The Clinic was such an addictive, thought-provoking and intriguing mystery/thriller and I absolutely loved it! The short chapters made it a fast paced read. I loved the alternating POV and unreliable narrators as well. It was full of twists and turns and secrets that kept me hooked from the very first to the last page. The setting is atmospheric and stunning as depicted on the cover and I just loved everything about this book! This was my first book by Cate Quinn and I’m excited to read her others.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for my early digital copy for my honest thoughts and review!

My first thought after finishing this book was “whoa what did I just read” because I was genuinely shocked. The plot twist gave me full body chills and that isn’t something that happens often for me. After the reveal, I started thinking about what I had read before the twist and it all started clicking in my brain and made sense. I’m usually one to skip the acknowledgments, but I highly recommend reading that section in this one to get some insight on the author’s inspiration behind this book. Definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys thrillers!

✨ super short chapters
✨ “locked in” thriller - someone inside is a killer but no one knows who and everyone is a suspect
✨ how far someone will go to find the truth
✨ heavily focused on darker topics including addiction and trauma (check trigger warnings)
✨ multiple twists + one out there twist that requires suspension in belief
✨ dual POV

2.75 - trying a little too hard to be psychologically deep- missing the mark and ultimately distracting from the points of the book that were entertaining and fun.


Jumping into the novel, I immediately did not connect to the style of the prose. It felt a bit too rudimentary.

But by page 50 I had moved past those feeling and began to get really strapped into the story.

I found most of the journey to be fast paced and engaging- the book has short chapters and straight forward language.

There were so many things that I liked in the story- Meg is a great character with complicated problems. The setting of the story (a high end rehab for high profile clients) is well drawn and engaging. I had long periods reading this book where it felt unputdownable.

BUT… I’m sad to say that I felt the story really fell apart at the end.

Too much psychobabble exposition, requires a lot of suspension of belief and I really disliked the payoff of one of the main mysterious plot points.

I would definitely read more of Cate Quinn, I really enjoyed about 70% of the book- loved the journey once I got into it, but ultimately felt that the conclusion was trying to do too much. I would have loved for one or two plot points to be neatly wrapped verses the attempt hitting every point all over again at length.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book is a WILD ride! Meg enters an exclusive rehab clinic to investigate her sister’s recent death there. The other patients are an interesting mix of celebrities along with a crazy mix of staff members. This story is very unique and has lots of unexpected twists.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This is a murder mystery about two sisters that has a traumatic past. Haley that was famous that went into rehab, but died from an overdose. Meg is a gambler and an addict. Meg went undercover and checked herself into the clinic to figure out who murdered her sister.

The premise of the book was good, but I couldn't get into the characters. I only ended up liking Meg and her journey of figuring out the truth about Haley and also trying to fight her addiction and mental health.

I did like the twist and turns, but I felt the end didn't hit the way I wanted it to, Overall I did enjoy this quick read.

Overall it was a decent read. The ending really saved it for me. Parts of the beginning and middle seemed to just drag on with lots of fluff. At some points I was wondering why there were even two different point of views. But the author seemed to pull it together in the end.

The Clinic delivered on a mystery with creepy characters in a secluded area. The type of book you shouldn’t read late at night. Meg wasn’t creepy- just your average undercover gambler. But getting a message from your estranged sister, after she is declared dead. Creepy. Meg gets herself into the clinic her sister was attending when she died. The different characters in that building! I’m not sure which were creepier- the staff or the patients. So many twists and turns- right to the end. A great thriller.

This one was just okay for me. The premise made me want to read this, and the beginning had me hooked. But the middle dragged for me, making it hard to get through. The plot did pick up at the end, but I found the ending was anticlimatic. I also didn't care for many of the characters, except for Meg, she was the only one I was rooting for. This book had some good twists that I didn't see coming, while others were predictable. Overall, this was just okay.

Thank you NetGalley and Source Books for the ARC!

