Phillip Gwynne's first novel Deadly Unna? was the literary hit of 1998 winning Children's Book of the Year and selling over 200,000 copies. It was made into the feature film Australian Rules for which Phillip's screenplay won an AFI award in 2002. Since then Phillip's novels have all received both high acclaim and popularity amongst readers including his young adult novel Swerve which was shortlisted for many awards amongst them the 2010 Prime Minister's Award and the Golden Inky. Phillip's also no stranger to writing thrillers as he has written an adult detective thriller The Build Up, but The Debt is his first series for upper-primary school readers and combines both his substantial literary skills and his ability to tell a good story.