I had a feeling that The Clinic by Sally-Anne Martyn was going to be a different type of psych thriller from the opening pages.
I mean, when it starts at a psych asylum, what else can you expect? Especially if you know that the main gist of the story is about “health and wellness.”
I also knew that it was going to be uncomfortable reading because of the focus on the lengths women will go to achieve what they perceive as beauty.
I wasn’t disappointed.
You can get the gist of the story from the blurb. Health clinic set up on the grounds of an old insane asylum. Is everything as it seems? Obviously not.
I thought the author did a fantastic job of building the dread. It wasn’t so much suspense as it was a more tangible feeling of not wanting to know what was really going on but not being able to stop reading further.
Even through the gory details.
And I do mean gory. The author does not mince words when it comes to detailing the truths about the clinic.
All in all, I was reminded of Shutter Island (which is an all-time favorite of mine). I was kept off-balance in the same way, wondering if people were who they appeared to be and what their motives were.
And actually, the commentary the author provides about women’s vanity is very thought-provoking. Also unusual for a psych thriller.
At any rate, The Clinic is a creepy-good story, and I will look for other books by Sally-Anne Martyn.
