Shift

Take a ride of your life.

This novel is a strange story of a independence and loyalty to your best friend. 'Shift' is a book that tells the story of Chris Collins as he is in the present but it has him recolecting (is that a word) his cross-country bike trip with his best friend, Win. Win goes missing and Chris has to think back at all his good times on the trip and where his best friend might be. The book focuses on fiding yourself and knowing when to let go of something. A new beginning, so to speak. 'Shift' is a great novel for bike riders and teenagers because it has adventure and a more personal connection to its' characters than just a pure action book. It is a terrific traveling tale.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Chris and his friend, Win(ston), decide to embark on a cross country bike trip after they graduate high school. Their plan is to ride from their home in West Virginia to Seattle, Washington, where Win has an uncle. But in the end, only Chris returns to West Virginia a few weeks before he is to start at Georgia Tech.

Chris and Win have known each other since third grade and have been best friends since sixth grade. With the last names of Collins and Coggans, they were destined to know each other. But the bike trip might have been too much for the friendship to bear. Winston comes from a wealthy family where his father either ignores him or degrades him, and his mother is always off on some vacation or other. Win's father has pulled strings to ensure that Win has gained admittance to Dartmouth, the Alma Mater of generations of Coggans. Chris comes from a loving home where his father tells him to set a date to start the bike trip or he will forever regret not having done it.

During the trip, Chris notices aspects of Win that he never saw before. Most surprising is the almost twenty-thousand dollars that Win has buried inside his bike panniers. Win never tells Chris about the money, and so, respecting Win's privacy, Chris never asks. But this is only one of many instances on the journey that Chris realizes Win is hiding more than he lets on.

Upon return to normal life, Chris is visited by an FBI agent employed by Win's father. Threats are made by Mr. Coggans to find out where his son has gone. Everyone believes that Chris holds the answer to locating Win. But Chris is torn between what is expected of him and what he knows to be the right thing to do.

Ms. Bradbury is one of the bright new authors in the Class of 2008. Her story is fresh and keeps the reader curious until the end. The story is told in alternating chapters: one in the present and one during the bike journey. The alternating chapters keep the story flowing and the tension building until the revelation of what Chris finds out about Win.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Shift from the Ordinary

One trip, two lifelong childhood friends, the open road and their bikes...what could go wrong? Well apparently a lot. Chris and his best friend, Winston, decided that during their last summer together and as newly graduated seniors, they would use the opportunity to bike across the country from West Virginia to California. The reader doesn't start with the adventures that Win and Chris share on their incredible and crazy journey, the reader finds Chris during his first weeks of college, a week after the end of their cross country trip, under investigation. The reason for the investigation, the disappearance of Win.

Shift is the first novel written by Jennifer Bradbury, a high-school English instructor from Burlington, Washington. Bradbury is able to take the characters of Chris and Win and place them with emotions, characteristics and even in depth personalities. Win is given a personality that makes a reader at times really enjoy him and what he says, but Bradbury is able to make the reader feel negatively toward him, with out losing the essence of who he truly is. Bradbury is able to travel through different time periods, such as from the past to the present, without losing the readers focus or understanding; I found that it was easy to stay connected with the plot without losing my place. Bradbury skips from the present to the past to show the events leading toward the current present; the adventures of the cross country trip to the first few weeks at college. She is able to weave into the story clues about the where abouts and possibilities that Win could be found at, using the past events of the trip along with current evidence found in the present: that only his best friend Chris can find. Throughout the novel Winston's dad appears questioning Chris and telling him about Winston's troubles and problems. The whole novel is centered around finding Win. The crux I believe is what Winston's dad tells Chris at a meeting at the dean's office at the university, "He enjoys his own antics but other people tend to tire pretty quickly of his little tricks." This is what holds the story together, because without this information Chris and the audience would begin to believe that Chris is dead and forgotten. But since this relates to a clue from Win himself sent to Chris mentioning of the word trick, he is able to piece the two together and understand who sent it to him.

Over all I would truly recommend this work of literature to any young adult, simply because it is about young adults with the many troubles and pleasures that come with becoming one. It is also a great book for anyone who enjoys mysteries or puzzles, because of the unknown where abouts of Win and the clues he sends along the way to guide Chris to him. Other works I would recommend to be read along with this novel would be the Alex Rider Series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Probably my favotire book!

I JUST finished reading this book 1 minute ago! Shift is such a great story! It was so fun to read and the characters grow so much on you! You cant put it down because you REALLY wanna know what happens next! From start to finish, it was GREAT! Everyone should read this epic adventure ;)

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Highly recommended!

When i first got the book i was so excited because i had been counting down the days until it arrived. I loved it! I really liked how the author went back and forth between present day, in the story, and back when he was on the bike trip. I would definitely recommend this book to anybody!

Dj like

Cool

Bsmm

A2

Average

This book was often times predictable and boring. It was okay while it lasted, but to be honest, I didn't even finish it. Not worth the money.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

What I think of this book

This is one of the best mystery books I've read two best friends Chris and Win going on a 2 month bike trip! Their parents disagree but in the end cannot refuse their last hint of adventure before they must start their adult life. During this trip Win ditches Chris and Chris takes bus back home angered by his friends betrayal. Win's dad for the first time actually worried about Win calls an FBI agent to see if Chris really doesn't know the whereabouts of his son. Now Chris is trying to live the "college" life but cannot due to the FBI agent Ward who continues to question him. This is one of the first stories I've read where the story transitions from the present to the past every chapter back and forth. For instance in Shift the story transitions from the bike ride with Win to college. This is an amazing book and I recommend it to anyone who loves a mystery.

