Review - SHIFT By Em Bailey

"There were two things everyone knew about Miranda Vaile before she'd even started at our school. The first was that she had no parents - they were dead. And the second was that they were dead because Miranda had killed them."

Olive used to be the school queen-bee. But that was before her breakdown. Now she's the class loner, and can only watch as new girl Miranda latches on to Olive's ex-best friend Katie. Soon Miranda is talking like Katie, dressing like Katie - even going out with Katie's boyfriend.

And then Katie dies. Everyone seems to believe it was a tragic accident, but OIive isn't so sure. What if the wild rumours are true? What if Miranda really is a killer...?" taken from Goodreads

I was instantly intrigued when I first heard about Shift.  Although the idea may have been done in a fashion before, for me it was new and the idea highly appealed to me.

The cover is fantastic and so applicable to the story.  I love how the face created with the different parts kind of fit.  Very clever work there!!

This is a great suspense builder of a read.  Every page you read you find out a little, but never quite enough so that you aren't questioning where is the story going next.

There are constant mentions of an incident which really had me wondering what is it??  It kept me dying for more!!

What I didn't expect from the story was an element of paranormalcy.  It was an inclusion that I greatly appreciated as I am a huge paranormal fan, so I was extremely happy.

About mid way through the book there is a BIG reveal - I was in complete shock by it.  I didn't see it coming at all, but I have to say when I read it, everything pieced together and I saw it quite obviously.

I was seriously creeped out by the character of Miranda.  She is the epitome of the nightmare person for me.  And so when you read characters swarming round her I couldn't help but want to scream NO STAY AWAY!!!

I have to say with the added pieces that I didn't expect this was a very different reading experience to what I was expecting, but that made it all the more enjoyable for me, although I was left with several lingering questions.  I wonder if these will ever be addressed??

This is a hugely addictive, suspenseful read that had me gripped!!

Rating 4 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Electric Monkey

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from all good book sellers

NB - For Anyone in the South East London area SHIFT is the July Book club read for Waterstones YA Reading Group