The second person point of view is not a common one in crime fiction and I must admit that it’s one I wouldn’t normally choose to read, especially here where there are frequent shifts from present tense to past tense and back again, but, to my surprise, it does all come together to make a coherent and compelling story. Clara is referred to as ‘you’ throughout the book, lending the story a disturbing intimacy as Rachel pours out her innermost thoughts and feelings to her missing friend, and to the reader. Precious Thing is told in the form of a narrative by Rachel addressed directly to her friend. Matters are subsequently made worse when the media spotlight eventually turns on her. Her life has suddenly become an awful lot more complicated. Rachel stumbles through her TV slot, not able to bring herself to tell anyone about her relationship with the missing woman. A few days later, Rachel is told to attend a press conference in Brighton about a missing woman, and to her horror and dismay, it turns out that Clara is the person who has disappeared, seemingly without trace. Rachel is meant to be spending the night with her, but when she makes her way to Clara’s flat, late at night, there’s no reply at the door and Rachel ends up in a hotel, none the wiser about why Clara didn’t turn up. Clara is one of those people who habitually breaks off arrangements on a whim, although this time she claimed by text to be too poorly to come along to the pub.

TV reporter Rachel Walsh is meant to be meeting up with her best friend Clara O’Connor who she’s known since school, but Clara doesn’t turn up, leaving Rachel with two other girls who she disliked at school and has no desire to spend time with.

Precious thing by colette mcbeth