Shift

April 23, 2012
Olive keeps it simple: take her meds, keep a low profile at school, stay away from the ocean (with its horrible memories), and try not to cause trouble since she’s pretty sure her selfish, unruly behavior is what made her father take off six months ago. But then strange and mysterious Miranda Vaile shows up at her high school, and Olive’s safeguards start to crumble. Miranda begins insinuating herself into the life of Olive’s former best friend, Katie, but only Olive and Lachlan, the handsome new guy in town, think anything is odd. Bailey builds her first YA novel with precision, drawing readers into a complicated world where things are not at all what they seem. In a story that is as much about friendship and redemption as it is about second-guessing reality, Bailey creates characters that have depth and authenticity. As Olive’s nemesis, Miranda is as creepy as they come, and readers will wonder to the very end what to make of her shifting personalities. Olive’s story comes to a satisfying conclusion, one that will be hard to forget. Ages 12–up.

June 1, 2012

Gr 8 Up-After her suicide attempt, Olive shuts herself off from most of the world, transforming from one of the popular kids to an outsider. She drifts through high school, mostly hanging out with her mum and kid brother. And then orphaned Miranda moves to town, along with the rumor that she murdered her parents. Though she's bizarrely unremarkable, she forces her way into the in-crowd and slowly takes the place of Olive's ex-best friend and the high school's queen bee, Katie. As Olive tries to accept that romantic overtures from handsome new guy Lachlan might not be just a cruel joke, she struggles with painful memories of her dad leaving her family and worries about Katie. She slowly realizes that Miranda is a "humanoid shifter," a being that can "take on the characteristics of other humans," until the shifter has become the person he or she latched onto, leading to the victim's death. When she's done with Katie, Miranda sets her sights on Olive. This psychological, supernatural thriller is creepy and fresh. Bailey spreads revelations throughout the story while simultaneously building suspense. The unhealthy relationships are disconcerting and just as intoxicating for readers as they are for the characters. Teens will be hooked after the first page.-Emily Chornomaz, West Orange Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
On the toxic friend scale, Miranda Vaile is a strychnine smoothie. Narrator Olive doesn't really believe the rumor that Miranda killed her own parents, but from the first time she sees her, she senses that something's off. "I recoiled like I'd been stung. I'd never seen eyes like hers before. The pupils seemed to be made of metal, hard and brightly polished." The evil new girl is a familiar type in thrillers. Nonetheless, Australian author Bailey adds the intriguing possibility that Miranda's talent for slowly sucking the life out of those she befriends is literal. Perhaps she is a parasitic shapeshifter who will, according to the website Olive finds, "latch' on to people (generally those with strong personalities) and slowly drain them of their vitality and spirit" -- in this case, Olive's ex-friend and former "partner in bitchiness," high school queen bee Katie; and then Olive herself. Olive has her own secrets, including an "Incident" serious enough to land her in treatment and on meds, but at least her best friend Ami looks out for her -- until, in another effective twist, Ami turns out to be not what she seems. Readers will be riveted by the slow reveal of the many mysteries (the whereabouts of Olive's father; the nature of the "Incident"; Ami's identity) and will enjoy puzzling through what's real and what isn't -- trying to figure out if Miranda poses a supernatural threat or if her powers are entirely human, which almost makes them scarier. christine m. heppermann

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)