A STATION ON THE PATH TO SOMEWHERE BETTER

(Simon & Schuster £14.99) BENJAMIN WOOD gained a growing reputation with The Ecliptic, his twisty 2015 novel set in an artists’ retreat.

The disturbing events of his propulsive new book take place in 1995, when the child narrator, Daniel, is hooked on an ITV fantasy show on which his father, Francis, is a set-builder.

Daniel is agog when his mother lets him take a trip north to see the studio with his dad, an unreliable womaniser with a barely veiled temper. But things start to go wrong when a security guard won’t let them in — the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations that Daniel grasps only dimly.

As the scales fall from Daniel’s eyes after one letdown too many, a story that begins as a poignant, coming-of-age tale spirals almost imperceptibly into harrowing terror.

Wood’s brutal exploration of toxic masculinity urges you on to the bloody climax — and leaves you grateful for the palate-cleansing coda, offering a closing note of redemption.