Review of The Clinic by Cate Quinn

This was a quick, fun route for me overall. It seemed a bit far-fetched at times but it definitely kept my interest overall with only a few slow parts, I thought. I definitely had no idea characterize who was who. And I loved the big twist that came near the end.

Synopsis:

Meg works for a casino in LA, catching cheaters and popping a few too many pain pills to cope, following a far different path than her sister Haley, a famous actress. But suddenly reports surface of Haley dying at the remote rehab facility where she had been forced to go to get her addictions under control.
There are whispers of suicide, but Meg can't believe it. She decides that the best way to find out what happened to her sister is to check in herself―to investigate what really happened from the inside.
Battling her own addictions and figuring out the truth will be much more difficult than she imagined, far away from friends, family―and anyone who could help her

I love an atmospheric thriller, and this one fit the bill until the end. I hate a last minute out-of-nowhere twist though, so ultimately I don't recommend it.

An interesting read, especially for someone in the mental health industry. The Clinic is well paced, intriguing, and has a bit of a creepy, gothic vibe, despite being in a modern, murdery setting. It delves into the complexities of rehab and trying to find an easy fix to addiction. Worth a read.

The Clinic by Cate Quinn

Pub: January 23, 2024

I really enjoyed The Clinic!

Cate Quinn knows how to write a locked room style mystery. In The Clinic, characters are literally locked inside a remote rehab centre whose welcome sign might as well be "Abandon all hope, ye who enter."

The atmosphere gives gothic vibes and is a great contrast to the harsh lights and reality of the other primary settings, Hollywood and Las Vegas. I loved the peak into the new-to-me crime solving world of the gambling industry.

The relationship between sisters Hayley and Meg and the exploration of their shared past traumas and present day additions is interesting and lends itself to the exploration of key themes including family, female relationships, gender power dynamics and trauma.

While the book may seem long on paper, the short chapters, dual perspectives and clues scattered throughout the chapters kept my attention and made the story fly by.

Recommend this one!

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the complimentary e-arc to read and review.

My first book by this author and it won’t be the last. I loved every min of this book. It’s so descriptive and page turning. You’ll definitely want to read this

I was looking forward to reading this! I really liked the dual timelines and Meg’s Character. To be honest I had to stop and start reading quite a few times. The beginning half was slower, so had a hard time getting into the book. Once I read more though it was good and had dark moments with twists. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

#TheClinic #NetGalley

The Clinic by Cate Quinn
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Although Meg has had a distant and rocky relationship with her famous sister Haley, she knows something is suspicious when Haley’s recent death is ruled a suicide. Meg makes the decision to check herself into the remote rehab facility where Haley was found dead to find her killer.

This book definitely kept my interest throughout and I really enjoyed the shorter chapters. While I was reading I was reflecting on how accurate the story and characters depict the manifestation of trauma and the realities of substance use. After reading I found out some of the story was based off the author’s own experiences in rehab. I can really respect that a subject matter like this was accurately portrayed.

While I was eager to see how the story would unfold, I do feel the big twist was pretty far fetched and that’s what ultimately led to me lowering my rating. I would still recommend this if you’re a fan of mystery and thrillers. As I was reading, I was envisioning how this story could be made into a tv series.

This book is out now and ready for you to check out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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So dark and twisty! I really enjoyed this twisted thriller/mystery that had multiple surprises in store!

What do you get when you mix addiction/rehab, investigating a death, trauma, and greed? A story that hooks you.

The character development of Meg who is entering rehab, without realizing that she actually needs it as well, but to investigate what happened to her sister? They say her sister committed suicide, but it was with a drug she had never taken before... Everyone is suspicious and going between a new Manager who wants to follow the rules and Meg, who is an addict as well. Who do you trust in this dual POV?

And then to find out at the end... "Wonder how much of The Clinic is based on fact? Cate Quinn was inspired to write this book after her own experience in rehab." "This is the first book I have ever written sober." This is very inspiring to see from the author at the end and that she is willing to share her story as well!

The cover of The Clinic sets the tone for this isolated, atmospheric read. I loved the premise--Meg has gone undercover at the rehab clinic where her sister has just died, trying to figure out what happened to Haley. To her shock, she starts finding notes written to her in Haley's handwriting, left in her pockets.

I was certainly hooked. This book is on the longer side, but the suspense keeps the reader hooked and the audiobook flew by. I couldn't wait to put together what was going on! The reveal is a little outlandish, but I encourage readers to suspend belief and enjoy the ride.

If addition is triggering to you, proceed with caution. These scenes are well-handled, though, and the representation is well-done.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author!

Meg leaves her casino job to go to a Clinic to find out what happened to her sister, Hayley, who died there. Hayley was a famous star, and Meg didn't believe that she was an addict who committed suicide. The only addict in the family that she knows is Meg herself.

This story is told in dual timelines, moving from Meg's perspective to the clinic manager's. It starts slow and ends with an interesting conclusion.

Many thanks to Netgalley for this arc.

