Joan's picks: Return to Blood and The Everything War

Return to Blood by Michael Bennett: sequel to Better the Blood from a couple of years ago, featuring Hana Westerman who in the first book was a detective in Auckland, but she’s moved now to a small town looking for a fresh start. A skeleton is found in the sand dunes near her house – the bones of a young Maori woman who’s been missing for five years, and Hana has a connection to the case. Twenty years ago, a friend of hers was found buried in the exact same spot but the man who did that is in prison. She goes looking for answers – initially through her former husband who is himself a Detective Inspector – but when she’s cut out of the investigation she realises she will have to go it alone. Great local resonance – the landscape and the language, and Hana is a terrific character.

The Everything War by Dana Mattioli. This is the story of Amazon – how it’s become a household name, beloved by consumers around the world who’ve benefited from the company’s focus on Customer Obsession. Behind the scenes though, this benign mantra masks a relentless attack on anyone and anything which stands in their way, using their size, leverage and access to data across many industries to choke competition. It’s a fascinating - and alarming - account of a company which has never paid its fair share, while sometimes using ethically questionable and even illegal tactics to bulldoze their way to global supremacy.

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