Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

I found this book on the shelves last summer, when I was looking for books that went along with our Summer Reading theme, "Have Book, Will Travel."  Shift is indeed a great story about traveling on the open road, but it is so much more than that, as well.

Chris and Win have been best friends since grade school.  The summer after high school graduation, they decide to have a grand adventure together: a cross-country bike ride from their home in West Virginia to Seattle, Washington.  But towards the end of the trip, the boys have a fight, and Win ditches Chris by the side of the road.  Although angry, Chris pedals on, eventually returning to West Virginia on his own, certain he'll reconnect with Win back home.

Only Win never made it home.  During Chris's first semester at college, he learns the FBI is investigating Win's disappearance, and that he, Chris, was the last person to see Win alive.  Torn between his allegiance to his friend and the uncertainty of why Win abandoned him, it's up to Chris to find the answers behind Win's disappearance -with some surprising discoveries.

 The story switches back and forth between the present - when the investigation is taking place - and the summer when the boys were actually on their road-trip.  Because the reader is just as unaware of Win's fate as Chris is, the suspense builds steadily and powerfully - this one's a page-turner, for sure.

Shift is part adventure, part mystery, but ultimately, it is a coming-of-age story of two boyhood friends who discover they've outgrown each other and struggle to discover their individual paths to adulthood.  The author, herself having completed a cross-country bicycle trip, captures the romance, excitement, freedom and self-reliance of the open-road perfectly.  In fact, the last few chapters very nearly had me hopping a bus to destinations unknown!