The Bad Angel Brothers
A Novel
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the legendary American master Paul Theroux comes a brilliant new novel of chilling psychological depth, the tale of a younger brother whose lifelong rivalry with his older brother—a powerful lawyer with a pattern of gleefully vicious betrayals—culminates in the ultimate plan: murder.
Cal has always lived in the shadow of his manipulative and domineering brother, Frank, who was doted upon by their mother and beloved by the girls in their small New England hometown—including Cal’s own girlfriends. In an attempt to escape Frank’s intrusive presence, Cal pursues a different kind of freedom in the world’s wild spaces, prospecting for gold and precious minerals everywhere from the heat of the desert at the Mexican border to the Alaskan chill, to central Africa, and Colombian mines where he will meet the love of his life, Vida. Soon he is dripping in wealth, his pockets full of gold nuggets and emeralds, but the money means far less to him than his independence. To Frank, however, “Cash is king.” As Cal’s success grows, so too does Frank’s power and his influence in Cal’s affairs, the devastating threat he creates at the center of his little brother’s life. And, ultimately, when Frank decides to commit the ultimate betrayal…Cal is left with only one, final solution.
Few writers have as keen an eye for human nature as the inimitable Paul Theroux, and this riveting tale of adventure, betrayal, and the true cost of family bonds is an unmissable new work from one of America’s most distinguished and beloved novelists.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Theroux (The Mosquito Coast) cranks the nastiness to 11 in this powerful tale of a decades-long sibling rivalry. The story is narrated by Cal Belanger, 56, a globe-trotting geologist with a successful prospecting business. Cal loathes Frank, who stayed in their hometown of Littleford, Mass., to build an injury law practice. Over the course of the narrative, Cal lists the many betrayals that have soured his relationship with his "local hero" brother, including Frank's habit of recounting Cal's personal experiences as his own and his resistance to repaying loans Cal made to him. Frank, however, is revered as a saint by his clients, owing to the "whiplash windfalls" he wins them. After Frank plays a role in alienating Cal's wife and son from him in an emasculating divorce suit, Cal plots grim revenge. Is Frank truly the "devil" that Cal makes him out to be? Is Cal, in his obsessive complaints that contradict Frank's appraisal by others, an extraordinarily unreliable narrator? Theroux plays skillfully on reader sympathies until the bitter end, showing how a man's beliefs can make him turn to violence. The result is searing and memorable.