3.5 rounded up. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was an interesting book, and I feel like maybe I need to sit with my thoughts on it to figure out how I felt with it. I did really enjoy most of the characters, or at least the concept of them all together as a group. It was a very slow-paced book (or maybe it FELT that way because it was 115 chapters, even if they were short chapters), and I felt like I spent a lot of time with the characters, but I also feel like I don't really know a lot about them besides Cara and Meg? I was definitely interested in the mystery surrounding the book. I think the ending was really out-there and a bit too convoluted for my taste, and felt a little bit rushed despite the slow pacing of the book. I'm also not a big fan of the "science" presented in this book - really screamed more pseudoscience to me, but I understand that this is a thriller where we'll have to suspend our disbelief. I still overall enjoyed the story and would like to read more about the characters in the future.

I loved the idea of a thriller set in a rehab and the author executed it perfectly. As she mentions in her author's note, the author has experience in this setting and it shows with the humor and compassion with which she portrays the cast of characters that populate this high-end, secluded, and experimental rehab. The resolution of the mystery was kind of silly, but the characters and the secluded Pacific northwest setting made this a win for me.

I tried to read this book 3 times but I just could not get into it. I found the writing style not for me. I couldn't really connect with anything in this book.

Great read!!

Meg is an addict who decides to go undercover to figure out what happened to her sister, Haley, who overdosed in The Clinic. I don’t want to say too much and give it away, but y’all— it’s GOOD!

I liked that this was set in a rehab facility. Cate did such a great job writing a realistic depiction of addiction! The shorter chapters kept my attention and I couldn’t put this down! It’s twisty, it plays with your mind, and will hold you captive from rhe first page all the way to the last!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC 🫶🏻

Meg’s sister Haley is a patient at a highly exclusive rehab known simply as The Clinic when she is reported dead of a self-inflicted drug overdose. Meg doesn’t buy it though – this wasn’t Haley’s drug of choice and Meg believes Haley was too selfish to unalive herself. In order to find out what really happened to Haley (and maybe get a handle on her own opioid addiction), Meg checks herself into The Clinic as a patient, but she never could have anticipated the dangers lurking around every corner.

This is one of those books where it’s hard to say too much about the plot without giving it away, but suffice it to say this is a dark, twisty, and original thriller! Right off the bat, that gorgeous cover is giving spooky gothic vibes, and you just know some scary will be going down in that place. The Clinic is a character in itself – imposing, isolated, and filled with foreboding. The story is told from two perspectives, Meg and Cara the facility manager. Meg’s addiction and withdrawal are written skillfully and authentically, making her an extremely unreliable narrator, which keeps the reader on tenterhooks throughout. Just like Meg, you don’t know what’s real, what she’s hallucinating, and when she’s being gaslit by the staff and her fellow patients. The tense short chapters and unpredictable twists and turns make for a propulsive read that kept me turning pages well into the night!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This book had a lot of potential, the setting was great, and Haley’s character was good as well. I didn’t love or connect with Meg’s character and it was hard to sympathize with her choices and motivations. Unfortunately for being a “street smart” tough, undercover cookie, Meg is kind of dense in a few situations. She seems to know alot about alot, and then has no idea what the word co-dependent means.

For all the dark trauma seemingly in this book, the twists felt very bureaucratic. They tease at some very dark plot points in Meg and Haley’s history, which are all explained away with some repressed mistaken memories.

This was a very quick book with short chapters, but I felt like a lot of the characters and leads were half baked and some of the twists and reveals I was guessing at were left dead in the water. Turning your head to other, less exciting results.

I think if you want to suspend your disbelief, and you like dark themes with twisty plots you may enjoy this one more than I did.

