, would encourage them to confide in her in return. Meg has to admit:

QUOTE
“That’s what my therapist keeps saying. Bond with the group. He wants me to read out this big honest statement saying all the messed-up stuff I’ve done.”

“So do it.”


“I don’t know if I can. If I do the honesty statement, the next step is digging up childhood trauma. I’m not ready for that, Harry.”

“Haley was remembering childhood stuff in rehab, right?”

“Right.”

“So maybe you and Haley’s past [...] is the key to what the fuck is going on.”

“What are you talking about, Harry?”

“You’re not going to like this, Meg. But to solve your sister’s murder, you might need to solve yourself.”
END QUOTE

The more Meg investigates, the more she has to admit that Harry might actually be right. But as she begins to voluntarily allow the clinic to use its methods on her, orthodox or otherwise, the more alarmed she grows by what she discovers. Given the timing and accessibility required to have harmed her sister, Meg knows that one of her fellow patients must have been Haley’s killer. The more secrets she uncovers about the clinic itself, however, the more she begins to worry that someone else might have malevolent intentions towards them all.

Meg isn’t the only one at the clinic with secrets or concerns. The live-in manager, Cara, is rigid and loyal to her employer, the mysterious Dr Lutz. While Cara wants to follow his instructions to the letter, the interest of the local police causes her allegiance to waver, especially in the face of the cheerful inquisitiveness of the disarming Officer Meyers, who’s clearly done her research when she brings up Cara’s last job:

QUOTE
[“]They couldn’t fire you. You refused to leave. So they shuffled you into a deadbeat hotel and hoped you’d quit of your own accord.”

“Thanks for the summary.” I give her my best icy smile. “Where I come from, people keep their internet stalking to themselves.”

“Oh, I come from a big family of oversharers,” Meyers says happily. “I also saw that you turned the hotel around,” she beams, oblivious to my displeasure. “Made friends with the hobos. Started turning a profit. Good for you.[“]
END QUOTE

Cara’s efficiency and determination are only two of the reasons she was brought in to run the clinic. But will these exemplary qualities aid or hamper Meg’s quest to uncover the truth about what happened to her sister?

This thriller holds some wild surprises, as Meg finally processes her suppressed memories of the past and gets to the bottom of not only what the clinic is doing, but what really happened to Haley. The depictions of addiction withdrawal and the way the famous patients deal with their traumas are all presented viscerally: it’s hard not to root for all of them, even knowing the terrible things they’ve done and that one of them is definitely a murderer. Cate Quinn draws from her own experiences, and it shows in the empathy and care she uses in writing this fascinating page-turner, that dives deep into family trauma and emotional repression and the ways people learn to cope with their pasts in order to survive.

When her famous sister dies in rehab, Meg goes undercover to find out who killed her. Trapped in an exclusive and expensive clinic, Meg must come to terms with her past while also being surrounded by people she doesn’t know and cannot trust. As Cara, the manager of The Clinic, simultaneously learns the truth about what goes on there, she realizes that she has played a role in mysterious and sinister happenings.

This is my first book by Cate Quinn, and I had a really fun time with it. Isolated settings are always a hit or miss for me, but I really enjoyed The Clinic and the descriptions of it. Meg was not a likable character - but I’m okay with that in thrillers - and by the end of the book, understanding her and her past helped me. I did like Cara, however, and had a fun time rotating back and forth between their POVs as they focused on different aspects of the clinic. I would have loved some more concrete information about Meg and her sister’s past - even with the reveal at the end, I felt that things were a little blurred - but other than that, I did have a really fun time with this book and couldn’t put it down.

CW for murder, addictions, abuse, alcoholism, violence, gambling, injections, fraud.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC of The Clinic by Cate Quinn.

