The Wasp Factory cover art

The Wasp Factory

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Wasp Factory

By: Iain Banks
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £12.20

Buy Now for £12.20

About this listen

The Wasp Factory is a bizarre, imaginative, disturbing, and darkly comic look into the mind of a child psychopath - one of the most infamous of contemporary Scottish novels. 

"Two years after I killed Blyth, I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again. It was just a stage that I was going through."  

Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just 16, and unconventional, to say the least.

©2007 Hachette Audio (P)2007 Hachette Audio Suspense Thriller & Suspense Exciting Mind-bending Scary Superhero Highlander

Critic reviews

"One of the most brilliant first novels I have come across." (The Telegraph)

"One of the top 100 novels of the century." (The Independent)

"Brilliant...irresistible...compelling." (New York Times)

All stars
Most relevant
This was one of my books I had to read as coursework but I am badly dyslexic so I relied on the audio book to bring it to life. Which it did beautifully. All I can say is that I recommend it and thank you.

Brilliantly read that brings the story to life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book surprised me in a few ways. I wasn't sure about the premise being my kind of thing but gave it a go as I've enjoyed other Banks stuff. This is dark, told from the mind of a very disturbed young man, and Peter Kenny's performance really enhanced the extreme moments. The story is odd, intriguing and well paced. There are a lot of slow reveals that are satisfying to try figure out as you listen.

Dark but brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book, and not too long of a listen either. Peter Kenny narrated the character of Frank fantastically. I only give it 4 stars because I did find myself drifting off a bit at the start of the book, but at the middle and end it was very gripping. Great for listening to in small chunks, I found it quite depressing to immerse myself in Frank’s world for longer periods!

The Wasp Factory

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes. The story was interesting and the anticipation of the climatic scene between the two "brothers" keeps the listener interested.

If you’ve listened to books by Iain Banks before, how does this one compare?

I haven't. This was the first one. The recommendation came from a friend.

What does Peter Kenny bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The accent and pitch of his voice was excellent. The harness of his voice conveyed a menace embedded in the story.

Did The Wasp Factory inspire you to do anything?

Maybe. I finished the book even though I found it very dark. Typically I would abandon a book of similar content but not this one. Therefore yes it has inspired me a little.

Any additional comments?

If you're an animal lover maybe this work of fiction is not for you. There is no happy ending for any of the animals in the story with the exception of those that are already deceased.

Not for the animal lovers

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Written in the 80s, which explains some of the goings on. I would like to think this could not happen today. The narrator does good job with the various voices. The story has many things to think about in the twists and turns of being inside someone's head 😕.

Bizarre and disturbing story 😳

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews