Misdirection (Book One of The Savant Trilogy)
Manipulation (Book Two of The Savant Trilogy)
Metamorphosis (Book Three of The Savant Trilogy)
About the Author

Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2016 Longlist

Look inside the book
Get the E-book Listen to the audiobook

The first book in an exciting new YA mystery trilogy about a teenage savant on the trail of her family's killer, from the multi-talented Ning Cai, international magic celebrity and author.

When parkour champion Maxine Schooling wakes from a three-year coma, she has no memory of how her parents and little brother were killed the night she was attacked. Using her new-found photographic memory, she covertly helps her hacker BFF with the police investigation of a savage serial killer on the loose. In her race to track down the Singapore Spectre, Max finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy involving stage illusions, a secret exposé, and a controversial megachurch headed by a powerful man.
Look inside the book

Six months after teen savant Maxine Schooling helped the CID capture the Singapore Spectre, she has been once again roped into a murder investigation. An unrelated grouping of people is being killed by what witnesses can only refer to as a vampire. At the same time, Max meets a former colleague of her parents, who can potentially give her clues to whoever killed her family and put her in a coma.
Look inside the book

Since teen savant Maxine Schooling awoke from a coma to the news that her entire family had been murdered, she has lived the following year under the shadow of that unknown killer. Even as she aided criminal investigations in Singapore, and reconnected with a tight network of family and friends, she has never felt completely safe. Now the Man in the Mask has returned, and Max must rely on her courage, resourcefulness and eidetic memory to survive.
Ning Cai is the author of The Savant Trilogy—a young adult series beginning with the bestselling novel Misdirection (longlisted for the 2016 Epigram Books Fiction Prize)—as well as the Singapore Literature Prize-shortlisted memoir Who is Magic Babe Ning? She is also the co-author of three additional books: a travel account (Adventures of 2 Girls, with Pamela Ho), a middle-grade novel (Magicienne, with Don Bosco), and a creativity self-help guide (Game of Thoughts, with John Teo).

For over a decade, she was known as “Magic Babe” Ning, a multi-award-winning stage illusionist and escape artist known as “the sexiest woman in magic”. Lauded for her death-defying acts and record-setting feats, Ning performed for Middle Eastern royalty and showcased her brand of deadly sexy magic to an international audience on stage and on TV. She was also the guest entertainer for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, performing for thousands on the high seas. After a brief period of retirement, she returned in 2017 as the mentalist Ning: Mind Magic Mistress.

Besides being engaged as magic consultant for various projects, she has starred in popular Mediacorp TV shows such as Meat and Greed 2 (Channel 5),《吃饱没？3》(Eat Already? 3) (Channel 8), Love in a Time of Change (Channel NewsAsia) & Record Breakers (Okto). A TEDx speaker and committee member of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations’s Women’s Register, Ning has led writing workshops both in person and on Zoom, and is no stranger to the annual Singapore Writers Festival. Recipient of a 2018 National Arts Council Arts Scholarship, Ning earned a Masters with Distinction in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh. She now resides in Europe with her spouse and their little boy. You can find her online at NingThing.com.

Sale

The Savant Trilogy Bundle