Tragic yet uplifting in parts, a nocturnal journey.

Nightshift achieves an incredible building of tension and change that takes place within an at first platonic friendship.

Everyone changes, this is a fact that can be seen as depressing or positive depending on how you look at it. In Nightshift, the story centres around twenty-three year old Meggie, a young woman with a stable job, stable boyfriend and seemingly unremarkable life. This all changes when she meets Sabine, a new employee at her work. Sabine is painted as a magnetic person but the reason for this is unspoken, almost magical. She possesses a quality of something you want to capture and keep but pulls away whenever you get close. Meggie is at first interested in her, but quickly becomes attracted and then obsessed.

When Sabine starts working a two week on, two week off nightshift, Meggie follows her. The story follows their nocturnal lives, their games of pursuit, and the push and pull.  Meggie seems to want to pull Sabine apart to see what’s making her tick with her almost desperate need to find out about her.

Set in the late nineties, there’s a real feeling of what it was like to bond with other humans over twenty years ago, when technology was catching up but social media didn’t yet exist. Finding out about people meant observing them when they were out and in different environments and situations.

Nightshift has some really great supporting characters. The nightshift team that Meggie works with includes, Earl who is kind and caring, Prawn and Lizard who are chaotic and bring a light banter into the mix and Sherry is a big sister type. They come together perfectly as a bunch of night dwelling misfits. Swirling drunkenly through the day like a vortex and in their centre is Meggie and Sabine. 

There are a lot of dark undertones within. Loneliness, loss of identity, the need to be recognised, love and attention are all prominent in these dysfunctional lives. The need to sometimes adapt your personality to allow yourself to feel included while struggling to figure out who you are.

Meggie ends up finding out more about herself through Sabine than anyone else and therein lies a soft tragedy, that she realises too late. Nightshift is a sad story, but it is also a sweet one. Atmospheric, dark at times and very sensual too.

Nightshift is a very well written book, it never slows down or becomes boring. Perfectly paced and thought provoking while being incredibly entertaining.