Meg is the daughter and sister to actresses and works at a casino and catches hustlers and other bad people. Meg finds out that her sister Haley has died at The Clinic which is a rehab place for celebrities. Meg goes in undercover to find out what happened to her sister Haley. Meg continues to take oxy and ends up having seizures due to ingesting fugu. Dr. Lutz is obsessed with Meg and Haley both because they have psychopathic tendencies just like him. Haley ends up being alive and working with Dr. Lutz, he wants to give criminals a fresh start by going into rehab and taking fugu in order to fake their deaths like they did Haley. Haley kills Dr. Lutz after he tries to kill Meg and ends up getting a new life and starting over. Haley and Meg both remember a man named Mr. Priest from their childhoods and turns out that Haley was protecting Meg from their mother's suicide attempt. Meg gets notes from Haley prior to finding out that she was alive. Meg also thinks that Mr. Priest was in the facility even though it was Jade aka Haley. This book was very interesting.

Meg works for a casino in LA, and she becomes addicted to drugs and alcohol after a traumatic run in with some gamblers. Meg’s sister is Haley Banks, a famous actress, who also has a drug problem. Haley was in rehab trying to overcome her addiction, when she was found dead of overdose. Meg does not believe that her sister’s death is an open and shut case like the police have deemed it. Meg checks herself into the same rehab and starts to investigate her sister’s death. While in rehab she receives notes telling her not to trust anyone and in her therapy sessions she begins to uncover memories from her past that have her spiraling. Everyone in rehab is a suspect, will Meg be able to solve what happened to her sister?

I really enjoyed the first half of this book, but then the book started to drag. The chapters, while short, became pointless and did not progress the story. Overall, the book was a good mystery, and I didn’t see the ending coming, but I would have liked for it to be more concise. I will definitely be reading more of Cate Quinn and look forward to her next releases.

💊 REVIEW: The Clinic 💊

If you are a big fan of (early) Riley Sager, then this book is right up your alley!

SUMMARY: Meg is a loner and opioid addict who works undercover in casino security. When her sister Haley dies under suspicious circumstances at an exclusive rehab facility, Meg decides to check to uncover the truth, but between withdrawals, personal demons, and someone possibly trying to kill her, she may run out of time.

I liked this book! Despite constantly doing things you’d scream at a horror movie heroine for, I enjoyed her general dislike of people and relentless commitment to uncovering the truth. (Basically the classic jaded cop/detective trope but a lady.)

The small cast of characters, each of whom had something to hide, meant that the identity of the true villain kept me guessing. There were twists and turns, but none were so outrageous as to fall outside the bounds of the story.

ALSO, I actively dislike thrillers where all the characters are terrible people – and that was NOT the case with this one. Everyone was flawed, but I was still rooting for them to survive.

Overall, fun thrilling read. Definitely recommend it! A good Spring Break beach read??

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

Very intriguing premise and a strong start. Sort of fell apart in the middle but really ramps up in the last 20 percent!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Quick and Dirty
-locked door mystery
-addiction and mental health rep
-fast-paced with short chapters
-sister story
-unreliable female narrator

What Worked
I’m not a huge mystery/thriller reader, but I enjoy them occasionally, as they offer me a brief respite from WWII books and heavier literary fiction. The Clinic quickly grabbed my attention and kept it throughout most of the book, exactly what I want from a thriller. Sister stories like this one are my fav, so that aspect of the story was terrific. Meg was a total trainwreck of a human, but still, I felt drawn to her and wanted to see her succeed in her mission to discover the truth about Haley. The other characters at the rehab were entertaining suspects, making the whodunnit aspect of the story compelling and entertaining.

What Didn’t Work
While I found this book entertaining, I also found it challenging to suspend disbelief. I can’t pinpoint the reasons why I struggled with the story other than to say it was all too neat and too over the top. The big reveal was a letdown, and the big twist was highly unrealistic. I disengaged with the book at a certain point toward the end (can’t say without spoilers).

Read This If
Readers who enjoy locked-room mysteries with messy dynamics might enjoy this one!

A locked room thriller that circles around a woman trying to solve the murder of her sister while undergoing rehab.

I feel conflicted about this book. On one hand, the story was engaging enough to keep me turning the pages to see what would happen. I thought the premise was fantastic. However at times it felt like the author was pushing the unreliable narrator theme too much. Other storylines felt forced and stereotypical.

All in all, an enjoyable thriller with a unique premise that kept me wanting to read more.

This was not my cup of tea.
I wanted to read because of the setting,
A bit isolated with a mystery to be solved.
It was a bit all over the place for me
I couldn’t connect to the characters, some were sketchy, some troubled but I just couldn’t lock onto anything that would keep my interest

Special thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such an interesting mystery. The characters and the mystery were both compelling and I was very invested. I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending (which knocked off a star), but I would still recommend.

21% DNF - I think I've guessed some of the high points of this and I just don't like any of the characters or their POVs enough to keep reading. The idea is intriguing, but I just keep finding my attention wandering.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for the digital copy to review!

Ok I need to go back and read Quinn’s backlist, because this book was WILD and in the very best way. The setting for this is perfect, it is eerie and is a place that boasts about its luxury while getting help for your addictions. It sounds tempting, especially if you need to figure out what really happened to your sister, as you don’t believe suicide like they claim. And, you have a wicked addiction to pain meds and prefer alcohol to food, so maybe you’ll get some help for yourself while you’re here investigating. So thinks Meg, our protagonist that has decided she needs to figure out firsthand what happened while her actress sister was inside this place.

I was engrossed in this story once it started and the audio was wonderful. There were a few twists in here that I did not see coming and a couple I did, but the ending was ca-razy and I loved this one all the way through. I thought this was very well done and very entertaining especially given how heavy the subject matter is. I definitely recommend this one, it is not to be missed!