Shift

If you love a psychological mystery, Shift is for you. Chris Collins and Win Coggans thought of it at the same time. Other kids get summer jobs. Not them. The summer before they go off to college they will bike cross countryWest Virginia to Seattle. Just the two of them against the elements, camping as they go, having adventures. Chris mom is uncertain, worried about her only son. His dad gets a gleam in his eye, like hes going to vicariously live his own dream. Wins domineering, overbearing father, on the other hand, true to form, gives him money to buy a new bike, so that when Win doesnt make it all the way, hes only got himself to blame.

The trip is going along just as planned. Then, several weeks into the trip, Chris gets a flat tire. He yells to Win to stop while he patches it; a procedure he can do in about two minutes. But, Win doesnt stop. He merely yells back that hell keep going and Chris can catch up. However, when Chris looks through his things, he discovers he has no patches. He knew he had five. Now hes got to replace the tire tube, a much longer process. Once done, he cycles furiously but cant find Win. He looks all over, circles back but Wins not to be seen. After searching, he continues his journey alone. Unfortunately, when Chris returns home he finds that Win is still missing.

During Chris first week at Georgia Tech, he returns to his dorm to find FBI agent Abe Ward waiting for him. Win has still not returned from the trip and Chris was the last person to see him. Mr. Coggans has called in a favor and requested Ward look into his sons disappearance. He also intimates that Chris might have harmed his friend in order to take the $19,000 that Win withdrew from his bank account before the trip. He even threatens the Collins family. What happened to Win becomes all consuming to Chris.

Debut novelist Bradbury has penned an at times taut, at other times easy going story. Chapters alternate between the tense present search for Win and the more mellow events leading up to and during the bike trip. The trip narrative is wonderfully written, describing the joy of crossing state lines, the discovery of a new world where cute girls actually like them, of camping wherever they can and the colorful people they meet. The search for Win, Mr. Coggans bullying Chris and his parents, and Wards constant, unexpected appearances is tight and suspenseful. What could have happened to Chris? How does his fathers incessant emotional torture play into the disappearance? Is Win even alive?

Shift is spellbinding. I challenge you to put the book down once youve started it. You need to know how it ends. And you need to read it in order to do that. Bike to your local library or book store now. You wont regret it.