The Clinic takes place in the Pacific North West on the coast, down a spooky foggy road in a rehab clinic. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of a few different characters giving you the reader a front row seat to all of the action. This story was fast paced and had me racing through the pages to find out what happens next. Cate Quinn once again tells a great story that leaves you guessing until the very end.
Thank you for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Clinic, it is an elite rehab facility for the rich and famous to work through their addictions without the eye of the paparazzi and reporters.. Located in an isolated location, on the Pacific coast in Washington state and run by a very eccentric Swiss doctor.
Haley is one of the patients. She was frequently in the tabloids for her partying lifestyle. She is so very close to the end of her stay at the Clinic. She has a good chance of being a success story. Then she dies of a heroin overdose. It is ruled as suicide.
Meg is Haley's younger sister. The two have been estranged for years. When Meg learns of Haley's death though, she knows that something is wrong. Her sister wouldn't commit suicide and she had never used heroin. Never used a needle.
With Meg's job as professional gambler at a casino, to catch loan sharks, she believes she has the skills to go into the Clinic and root out what actually happened. She does have her own alcohol and oxycodone addiction, which would make her a legitimate patient.
Told from the pov of Meg and Cara, the newly hired manager, the veneer of the Clinic is slowly scraped away by these two determined women, revealing a deeper darker motive than helping addicts recover.
This is a very thought provoking read. It goes into how childhood trauma can re-wire the brain in ways that are not able to heal. Just because you 'don't remember' any details of your childhood, doesn't mean that your actions and responses aren't affected still by those unremebered times.

Also, I did end up looking up what was referred to in this story as "The Florida Shuffle." I was shocked to see it is an actual thing that does happen. Addicts, with medical insurance, are taken into rehabs, where their insurances is billed for the lab tests at huge mark-ups. Then when the person is done with the treatment and leaves, they are tempted by someone, working for the rehab, to tempt the addict to relapse so that they have to go back and their insurance can be milked again.

This one will stick with me for a good while.
Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this thought provoking Thriller e-ARC.

This was WAY TOO LONG. I was interested for about 75% of the book, but the big "twist" was farfetched. I didn't care how the book ended after that. There was also a point near the end where Meg was written in a completely different voice than the rest of the book. It was almost as if that chapter was from a previous draft. It didn't flow.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book it was my first by this author. This book was engaging with short chapters but, however there were more than 100 chapters, I think there could of been less. At the beginning this book reminded me of another book but, I was wrong this book had so many twisty turns. The setting was a clinic/mental hospital where a sister investigates the death of her sister at this facility.
I will have to look for other books by this author.

*3.5 stars rounded up

When Meg learns her older sister Haley's death while in rehab has been ruled a suicide, she decides to check herself in to prove otherwise. Could one of her fellow patients be a murderer?

The author writes that she used her own personal experiences in rehab to inform her story. This is the first book she's written sober. It's a quick read with lots of surprising twists and some interesting insights into addiction and the tools used to try to help patients recover.

I was invited to read an arc of this novel by the publisher. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I probably lean closer to a 3.5 but I did struggle with this book. I appreciated the authors point of view and insight surrounding addiction, and I was intrigued by "fugu." However, parts of the book seemed a bit unrealistic to me, without giving it away. The twist of Haley and Meg's past did surprise me, but the other twists in the book were a bit disappointing. This is only the first book I've read by Cate Quinn and I'd be interested in reading more.

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving this advanced copy!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the eARC.
What a fun and twisty novel this was. The book is over 400 pages, yet I didn't feel the length. Quinn wrote this novel with short engaging chapters that kept me up way too late turning the pages to see how things would turn out. This book takes place in a high end rehab where one patient has died and her sister admits herself to investigate, but she is also an addict. This book is full of trauma and emotions, that I felt were handled well. This novel gave me plenty to think about, and I will look forward to more from this author in the future.

Meg is a professional poker player with a celebrity sister Haley, who commits suicide in rehab. She then goes “undercover” as a rehab patient to try to figure out what actually happened, because she doesn’t believe for a second that Haley killed herself.

This story was so far fetched. The fact that the beginning is spent talking about how similar they look, and then when she enters the rehab she doesn’t even change her name or appearance was the first red flag to me. There’s a therapist on staff. Did Haley never mention her sister Meg? Not only that, but no one even noticed the resemblance? Or how about when Meg immediately started asking about Haley upon walking into the place?

That was just some of the discrepancies that really irked me, and then as we got further into the plot it went off the rails. I understand that I need to be able to suspend my belief, but this was too much. The twists got excessive and overwhelming unbelievable. This just did not work for me, which is disappointing since the writing was so atmospheric and I was loving the short chapters and the pacing early on. It ended up getting too detailed, with too many twists, and it would have benefitted from being shorter.

I enjoyed it, but it just isn’t a new favorite for me to say the least.

Thank you NetGalley & Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Wow is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about The Clinic. Riveting character development with twists and turns to keep me guessing as I turned each page. I couldn't decide if I liked Meg or wanted to just shake her and say "what are you thinking!" The dynamic between the guests was incredible. Each twist makes you feel like you are in the book.

