The Clinic

Every trigger warning I usually include in my reviews is in this book. It reads like Kellerman wanted this to be a TV series--eighty percent of his books are huge monologues, exposition through speech, character studies through speech; and odd descriptions that didn't evoke in me the emotions they were supposed to. Having a sidekick be gay doesn't absolve a book of homophobia. Milo's regularly described as ugly, and his partner Rick fits the "the hottest guys are always gay" howled by enough straight women for it to be a trope. There's tons of other casual homophobia in this and other books of the series. Casual racism, definitely. Misogyny in heaps. Actors are roundly mocked in this. Nobody's relationships make sense. I have zero clue show more how Delaware leaps to the conclusions he does. And I devoured this series when I was eighteen! I'm so glad I've changed as a person and a reader over the years.

BDSM is heavily, heavily demonized in this as well. I'm going to sum up this behemoth of a book in fifty words or less, using sex-negative misogynist language Kellerman clearly longed to: "That ball-busting bitch longed to have her smokin' hot grad assistant and boring husband tie her up and rail her. BDSM is so icky and horrid, and feeemmaaallllesss shouldn't be professors. Smart ones clearly hate men and have convoluted, melodramatically tragic backstories. SO GROSS EWWWW." Only Kellerman used far more academic language, and turned it into a poorly-structured mystery. How can a husband go from jealousy to worship of his wife, to being okay with her banging her grad assistant as long as he's involved too? It should go 1. worship 2. jealousy and 3. it turns into attempted sexual humiliation as an outlet, and then he's furious that his wife is super into it.

There's a passage where a mother describes her daughter performing sex acts on men without realizing what she's doing, as the daughter is mentally challenged and has not had any sex ed. Kellerman beats the audience over the head with the portrayal of a mentally challenged teenager. The mother doesn't sound shocked or horrified that her daughter is in these situations with men much older than her, who are manipulating her, at all. The dialogue--almost reads like she's trying not to laugh or something. WRITE THAT SHE'S UPSET, KELLERMAN. Write that she cried a little or something, or was sad! He gives NO clue about characters' emotions, which strengthens my TV series attempt idea. Heaps of characters clutter this book to utter pointlessness most of the time. Kellerman treats genuine tragedies as shock value. What a horrible reading experience. show less

A clever twist on trying to make a predator into prey and having it backfire. I have read all of these earlier Kellerman's when I was younger, but this one wasn't ringing many bells so it read like a first, fresh read. Not his best but still gripping and worth reading.

Milo and Alex team up throughout the entire book, and much of it is as usual dialogue and investigating, interviews. Sick stuff is revealed, hidden faces unmasked, questionable monsters. It's always a delight when both of the guys are teamed up together as they play theories and ideas off each other. Pacing was tense and the story always kept me intrigued enough - mysteries like this are why I enjoy the Alex Delaware series so much.

I didn't see some of the plot twists show more coming, there's a dark seediness buried in the rich streets of L.A., psychological twists make more colorful victims and villains, and Kellerman doesn't hold back from showing the multiple faces of all his characters.

The interest lies in the mystery, but more so in the uncovering of who Hope is and how she evolved. It's more of a discovery of this character rather than the psychological analysis of the villain, a creative reverse investigation that serves the story.

Robin is a little more in the background this time, which is fine by me. It's not that I dislike the character, but she's a little out there in her sense of realism and the relationship connection she has with Alex. The series starts with them already bonded, and sometimes over books you see frayed threads that unite them, but during random books they seem to only have a perfect cohesion which is somewhat mystifying.

I like how the ending leaves it open where none involved as heroes of the story, and what would you have done in this situation? It was that kind of mystery. I have to admit I didn't feel much sympathy for the main victim of the story - sometimes you can mess with the wrong monster and have them bite back too fiercely for it to be worth it. show less

The Clinic is billed as a thriller but it is more of a whodunit with zero leads. The characters are sad in the sense that they are just horrible, pathetic people. These people are all believable, as well as the settings that these souls are placed into. This is a very well written book but the reason it only got 3 1/2 stars. The reason for the 3 1/2 stars is because the book just ended leaving the reader wondering, "Okay, now what?"

Good quick Alex Delaware read. I like the main characters in this series. The story was good. Lots of twists and turns with an interesting ending. Sad ending as motives were actually understandable. Sometimes bad choices are made for the right reasons and there were a lot of those in this book. Was anyone really a good guy? IDK.

I have a real soft spot for this series; it was one of the first suspense series I ever started. I’ve been reading books in this series for almost 20 years, and in nowhere near the intended order. And that’s the nice thing about it — I may not know what house Delaware is living in or what the status of his relationship with Robin is when I start the book, but each stands alone so well that it doesn’t matter. In The Clinic, Kellerman gives us yet another solid mystery, with a touch of questionable moralities and more than a little psychology. When you start an Alex Delaware novel, rarely do you know where it’s going to end up. If you’re a suspense fan and you haven’t started this series, what are you waiting for?

Entertaining and a little gruesome. Underlying plot a little unlikely, and not a lot of real psychological insight. Dragged at the end. I enjoyed the woman who rescued dogs, with Mexican and New England background. And I enjoyed the kid who came to the defense of his sterilized--"Spade!"--, nympho girlfriend.

I think that this is probably one of the best Alex Delaware books in the set. It has a wide variety of characters, and plot changed that keep you guessing the whole way through. The murder of a college psychology professor, with too many suspects to even begin to guess the guilty party. As usual the dynamics between Alex and Milo make for quite an interesting read. They are defenitely a good team.