I had to drive up to Liverpool and back today (convenience won over ecology I am afraid). That meant about seven hours of driving which in turn required copious refills of coffee and something to keep me occupied on the iPod. I had bought the audio book of Ian Banks first, and brilliant novel The Wasp Factory brilliant read in unabridged form by Peter Kenny. The run time matched the journey (with a five minute wait outside the house at the end). Its a cruel, brilliant and quite extraordinary novel. To give you an idea, this is an excerpt: Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year later I did for my young cousin Espereda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anyone for years, and I don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through. That from the voice of the book, 16 year old Frank.

It was written in 1984 and Ian Banks has written many brilliant novels since. As Ian M Banks he is one of the best modern science fiction novels (read the latest Culture series novel Matter to see what I mean). However I don't think he has ever equalled his first novel. Peter Kenny also captures the right matter of fact tone from the horror and tragedy of Frank. It's a deeply disturbing book, but timeless and I strongly recommend it.