Precious You is
a psychological thriller like you’ve never read before. From debut author Helen
Monks Takhar, we read the narrative from the perspective of the master and the
apprentice, the woman who is trying to extend her career and the young woman
who is trying to sabotage it. As the story goes on, the plot becomes more
intense and things you never imagined begin to occur, which makes it a page
turning nail biter.
The book starts out by introducing Katherine, a 40
something magazine executive from London. She is having trouble with her love
life as she feels disconnected to her partner, she is struggling in her job and
her boss gives her a new intern to assist (who just happens to be the boss’s
niece!) To make matters worse, this intern begins to manipulate Katherine and
over time, the situation deepens to unimaginable lengths. The relationship
between these two characters is the primary focus for the narrative and what
they do to try and get back at each other in the process.
I read this book relatively quickly. Psychological
thrillers, while I enjoy them, are not books I reach for regularly. I’m not
sure why this is the case as I thoroughly enjoy them and trying to work out
what it happening throughout the course of the novel. The pacing is consistent
throughout, with many twists and turns. Once Katherine thinks she has the
evidence, once again it is not in her favour. It did become painful throughout
the book to see Katherine be pinned for everything as Lily appeared to be so
awful but it made the reader think, over the course of the entire book, what is
the actual reason behind this? Which I won’t go into as SPOILERS, but it made
for an interesting finale!
For a debut thriller novel, the characters were written
incredibly well. They were not supposed to be likeable, and I couldn’t stand
any of them by the conclusion of the book. Each character had their flaws and
these were evident from the outset and played upon throughout the book. Katherine
was anxious, Lily liked control and Iain was naïve: these traits were perfectly
woven throughout the narrative. It was also great to have the book told in
first person, through the perspectives of both key main characters. It allows
the reader to get into the head of both characters who are plotting against
each other and see why they are thinking in this way. The side characters in
this book are also fascinating. While we don’t directly hear from them, they
are all very easy targets who have a tendency to be walked over without
realising. I couldn’t stand Gemma, the boss of the magazine firm, while she claims
to be the head of the business, she allows her niece who has just started there
to begin to make all the executive decisions. Does that sound brainwashed or
what? By having her like this, it made the rest of the story flow well.
My favourite part of the book was the constant
mystery. You couldn’t predict what was going to happen with radical changes at
every turn. By having it this way, it made the reader want to see what was
going to happen next.
Overall, this was an intense ride and a book I’d
recommend to those who love a good psychological thriller!
Precious You is available for purchase in Australia
now from where books are sold!
Thank you to Harlequin for providing me with a copy
for review!
