The Uninvited by Liz Jensen (Bloomsbury)

by Patrick O'Connor

THERE is a chilling start to The Uninvited – a seven year old girl fires a nail gun into her grandmother's neck.

At first this seems an isolated incident but when more families suffer violent attacks at the hands of their own children, a pattern emerges.

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd (Bloomsbury)

by Patrick O'Connor

ONE of the few decent things on British television over the Christmas period was a 1940s spy thriller called Restless, adapted from a book written by the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter William Boyd.

It was such a cracking yarn that I sought out another Boyd offering, Ordinary Thunderstorms.