The Shift — George Foy

CROSSING THE LINE...

Alex Munn is a burned-out television writer for a soap opera called Pain in the Afternoon. Then he's introduced to Virtix, a virtual reality technology so good that the viewer can't tell the difference between real life and Real Life, a Virtix show filled with sex, adventure, and violence.

But what really captures Alex's imagination is a story line he's created for a program he calls Munn's World. It depicts a New York of the 1850s, complete with horse-drawn carriages clip-clopping down grimy, poverty-ridden streets. Here a serial killer called the Fishman is on the prowl, disemboweling victims on the Bowery. His main nemesis is a lone cop named Alex Munn.

What happens next is impossible, unscripted, and absolutely terrifying. For the Fishman has somehow escaped and followed Alex into the present, turning Alex's world into a virtual nightmare.