A STATION ON THE PATH TO SOMEWHERE BETTER

(Scribner £14.99) The third novel from an exciting english writer still in his 30s, this gut- churning tale of a doomed road-trip begins sweetly enough, before baring its fangs.

It’s told by daniel, hooked on a television show on which Francis, his dad, is a set builder.

When Francis, a ladies’ man with a dark side, promises to bring him behind the scenes at its Yorkshire studio, daniel can’t wait — but their big day goes very, very wrong.

A chilling study of male violence, framed by a horribly, almost unbearably, moving portrait of a dysfunctional father-son dynamic, it left me in bits.