Isolated 13-year-old Cristiano and his bitterly violent father, Rino, live at the fringe of Milan society in squalid digs, railing against immigrants and stolen jobs, trying to avoid Cristiano’s committal to state ‘care’ and drinking grappa with their dim and damaged friends. When an ill-conceived bank heist goes awry and throws them onto darker paths of rape and murder, Cristiano risks all to save Rino, whom he loves despite knowing his father’s true measure.

Appalling yet gripping in its brutal violence and wince-worthy sleaze, and 2007’s winner of the Premio Strega (Italy’s version of the Man Booker), The Crossroads portrays la dolce vita as hollow nostalgia. It draws on similar themes to Ammaniti’s other award-winning novel I’m Not Scared: desperation, youth damaged by blind adult cruelty and an Italy disaffected by modernity.

Though reader empathy might be stretched thin at times, for Rino in particular, it is the deftly drawn father-son relationship that gives the novel heft beyond its horror. Fans of intricate characterisation and graphic imagery that combines thriller with social commentary will like this latest from one of Italy’s contemporary wünderkinds. Not for the faint-hearted.