“This place will change your life . . . or end it.
Welcome to The Clinic.

The world’s most exclusive rehab clinic offers treatment to the rich and famous. Meg’s sister Haley was one of them – a troubled country singer running from a terrible addiction.

Between the luxury spa, the ayurvedic yoga and the world-class therapy, the clinic is a perfect place to heal and brush shoulders with the world’s most beautiful people. Safely locked in the secluded compound, its patients are a thousand miles away from crazed fans and paparazzi… with no one to call for help.

When Haley is found dead at the clinic, Meg checks in under an alias to find out why. Soon she’s confronting a whole lot more than her own addiction – there’s a killer on the loose and anyone could be next . . .”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Clinic by Cate Quinn. The Clinic is published by Orion Books today (that’s Thursday 18th January 2024) and is available in hardcover, audio, and digital formats. I chose to read a free eARC of The Clinic but that has in no way influenced my review.

Cate Quinn’s Black Widows was a highlight of my reading year in 2022. I felt I had found something very special and immediately downloaded Quinn’s second thriller, Blood Sisters. But, despite my very best intentions to get it read ASAP, I wasn’t able to find a gap in my reading schedule. Still, there’s plenty of time and I intend to make it a priority (or one of my #20booksofsummer24 picks if all else fails! 😂). However, I accidentally stumbled upon the fact that the author was set to release a new thriller in 2024, whilst having a mooch around a popular galley site. So I budged a few things over, relegated a few others (🙈) and taddah – I was able to have an early read of The Clinic. (Just for clarity’s sake, my own books are a much lower priority than my review copies – which is why I’m still waiting to read Blood Sisters but was able to squeeze in a review copy of The Clinic. I promise, in my mind, it does make a strange sort of sense!)

Sisters Meg and Haley have always had a tumultuous relationship. Haley, the older of the two, left home at a young age to pursue a music career leaving Meg behind with their controlling mother. When Meg learns of Haley’s death at an exclusive rehab facility for the rich and famous, Meg is determined to find out what happened to her estranged sister and the only way to do that is to go undercover. With Meg’s stressful job weeding out loan sharks and criminals in an LA casino, and following a particularly painful run-in with a gangster, Meg now relies on oxycodone and alcohol to get her through the day. So at least she’ll blend in! But on arrival, Meg realises it’s going to be a lot harder to find out what happened to Haley than she initially thought. And when strange notes and messages start turning up, warning Meg off, she doesn’t know what to think. Muddled by her own addictions, battling withdrawal, and unable to rely on or trust any of the other patients, Meg needs to find a way through the fog to get to the truth before it’s too late…

The Clinic is a tense, thoroughly gripping psychological thriller that I did not want to be parted from for any length of time. Whenever ‘adulting’ called (and unfortunately it did) I was very reluctant to put this one down. Doing everything in my power to return to the book as soon as humanly possible. Meg isn’t a particularly likable main protagonist. She’s a little rough around the edges, a little brusque but she fully recognises that, aware of how she comes across. Which is why her relationship with ex-cop Harry works so well. I really liked how these two characters were written and how their relationship is presented. But Harry is on the outside and Meg is very much alone and isolated in the clinic. The other patients are all very interesting characters but the reader never really feels as though they can trust any of them, and that includes Meg.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I enjoyed every moment I spent with The Clinic. It’s a dark and gripping novel with a whole host of unreliable narrators playing their part, telling their truths (or not as the case may be!) and helping to move the plot along. The story is told from two main POVs – Meg’s, and also the manager of the rehabilitation clinic, Cara. The two viewpoints were like chalk and cheese, night and day. They’re two very different women; one who follows the rules, one who sometimes doesn’t even notice there are rules in play! I loved the contrast of the two voices and how things were seen from different perspectives. The other characters – the other patients, the staff – all felt fully formed and believable, some scarily so! All in all, The Clinic is a highly readable, fully engaging, thrilling read full of wonderfully written, unlikeable characters and a superb dark undertone that I couldn’t get enough of. It’s a bit bonkers in places but so what. Hugely compelling, full of menace, and with a superb sense of impending doom running throughout. I loved The Clinic and look forward to reading more from this author soon. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of The Clinic. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Clinic by Cate Quinn was published in the UK by Orion Books on 18th January 2024 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Cate Quinn is a former journalist for The Guardian, The Times and The Mirror alongside many travel and lifestyle magazines. She grew up with fundamental Christianity and Mormonism in the family and has always been fascinated by the relationships and schisms strong beliefs cause. Coming from a background in postgraduate historic research she has previously authored the bestselling historical Thief Taker series and the Revolution Spy series as CS Quinn.

A travel journalist for ten years, Cate has called many countries home, but currently lives in Devon, England, with her beloved partner and two children.