It's kind of funny that a book centered around addiction would be as addicting as this was. That being said, I did have a few questions while reading it. Having not gone through addiction and recovery myself, I was flabbergasted that most of the therapies they did were patient led. Is that normal? They also seemed to just be able to do whatever and go wherever they wanted. Was it because they were considered VIPs? Were there regular patients elsewhere in the facility or are they able to make enough money off of a half dozen rich addicts? When I set these questions aside and allowed the story to simply entertain me I enjoyed it so much more.

The Clinic by Cate Quinn
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This book is twisty and sure keeps you on your toes for the entirety of the novel. However a little slower than I enjoy myself reading :)
I loved the premise of a woman who died in rehab being further looked into by her family- it was a little unbelievable yet relatable all at the same time. The book deals with talk of su!cide, dr^g use and other triggering activities and content. But none of it was enough to make me uncomfortable. However, I'm not easily swayed by triggers.

The takeaway is that. Yes. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to fellow thriller lovers. I did enjoy the journey.

For fans of remote, atmospheric locations and locked-room mysteries, The Clinic is a layered psychological thriller which takes place in a carefully guarded rehab facility. Meg goes undercover as a patient when her famous sister suddenly dies while seeking treatment, and every character she meets is secretive and shady.

I liked the unreliable narrator, mental health, addiction and science aspects, but it was way too slow of a burn and there were so many characters to keep track of I almost needed to make myself a master list. While the plot was unique, the twists at the end were way too far fetched and implausible. I'm not a fan of thrillers where I have to extend belief in order for the ending to make sense, so the payoff didn't work for me. I also found the book much too long at nearly 450 pages. Overall, this had the building blocks of a good thriller but this one was just meh for me.

4⭐️📖 To this first book of 2024. Thanks Net Galley for an ARC. In this twisty ride, we follow Meg, an unreliable professional poker player who finds her estranged sister has died in rehab. She doesn’t believe the story that her sister committed suicide, so she enters rehab (an alcohol and opiate addict herself), trying to learn what happened.
The short chapters with shifting narrator kept me coming back for more. This felt deeper than a traditional thriller. The reader eventually finds the author wrote this book with a deep respect and understanding of addiction—which I think made the book more than your average thriller.

Today is January 1st. I really wanted to finish this book before the end of 2023 but I'm kind of glad I didn't because now this book gets to be my first 5 star read of 2024 and my first review of the year. This book was filled with excitement. The plot of the book is like nothing I've ever read before. I will be thinking about this book for awhile. The characters were well written. They were likeable and interesting. The development of the story flowed well and kept my attention all the way to the end. My favorite aspect of the story was that the author didn't give away what was happening to quickly making me continuously question what was actually happening. I had so many theories in my head about how this was all going to play out and I never once considered the outcome to be what actually happened. I greatly enjoyed this book and plan to read past and future books by her. Thank you Netgalley for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very enjoyable read.

Meg works as a poker player and undercover security agent for a casino in L.A, while her sister is a singer and would-be actress. When Meg is told that her sister Haley died by suicide at an expensive rehab facility, she decides to use her own issues with drugs and alcohol to investigate what happened. She doesn't believe her sister capable of suicide, and needs to discover what really happened.

The story is told from two points of view - Meg and Cara - the relatively new manager at the facility. During the slow and steady start to the novel, we meet the few celebrity guests at the facility, the unusual owner, and the therapist. The local police, having determined the death was a suicide, nevertheless attempt to investigate the facility, much to the annoyance of the owner Dr Lutz, who becomes increasingly less and less willing to co-operate. Cara discovers several unusual practices at the clinic, from unethical billing practices to non-approved treatment plans.

The descriptions of the clinic are very atmospheric, as it is remote, and often shrouded in fog. The celebrities staying at the facility are very unlikeable for the most part, and Meg is not honest about her own drug addiction. Lots of unreliable narration!

While the novel started slowly, it soon picked up the pace, and the big reveal really did take me by surprise. I knew things were not as they seemed, but didn't guess the twist. The ending felt rushed unfortunately, and not so believable. However, i really liked the book, and the writing.