The Bad Angel Brothers
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
A deliciously dark, atmospheric novel about family and brotherhood from one of America's most distinctive writers
There's sibling rivalry and then there's the relationship of brothers Cal and Frank Belanger.
Enemies since childhood, the small town of Littleford just isn't big enough to hold them both. So, Cal strikes out for the world's wild places - a gifted geologist in search of gold and other precious minerals - leaving Frank to develop a successful career as the town's lawyer, fixer and local hero.
But when Cal, newly rich and newlywed, returns to the town of his birth, Frank gives him the opposite of a brotherly welcome, leading to a series of betrayals and reprisals culminating in the ultimate plan: murder.
A riveting tale of adventure, betrayal and the true cost of family bonds, The Bad Angel Brothers is a remarkable novel from one of American's most distinctive writers.
'Laden with jealousy, betrayal and a mythic lust for vengeance' The New York Times
'One of the most accomplished and worldly-wise writers of his generation' The Times
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.
Customer Reviews
Great for the first 200 or so pages
A gripping, interesting read for the first 200 or so pages but the nagging, whining, pathetic inability to counter Franks ruthless aggression is irritating beyond belief. I think Theroux should consider renaming the book, “a lamb to the slaughter” or “on the subject of complete and utter inability to counter familial issues”. Ha ha….