Author(s): Ella West

New Zealand titles - children

Nicky is asked to read some of her work aloud in class. She dreads it and, just as she starts, she finds herself elsewhere. Transported. For Nicky is one of a select few people who can will themselves away not just in mind, but in body. She has the gift of teleportation. It's a rare, genetic ability, and a sinister, anonymous group called the Project want to use her for their own ends.

Nicky finds herself whisked off to a nameless desert site. Here, she and four other teenagers, who are also , are educated and trained for search and rescue missions.

As these missions grow more frightening, more perilous, the five start to form closer friendships. Yet it is only when they realise that the Project wants them to breed more travellers like themselves, that Nicky, Paul and the others, find the impetus to form an escape plan. In a stark, direct style, 'Thieves' pulls you right in to this strange, sinister world of gifted young adults exploited by an anonymous group. This novel is above all a thriller. It comments on much that is surreal in our own supposedly ordinary times. A fast-paced, engaging chiller-thriller. A remarkable and original debut.