Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

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

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

Precious Thing by Colette McBeth

Precious Thing

by Colette McBeth

  • Critics' Consensus (11):
  • Readers' Rating (33):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2014, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews

Page 1 of 5
There are currently 33 reader reviews for Precious Thing
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

Julie R. (Woodland, CA)

Precious Thing
Do you really know your best friend? That is the million dollar question in Precious Thing by Colette McBeth. Rachel, a non-social teenage girl, is befriended by the popular Clara in high school and life changes for her dramatically. Now, in the present day, Rachel is the successful one and Clara is not.

Rachel, a TV reporter, is called to cover a news story of a missing girl. Little did she know that that missing girl is her best friend Clara. Here is where the author captures you, drags you through so many twists and turns that she makes it impossible for you to put down the book. The whole time I was reading Precious Thing the same question kept coming up "How well did Rachel know Clara or even her own boyfriend?" Does anyone really know the people in their lives?

The ending leaves you so surprised that you feel like reading it all over again just to see if you missed a clue.

I loved this book and will be mentioning it to my book club group as a possible future book club read.

Thank you again for allowing me to read and review this fantastic book.
Christine D. (Closter, NJ)

Brilliantly Dark and Chilling
Colette McBeth's Precious Thing is a brilliantly dark and chilling story. It grips you from the very start, wondering how two women (Rachel and Clara) got to this place after being friends for so long. Page by page, chapter by chapter, it all comes together in such a way that will have you looking at your own friendships, wondering if such a thing is possible in your own life. The format for the book, a long letter written by Rachel, is ingenious. It gives great insight into her mind while she recounts different events and reminds the reader that not everyone sees or experiences things the same way. A wonderful debut novel from an author whose work I will be looking out for in the future!
Darlene C. (Simpsonville, SC)

Precious Thing by Colette McBeth
The book begin with an intensity that you can't believe she can maintain. Told in the first person, a newspaper reporter is thrust in front of the camera, unknowingly covering the story of her best friend's disappearance. And then her boyfriend is found dead after being seen on tape with her friend. Seems so simple on the surface, but the twists and turns kept me reading, and the itensity continued to grow. Do I recommend this? WOW, oh yes, and I'm rereading it because it was that good. Lots of discussion points for book clubs. Loved this book.
Elizabeth Klein (Dallas, TX)

Edge of Seat Suspense!
I inhaled this book, just couldn't stop reading once I started. It explores an adolescent friendship that borders on extreme codependency and begins to fall apart in adulthood. Or did it fall apart long before then? Is it friendship or something much darker? I loved the book and will read everything the author writes in the future.
Barbara B. (Holbrook, NY)

Precious Thing
This book has it all. Female friendships and their complexities. Do we ever know everything about our friends? It is suspenseful and compelling to read. The author was a BBC crime reporter and if the storyline of this novel is any indication, she knows her stuff. I highly recommend this book.
Book Lover (Burlingame, CA)

Wow!
I could not put this book down once I started it. The author did a fantastic job of keeping the reader on the edge of his/her seat. If you enjoyed Sister by Rosamund Lupton you will love this book!
Mary Beth S. (Mequon, WI)

Precious Things
Precious Things by Colette McBeth grabs you at the onset and doesn't let you go at the end. McBeth draws you into the story and makes you care about the characters, only to have this empathy flipped over and over as you delve further into the book. Plot lines that you are certain you have solved take credible twists and turns that you cannot see coming. Reminiscent of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Precious Things is a very satisfying read that would provide great discussions for book clubs.
Power Reviewer
Beth B. (New Wilmington, PA)

Don't Miss This One: Precious Thing
Truly, DO NOT miss reading this book. Author Colette McBeth, in a debut novel, is clearly one to reckoned with. She not only cleverly plants the seeds of suspicion but also makes the reader feel equally clever since they sense where the plot is going -- but do they?? This is quite the accomplishment for a novice fiction writer!! As you partake of this book, you will be aware of how the author slips in a tiny teasing clue that compels you to continue to the next page, and the next, and the next, to the conclusion. Gives to meaning to "things are not always as they seem."

More Information

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

It was one of the worst speeches I ever heard ... when a simple apology was all that was required.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.