This is a deeply unpleasant story. It’s about an alcoholic, drug-addled sex maniac. His sexual encounters and his neglect of his son after his wife’s suicide are simply awful. But there is something compulsive about the writing that kept me turning the pages and completing the book in a weekend. Cave takes the reader on a horrfic, unreal rollercoaster ride. The slow bits are those narrated by Bunny’s son and they are touching and heartbreaking. The book reminded me of Irvine Welsh’s Filth: a depraved journey in which, to the relief of the reader, the protagonist finally gets what he deserves.

The book has its own website and the Guardian interviewed Cave about the audiobook version to which he wrote a soundtrack. The audiobook sounds very interesting but, for now at least, I think I’d like to leave Bunny for something a little less horrible.

(10th in 2012)