A capitvating novel from start to finish! Meg finds herself plunged into a confusing mystery when her famous sister, Haley, is discovered dead at The Clinic, an exclusive rehab facility. Initially presumed a suicide, Meg harbors doubts about this and resolves to investigate, going undercover as a patient.

Once there, Meg struggles not only with uncovering the truth behind her sister's death but also with her own demons—addiction to alcohol and oxy pills, rooted in childhood and workplace trauma. As Meg struggles towards sobriety, she unveils a web of stories and secrets among fellow patients, psychologists, and staff. She quickly discovers the extent of her addiction and the blurred lines between reality and deception.

This engaging tale is a must-read for fans of suspenseful psychological thrillers.

Thank you to Cate Quinn, Sourcebooks Landmark Publishing, and NetGalley for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

First, the breakdown.
Plot: 5
Characters: 4
Pace: 4
Enjoyment: 4.5

Overall: 4

Meg goes to a rehab clinic to solve the mystery of who killed her sister, or figure out if it was a murder at all.

The plot of this book is fantastic. Cate did a great job at planning and executing this. The characters are well thought out and easy to distinguish between. There are multiple narrators and they are all unreliable. The way the plot plays out make sense and flows well. I will say the end was a little drawn out. After the climax there is more than I thought necessary. I think the climax could've been the ending and that would've been good. There was an additional twist at the end. I don't think it was needed but it could lead into another book. There was also a part at the end that I didn't understand. I might need to go back and reread but I don't know. *Spoiler* so if you didn't read, stop now. I don't understand how Meg was seeing Max as a therapist unless she was visiting him in prison?? Or was he her therapist after he was released from prison and Meyers and Hanson's visit to the 'new' Clinic was after that? Anywhere that was the only part that I didn't understand.

Overall I liked this and would recommend this to another ready of mystery books!

Meg doesn't believe that her sister committed suicide in rehab. So she's out to the Clinic to prove that Haley was murdered.
This mystery/thriller looked very promising, but addiction trigger me, so this was not a pleasant read for me. My bad for not doing my research prior to diving into this one. You also definitely have to suspend disbelief, as this is super far-fetched and all over the place. I don't really understand what was the point of Cara's POV... The book was about 100 pages too long, but I liked that the chapters were short. I've read many great reviews about this one, so it was just not for me.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Ok I really enjoyed this one. I have read some mixed reviews, but I had a strong overall positive feeling about this book.
The dual POV helped for me as this book has 115 chapters. The dual POV makes the chapters short thankfully.
It also helped for me to see what was happening from both Meg and Cat’s perspective as Cat is a rule follower. She’s someone who had someone in her life touched by addiction and it molded her into what she is now. Then you have Meg, who basically doesn’t follow any of the rules. She’s there to find out what happened to her sister while dealing with her own addictions to alcohol and oxy.
As a medical professional I had some issues with the way the rehab had some design flaws for those at risk of self harm. But that’s just my brain always being extra.
I would say give this book a read if you like liked door mysteries, dual POV, and psychological twists.
I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Sourcebooks. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you @netgalley and @bookmarked for this ARC of The Clinic by @catequinnauthor. I made the mistake of looking at other reviews before reading this and can honestly say I don’t know how anyone didn’t like this book!

Trauma tends to get the best of people and manifest itself into various forms of addiction. Some people over eat, some people turn to sex or violence, and others turn to drugs and alcohol. When Meg’s famous sister ends up dead in rehab from what has been deemed a “suicide” she knows something is wrong. Haley loved herself too much to end her own life. Meg, like Haley, has her own demons and is on the verge of losing her job and the only man she’s ever maybe loved. Working as an undercover in a casino she too has turned to pills and alcohol to numb her days. Convinced there was foul play involved in Haley’s death she checks herself into rehab and goes undercover with no intentions of actually getting clean and only getting answers.

Meg is thrown into a glitzy Hollywood rehab with all the luxuries one can expect and all the drama associated with famous clientele. The longer she’s there she begins to believe Haley isn’t dead. Threatening messages start appearing, too many coincidences are happening, the eccentric owner and questionable staff seem to be hiding things, new age off the books treatment, and too many suspects put Meg into a tail spin. As her own trauma starts to surface and she makes the decision to actually get sober she begins questioning everything she thought she knew. Getting to the bottom of Haley’s death may just get Meg to save herself along the way. If you’re looking for a mystery that keeps you guessing this is it. #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #bookstagram #booknerd #arc #2024readingchallenge 📚📚📚

Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2024.