Iain Banks
1984
Around 185 pages
I love Iain Banks, proving that I can love disturbing novels when they are done well, and when there's something there beyond perversion and pedophilia. This is one of my top five horror novels, although Misery might edge it out for the number one spot.
16-year-old Frank Cauldhame lives with his father on a small island in Scotland. Due to a childhood incident, he is impotent and resents women. He shows all the early signs of a serial killer, and actually has a disturbing a head start on his body count.
Banks has brilliant twists and turns in his plots. So many of our "shocking" novels aren't actually that shocking at all, because you know that our author will bend logic and pacing just to put the grossest thing they can think of on the next page. But this was a thoughtful plot that unfolded with excellent timing. Frank was a fascinating character and I really had a morbid curiosity about how his relationship with his father would turn out.
Of course, some of these images are going to stick with me, and I really wish they wouldn't, but this was overall a rewarding and eerie read.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Neil Gaiman reviewed The Wasp Factory for Imagine magazine, and stated that "will delight horror fans with its mixture of black humor and horrible, imaginative, beautiful deaths."
A 1997 poll of over 25,000 readers of The Independent listed The Wasp Factory as one of the top 100 books of the 20th century.
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