Awesome

Really, really good book. It starts out a little boring then the action hits you.

Intriging

this book is awsum. this boy go mising and his frend only relizes it wen he duznt contak his parents for munths. this fbi agent starts qwestuning him, and he starts to think bak to wen he dispeered. grayt book for teens and an awsum thriller

Amazing

This book is a great mystery and although it may be a tad predictable at times, I believe it builds tension, it makes you want to read on. Another great thing is that it alternates between past and present, the story, in my opinion, would be too drawn out and boring if it didnt do this. Overall this is a great read for people who enjoy mysteries.

Predictable

Dont let my headline decieve you, i did like the book. However, at some points in the story it gets pretty easy to geuss whats going to happen.

great mystery

In the mystery Shift by Jennifer Bradbury, Chris and Win have been best friends forever. They decide to go on a cross-country bike trip after they graduate high school. They travel through many interesting places and meet people throughout the adventure. But at some point, they separate from each other, and Win never returns home. As the mystery begins, there is speculation about what happened to Win. This book was a page-turner that kept the reader on his toes. It was a very suspenseful novel, with the mystery growing with every chapter. It flashes back every other chapter to when they were on the trip and expounds upon the fun and adventures they had, and then flashes forward to present day. This technique really made the mystery grow. I am not an avid reader, but this book really made me want to read more. I recommend Shift to anyone looking for a good mystery.

Loved it!

Shift was a really good book that I would recommend to anyone who is looking for an easy read and a suspenseful book. This book is about boys named Chris and Win that went on a cross-country bike trip and Win gets "lost". The book was very interesting and I was surprised at many of the twists and turns that this book had. The book is bittersweet and by the end you really feel like you know the characters personally. I could really relate the characters to my life they were normal people with strong personalities and thoughts. The decisions that the characters make are very interesting and most of the time much unexpected. Many decisions are left up to the reader throughout the book though which I really like. Sometimes they have the character say a line or the author will imply something but that they meant by that is left up to the reader. So in other words there are a lot of different ways that the people who are reading this book can interoperate it because of the way the author write it. I definitely recommend this book. Emma Coen

I recommend this book to all middle schoolers who like a good mystery that really gets you wondering what happened.

I am 13 and i enjoyed this book. It is a mystery, but it isnt a mystery that scares you and stuff like that. In this story there are 2 boys that have been good friends since they were in 3rd grade. Chris, is the more serius one and has to keep Win (short for Winston) straight. The other friend is Win. Win is a rich boy that grew up never getting love but his parents gave him a lot of money and he ended up saving all that money up. The two friends go on a bike trip from West Virginia all the way to Seattle, Washington! However, somewhere on the way going Win disapears and Chris has the find him. Winstons parents, threaten Chris's family economically so Chris has to go back and try to find his friend. I would recommend this book to anyone but escepially teenagers or young adults, GE

Shift

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

Chris and Winston never imaged that riding their bikes from West Virginia to Seattle would end their friendship. According to Win, he has an uncle that lives in Seattle. And have plans on going to college after their summer bike road trip. Chris and Win have been best friends since third grade. Win's parents are very strict, indomitable, and rich. Chris's parents, on the other hand, are compassionate, loving people who think of Win as their other son. On their trip Win falls in love with a ranch they camped at and the people that owned it. Winston behaves oddly during their trip. At the end of the road trip Chris returns home without Win.


On their way to Seattle Chris discovers twenty-thousand dollars in Win's bag but decides not to say anything to Win about it. Chris becomes very suspicious of Win's attitude. He can't imagine why Win didn't tell him about the money. Why would he need that much money and not tell his best friend about it? He was confused. When Chris returns back home without Win, he's life goes ballistic. Back at home the FBI agent Ward, constantly asks Chris about Win. Chris gets annoyed at Win's father because he believes that Chris is somehow responsible for Win's disappearance. Later Win receives a postcard from a suspicious name "Tricksey", when he realizes who Tricksey was he packed his bags and heads out to look for Win.

While Win and Chris were in Montana they saw a coyote tearing out its prey's intestines; they took pictures of it. When they wanted to get a little closer the coyote saw them and then it started chasing them. The coyote eventually got tired of chasing Win and Chris and stopped. As the boys continued Chris got a flat tire, but Win didn't even bother to stop, and left Chris alone in Montana. Win ditched his long-time best friend and did not return for Chris.



The author is trying to say that when people are friends for a long time and if one is comfortable with the friendship that doesn't mean the other person is comfortable also. In fact the other may be miserable. And whatever makes your best friend happy you should let them do that and not let you feel trapped with you. You sometimes need to let a friend go no matter how devastating it is for you. When Chris returned home he didn't feel like finding Win and asking him why he disappeared. He was angry. But it turned out that that disappearance was the best for their friendship.

The author did an okay job. I wasn't too pleased with the book because I was expecting more excitement and more adventure. I would mostly recommend this book to teenagers. I think that it did have a good message. I didn't like some of the language in the book so therefore I give this book three stars. The author did a wonderful job describing the boy's adventure. If you like books about friendships and some adventure then this is a great book for you.

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