Control-shift (Signature) [Paperback]

When Graham and his family move into their new home they have no idea that an extraordinary chain of events linking the past and the present to the future will change their lives forever. As soon as they move in Graham feels uncomfortable in his new home, as if something or someone is trying to warn the family away. When Matty, Graham's little sister, starts to sees ghosts at her window, Graham decides to investigate the history of the house to see if he can find out what happened there to leave such an atmosphere. Meanwhile their father is busy working on a top secret government defence project, and this is causing an atmosphere all of its own--he is distant, rarely there and always anxious about his work, leaving him little time for his family. As the story--part ghost story, part spy story, and part story about a once close-knit family under pressure--begins to unfold, it gradually becomes clear that it is no coincidence that the ghosts of the past have started to invade the family's present lives.

Control Shift is an unusual and intriguing novel for older children. Written by Nick Mann who, if this impressive work is anything to go by, is certainly one to watch, the story is cleverly and intricately plotted with a tension that mounts from the moment we meet Matty in a conversation with a clinical psychologist. After that, the reader has no choice but to read on and find out what happens. Well written, suspenseful and, to coin a cliché, a true page-turner, Control Shift is an uncompromising novel that will leave readers wide-eyed and breathless. (Ages 10 and over)--Susan Harrison

' . . . if this impressive work is anything to go by, (Nick Manns) is one to watch . . . well-written, suspenseful and a true page-turner, CONTROL-SHIFT is an uncompromising novel that will leave readers wide-eyed and breathless.' (Amazon.co.uk )

'A challenging and thought-provoking read, which handles time shifts and complex issues with courage and originality.' (Bol.com )

'The writer reveals a talent for the atmosphere of the ghostly real as the past permeates the present.' (Books for Keeps )

'Nick Manns is on to a winner here!' (School Librarian )

Manns skilfully interweaves the two main story strands in a tense novel that will reward less robust readers as well as their more confident peers (The Guardian )

Nick Manns is on to a winner here!

'The writer reveals a talent for the atmosphere of the ghostly real as the past permeates the present.'

'A challenging and thought-provoking read, which handles time shifts and complex issues with courage and originality.'

'Nick Manns is on to a winner here!'

In their new home in the country, Graham and his small sister, Matty, sense terrifying secrets are hidden there. Graham’s father works on a state-of-the-art computer-guided weapons system for the future - shortly to be shown to the big players in the international weapons market. Troubled by the shifting presences and his small sister’s conversations with an unseen young man she calls Paul, Graham looks for the key to the past. What he uncovers shakes the foundations of his existence: a secret First World War research establishment using British military prisoners as guinea-pigs, and a young man executed for speaking out.

Past and future come together when his father is arrested for treason: the codes for the new weapons' operating system have been published on the Internet. By his father? Or, as Graham believes, the final act of the ghost of 'a young man who felt he’d failed in his own life and has seen the demons driven away in ours ...'

While Nick Manns was growing up, his father was in the RAF. Every two years his family would pack up and move to another RAF base - but one of the things that stayed firm during his childhood were the stories he could fetch from the local library. Even in some remote desert outpost, there was alway a book to transport him to other worlds. He has written stories and poems every since. Formerly a secondary school English teacher, he is now a curriculum coordinator for Leicester College. A published writer of books about teaching, CONTROL-SHIFT was his debut novel, shortlisted for the North-East Book Award and the Branford Boase Award, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and nominated for the Stockton Award.