IAIN BANKS The Wasp Factory ****

I re-read this to remind myself of what a brilliant writer Iain Banks can be when he sets his mind to it.

This was his first novel, published in 1984.

It's the gruesome story of Frank, growing up on a lonely Scottish island where he lives with his father. He's a deeply disturbed teenager who tortures animals and literally gets away with murder.

Yet as he narrates his story, you get sucked into Frank's world and start seeing it with his perverted logic.

It's horrific, gripping, and in its depiction of Frank strangely compassionate - a real tour de force.