Shift

For Rev (who was there just to spend an hour looking at Johnson), Billie (who would rather be in Boots buying make-up), The Ape (who isn't really bothered either way), GG (so laid back he is almost horizontal), Johnson (man of mystery and good looks), Carrie (the human knitting needle), Lucas and Moth an after-school detention becomes an apocalyptic nightmare. A lit match, a flash of blinding light and a fire alarm are the only clues to what is about to happen. Clues they may be but they are not clues enough to warn any of the group that their afternoon is going to go from bad to a horrendous nightmare in a matter of minutes. In fact it takes more than a matter of minutes for them to discover what has a happened. It takes the whole book for any of them to find out how to reverse it, or at least get back to normality and by then ... well I'm afraid you'll have to read for yourself for Shift is the first title in a brand new series.
Our group of misfits whose story is told by Rev are brilliantly imagined teens. Jeff Povey is a debut author who has captured their voices with clarity, wit and humour. Perhaps he was a misfit himself? However he has done it he has done it well.
The unlikely sextet are different shapes, different sizes and they are about to meet another set of themselves of even scarier proportions. They face dangers from the world they inhabit and from themselves in ways that the reader can only imagine until they turn at page which will reveal all, or at least begin to.
Brilliantly drawn, deftly narrated and generously sprinkled with a humour that pokes fun at itself as well as other post-apocalyptic and zombie YA fiction this is an action-packed, breath-taking, edge of the set, hilarious and exciting page turner. I can't wait for the next book and I'm quite sure that on e you've read it you'll feel exactly the same! Reviewed by Louise Ellis-Barrett, librarian.

Suggested Reading Age 11+