BY
COLETTE MCBETH
Published by Headline Review 10 April 2014
Paperback 384 pages
My Rating: 9 / 10
About the Book:
Remember the person you sat next to on your first day at school? Still your best friend? Or disappeared from your life for good?
Some friendships fizzle out. Rachel and Clara promised theirs would last for ever.
They met when Rachel was the new girl in class and Clara was the friend everyone wanted. Now in their late twenties Rachel has everything while Clara's life is spiralling further out of control. Then Clara vanishes.
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.
Some friendships fizzle out. Rachel and Clara promised theirs would last for ever.
They met when Rachel was the new girl in class and Clara was the friend everyone wanted. Now in their late twenties Rachel has everything while Clara's life is spiralling further out of control. Then Clara vanishes.
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.
My Thoughts
Precious Thing is spoken by Rachel, a News Reporter in London who is sent to cover a missing persons story in Brighton. It is at the news briefing that she is shocked to discover that the missing woman is her best friend Clara.
Rachel narrates her story in a series of flashbacks from their first meeting, it goes back and forth from the present to the past. Right from the beginning of the book we are told that the story is a letter to Clara, I thought the style of which gave an eerie feel to the book.
Rachel tries to find Clara whilst also trying to unravel the secrets of their friendship, a friendship that she felt sure was meant to be, 'we were two missing pieces of a puzzle', they knew what each other was thinking. She interviews a lady whose husband had secrets of his own and these were her words:
'It's the little things that give people away, that's how they can hide for so long because those things are so little we often miss them. But if you look carefully enough you'll find them.'
Colette McBeth delivers just the right amount of suspense, gradually layering the stories as Rachel confronts her past with the present situation. Excellent storytelling, shocks and twists, overall a gripping and intriguing storyline.
This is the perfect Book Club read as there are so many issues to explore, so many situations that I wanted to discuss with someone else, to see if they understand what this or that meant and if they thought about certain people the same way that I did.
This novel has been compared to 'Gone Girl' which I haven't read but I do know that I would love to read more of Colette McBeth's novels in the future.
Source: I received a copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
You can find out more about this book and Colette McBeth at her website: colettemcbeth.com
Follow her on Twitter @colettemcbeth
Find her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/colettemcbethauthor
You can buy the book now from:
No comments:
Post a Comment