NIGHT VISION

A chilling and suspenseful thriller for younger teens. In the dark, Viola sees things no one else does ... until the night she sees something she shouldn't. Would you take the money and run?

Viola has a rare disease which makes her unable to tolerate sunlight. She lives on a remote farm with her parents, and lives much of her life at night, using night-vision goggles to explore the surrounding pine plantation. But kids who go out at night see things that no-one else sees, and one evening Viola witnesses a murder. She follows the killer through the trees and watches as he buries a large rubbish bag before driving off. Viola has nothing to lose – she’ll probably be dead before she turns 20 – so she comes back later and digs it up, discovering a million dollars in $100 bills. Should Viola tell the police? Or should she take the money and run? But what will happen when the killer realises his money is gone? Viola takes matters into her own hands and refuses to be defined by her disease. She’s an unusual, almost clinical character, which makes this book all the more intriguing and original. Ella West is the nom de plume of Karen Trebilcock, who was born in Invercargill, New Zealand, studied English literature at Victoria University in Wellington, and has worked as a journalist. In 2006 she was awarded the Louis Johnson New Writer's Bursary and her first novel, Thieves, was a finalist for the 2007 New Zealand Post Children and Young Adults' Book Awards. Anywhere But Here, her second novel, was a finalist for the SFFANZ (Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand) Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2009. Ella lives on a rural property with her husband, two sons, one cat and assorted other animals. It is there, between getting the cows in for milking, teaching drama and raising two sons that she writes her novels.