Precious Thing

Author: Colette McBeth
Genre: Modern Fiction
Type: Kindle e-book ARC
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 4, 2014
First Line: "September 2007 -- Officially, I don't think of you anymore."

Book Description from GoodReads:  I know her inside out.  I know what she’s thinking, I know what she wants. So I can’t give up on her, she knows I never will. Some friendships fizzle out. Rachel and Clara promised theirs would last forever.

They met in high school when Rachel was the shy, awkward new girl and Clara was the friend everyone wanted. Instantly, they fell under one another’s spell and nothing would be the same again. Now in their late twenties Rachel has the television career, the apartment and the boyfriend, while Clara’s life is spiraling further out of control. Yet despite everything, they remain inextricably bound. Then Rachel’s news editor assigns her to cover a police press conference, and she is shocked when she arrives to learn that the subject is Clara, reported missing. Is it abduction, suicide or something else altogether?

Imagine discovering something about your oldest friend that forces you to question everything you’ve shared together. The truth is always there.  But only if you choose to see it. In Colette McBeth's Precious Thing.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Review:
There are a lot of online reviews of this book stating how similar Precious Thing is to Girl Gone by Gillian Flynn.  Fortunately for me, I haven't yet read Girl Gone so I won't have those outside influences as I review this book.

When I read the book description of Precious Thing on NetGalley I was intrigued.  I love me a good suspense read with loads of twists but I think that there were some issues with the book that kept me from loving it.  As with any suspenseful read, I'm going to review it without divulging the plot twists so bear with this scant review.

First off, I'm not a big fan of the majority of a book being written in a series of letters. Granted, this writing style was a good opportunity to get into Rachel's head and not knowing how Clara felt about things upped the suspense.  But often times I felt the writing got confusing and limited how far the author could go with the plot because we were stuck with just Rachel's take on things.

It didn't help matters that I just didn't know how to take Rachel.  I was almost instantly suspicious and untrusting of her as the narrator.  I'm not sure if that was the author's intent but it would have been good to have had even a bit of Clara's viewpoint to spice things up a bit in regards to suspense and not keep me focused on trying to find fault in the protagonist. 

Unfortunately, even though the reader gets Rachel's side of things I never felt connected to her.  Her paranoia, odd possessiveness and her take on things never really allowed me to get to know her.  So when the big reveal happened at the end (which, honestly, wasn't that big) it wasn't as climactic as I was hoping because by that time I just didn't like Rachel and I kind of expected it from her.  Having my suspicions confirmed was, I will admit, a let down for me.  I was hoping to be wrong about my assumptions of how this book would end but, unfortunately, I wasn't far off the mark.  The ending seemed too tidy which isn't the twist I was hoping for at the end of the book.

While I can't say that I loved this book it was a decent debut novel.  It kept me engaged pretty much throughout but I didn't enjoy the resolution or the main character.  While I'm much more of an action packed suspense lover, people who enjoy psychological thrillers may enjoy this read a lot more.

My Rating: 2.5/5 stars