By Jeremy Rees: I read every book shortlisted for the most prestigious literary award in the world. Here's what I found.

This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend.

This year's Booker chair Esi Edugyan said the six finalists typified the "unease" of the moment, although the Sydney Morning Herald felt that unease was understating the case. "Sheer terror swirls through some contenders," she said.

This week, a long read about a short list.

RNZ executive editor Jeremy Rees read and reviewed every book shortlisted for this year's Booker prize, so you don't have to.

Jeremy Rees joins the podcast to traverse the controversial history of the world's most prestigious literary award, and to review this year's six hopefuls.

One of the great joys of the Booker is not just the novels, it is the highly entertaining literary spats and occasional odd choices. There have been some doozies.

I can't really explain why I decided to lie awake for the last five weeks reading the Booker shortlist into the night. But here's what I found.

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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details