The Night Shift

By: Natalka Burian

Narrated by: Sarah Beth Pfeifer

"The Night Shift is an engrossing and vibrant novel, and I loved watching my fair city shine in these pages. This is a great book for readers who love New York City after dark, and who see mysterious possibilities around every corner."
— Emma Straub, New York Times Bestselling Author of All Adults Here

Only by traveling into the past can Jean discover a happy future…

Hidden behind back doors of bars and restaurants and theaters and shops all over New York City are shortcuts—secret passageways that allow you to jump through time and space to emerge in different parts of the city. No one knows where they came from, but there are rules—you can only travel through them one way and only at night.

When Jean’s work friend Iggy introduces her to the shortcuts, it’s to help shorten her commute between her night shifts bartending and her work at an upscale bakery. Jean is intrigued but has a hard time shaking the side effects—the shortcuts make her more talkative, more open to discussing her past and recalling memories she’s tried hard to forget.

When Iggy goes missing, Jean believes it’s related to the shortcuts and his growing obsession with them. But as she starts digging into their origins, she comes to find a strange connection between herself and the shortcuts. A shimmering, propulsive novel set in New York City during the early aughts and across time, The Night Shift shows that by confronting the past can we reshape our future.

Love the story

Have read all of Natalka Burian’s books, The Night Shift is my favorite so far. Prefer the read to the listen, though.

Masterpiece

I’m shocked this book doesn’t have thousands of reviews already. You gotta read it - best novel I’ve listened to in a long time.

Gripping & easy read

This novel will grab you from the very first sentence. You’ll dive into a mystery involving, time travel, long held trauma and the importance of friendship. Highly recommend even if you’re not usually a sci-fi fan. It never feels over fantastical. The author gives great reasoning for everything.

“Shortcuts” through time in NYC

When the protagonist learns she can take shortcuts through time by going through hidden portals (in places like a diner), this book gets very fun. She does it out of necessity - has several back-to-back jobs and can’t get to the later one on time until a friend shows her the workaround. The only hitch - one can’t go backwards through them or during daylight without potentially getting lost forever in the portal.
She has to find a way to search for a friend of hers who disappeared in between the portals without being engulfed herself.

Worst Narration Ever! Don't get me started on Jean

I had to speed this one up a lot to get through it. I am not sure how they pick narrators, but this one was all wrong. I didn't think anyone could speak that slowly. Jean is completely insufferable. I don't think I have ever disliked a main character so much. This is one of those books where the weird, awkward girl, with secrets she can't share wins the hearts of everyone around her and you are not sure why. I get where the author is going with her character, but it was just too much. Jean is painted as the tortured, naive, loner who has suffered some sort of trauma in her past. She isn't comfortable around people but somehow, she makes friend with everyone she meets and people automatically love her?? What's more irritating is that the trauma that is responsible for this antisocial behavior is cliché and makes her character seem super self-centered. When it's finally revealed why she doesn't like talking about her parents, I actual groaned out loud. It seemed like a silly reason to be so traumatized... to the point where you quit your job because someone asked about your parents! Its overkill and repeatedly shoved down our throats just how antisocial Jean is and how uncomfortable she is around groups of people, to the point where it's absurd and cringeworthy. There is a scene where she has friends over to her apartment and she felt that making popcorn and watching a movie was foreign to her. She only offered because she saw those types of things "done on TV"! When I heard that, I rolled my eyes so hard that I felt like I would not see straight again. Maybe I have just listened to way too many audio books but the "I'm different and special because of my trauma and it makes me interesting" thing is getting really old. I thought the idea for the book had a lot of potential, but the execution was painful and ridiculous.