Soper, Barry (2026) One Last Question, Prime Minister: From Muldoon to Luxon, Untold Stories for the House of Parliament. HarperCollins.
A very personal insight into Barry Soper’s five decades as a journalist covering politics, parliament and twelve NZ Prime Ministers, from Muldoon to Luxon. This entertaining and astute look at their personalities, working life and legacies takes us from backrooms through domestic crises to international destinations. Politics isn’t for the soft-hearted. An inside scoop.
Rating: 4/5
Steadman, Catherine (2026) Nine Lives. Quercus.
Following her divorce Frankie, and her Persian cat Blue, start a new life in a recently renovated home in an upmarket London suburb. Frankie has concerns about her new neighbourhood and for own and Blue’s safety. When Blue returns one day with the words “Help Me” scratched into his collar she attaches a cat-cam to his collar and voyeuristically explores the lives of her neighbours. As their secrets are exposed she sets out on a perilous quest to find a hidden truth. Smart psychological thriller.
Rating: 4/5
Kroll, Jessica (2026) Helpless. Simon & Schuster.
Faye is a Hollywood celebrity with a perfect life, that is, until she returns to her hometown, in upstate New York, for the funeral of an old friend and reconnects with her first love, Henry. Their love had been very intense and obsessive. As Faye is pulled once again into his orbit she becomes part of a sinister game of murder and control. Twisted.
Rating: 3/5
Wright Stevens, Rebecca (2026) Sisters of the Midnight Sun: A Murder in Arctic Alaska. Counterpoint.
A true story involving a double homicide in a Native Alaskan Inupiat community. Rebecca Wright was a defence attorney living in Utqiagvik, in Alaska’s oil-rich Northern Slope Borough, when two well-known sisters Bernice and Wanda Ipalook were found brutally murdered. Wright is tasked with representing murder suspect Amos Lane. In the season of the midnight sun it is difficult to find witnesses to confirm time and day, this is compounded by the prevalence of alcohol and drugs, and a distrust of the tanik (‘outside’/US) legal system. Wright has woven a vivid portrait of an Inupiat community, on the edge of habitation, as she navigates morally complex relationships, truth and justice. This book is a unique blend of memoir, true crime, courtroom drama, and cultural history. A thought-provoking read.
Rating: 4/5
Harding, Luke (2026) Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest. Guardian Faber.
As the post-1945 rules based order continues to disintegrate we have been faced with betrayal. Betrayal of agreements that nations do not invade or usurp one another. Harding examines the new age of conquest and the brutal power politics remaking the world. He discusses Trump’s second term and the Putin-Trump dynamic, the rift with NATO and Europe, Ukraine’s resistance, Greenland’s struggle and North Korea’s and China’s collusion with Russia. Ukraine is at the heart of the book with Harding visiting Kyiv and villages under Russian bombardment and meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also talks to Greenlanders about a US takeover, tours the divided Korean peninsula, and in a wider context explores the attack on Iran and the impact of corruption, espionage, sabotage, digital interference and unconstrained ethics. Compelling and sobering.
Rating: 5/5
