Precious Thing by Colette McBeth

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. Instantly, they fell under one another's spell and nothing would be the same again. Now in their late twenties Rachel has the TV career, the flat and the boyfriend, while Clara's life is spiralling further out of control. Yet despite everything, they remain inextricably bound. Then Clara vanishes. 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.

The story starts in 2007 and Rachel, a TV news journalist, is covering the disappearance of a young woman in Brighton. The woman turns out to be her best friend Clara who she first met at school when they were teenagers, they were supposed to go out together on the night she went missing but Clara sent her a text to say she was ill. The story then moves between the present day and 1993 with details about their lives gradually being revealed.

Precious Thing is the author's debut novel and another psychological thriller with a female narrator, they are very popular now and more are being published all the time. It has all the twists, turns and revelations you would expect from the genre although I did guess some of them and felt a few of the clues were fairly obvious. It still kept me gripped all the way through and will appeal to readers who have enjoyed similar novels such as Gone Girl and Until You're Mine.

Rating: 4 out of 5