What do readers think of Precious Thing by Colette McBeth? Write your own review.

I prefer character-driven novels, so my impressions reflect that. I thought the writing was good, but the plot drove the story. Unfortunately the plot wasn't all that original. If you like a fast-paced suspense novel, this may be the book for you.

In this age of social media with seemingly constant self-disclosure, it is wise to remember that families DO hold fast to life altering secrets, often with toxic family fallout. Nowhere is this more evident than in PRECIOUS THING by Collette McBeth. In this debut novel, nothing is exactly as it seems and every character has his/her own definition of what constitutes "the truth" of their individual lives. While the novel's early place moves slower than most readers might be accustomed to, the mystery, midway, begins to gallop toward a totally satisfying ending. I am looking forward to the next McBeth book. This debut author definitely has the makings of a skilled mystery writer. See for yourself!

I liked this book. At first I thought I had it all figured out but I was wrong.It had a lot of twists, which I like. My only complaint is that it wrapped up a little to neatly. I will look forward to more books by this author.

Ms. McBeth has a strong future ahead of her. Her characters and their relationships were well developed and compelling. I found myself identifying and cheering for with the narrator. My only complaint was with the pacing of the book - it felt a little choppy.

When Rachel moves into a new town and high school, she is lucky to make friends with Clara, the most popular girl in the class. They promise to be friends forever. Years pass and Rachel has found her own place and career in Brighton. As a news reporter she is called to a press conference about a missing person. This is where the story opens up. The missing person is of course, Clara. The reader is immersed into the story and finds out that friends aren't always what they might be. The story is well-done with only a couple parts that are stretched a little too much to be believable. For example, when Rachel moves into the new town with her drunken mother, little do we know how this family relationship will later involve Clara. This was a little unbelievable. Rachel's personality is sometimes not as we might like it to be. If she is the famous news-reporter, how can she not see where the story is leading, especially with the secrets she knows. When her boyfriend is murdered, her apartment is broken into twice, and she is arrested for the possible murder of Clara, the story loses the strong thread it needs to be rated a 5. If these two girls are really life-long friends, why do they seem to be strangers? I liked trying to guess where the story would take me. I'm not quite sure I liked Rachel in the end. She states that in order to love Clara, she has to learn to hate her. Rachel is a real manipulator as we learn at the conclusion.

This thriller has an interesting premise- a girl, Rachel, whose best friend is missing also finds her boyfriend disappearing. Could they be together? I had a hard time getting into this book (it was written as a letter and easy to forget who is talking to who), but once I got going, I couldn't put it down until I had found out the answer to the puzzle. That said, the characters changed from evil to good and good to evil so quickly I had a hard time believing the transformations.

The premise of the novel makes a great story difficult to follow and made it difficult for me to invest in the story. However, around chapter 13 the characters seemed to level out and become readable. It is a fast-paced story with twist and plots that evil, evil! I was able to predict the outcome of some of the many, many plots and the characters were interesting. I read this book in one afternoon and I am passing it on to a friend for a second opinion but my rating is 4 stars. Just remember as she says in the book "things are never as they seem."

I had a hard time getting into this book. The literary device of writing the story as if it is a letter to somebody took me while to get used to. However, what starts as a pedestrian missing person story eventually turns into an intriguing psychological thriller with a twisty conclusion.