Now on their 50s, Frank and Cal are brothers who grew up in a small Massachusetts town. The older brother Frank never left the town and became a successful lawyer. Cal became a successful geologist and traveled the world, but wound up living in the same town. They hate each other. This is not a love/hate relationship. They can’t seem to get out of each other’s heads. Why the hell they lived in the same town is inexplicable to me. They are both despicable, but we never get Frank’s pov, so we hear the entire story from Cal’s side and in his view, Frank has only negative traits - from his twisted face to his body odor. And then there is his greed (but that is a case of the pot calling the kettle black). The writing was ok, but I really wanted to hear someone else’s perspective on the relationship. 3.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This novel about a dysfunctional family, set in a small town in Massachusetts, is told from the point of view of younger brother Cal. He describes his rivalry with older brother Frank that leads to resentment and thoughts of revenge. Well-written descriptions trace Cal’s journeys around the world as a successful geologist. His brother spends his entire life in his home town as a lawyer who is respected in the community, but is a manipulative liar who wants to ruin Cal. After their mother dies, their relationship deteriorates even more, reaching a breaking point. Cal is naive to not see what Frank is doing and fails to defend himself until it might be too late. This is an interesting character study, but Frank is almost too evil.

I couldn't put it down and I didn't want to. This book lived up to every ounce of hype that I had experienced for it. This book is beautifully written; a gripping storyline with strong characters. It ticked all the boxes of my expectations. I would definitely recommend it to others.

This is a fascinating story of two brothers, Frank and Cal Belanger, known by their local nickname, "The Bad Angel brothers". Cal is the narrator throughout, a geologist intent on traveling the world in search of precious gems and metals. Frank is a successful local lawyer. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the book describing Cal's explorations in various parts of the world and his perceptions of the natural world! This is a very character centered novel, with the author building suspense through the actions and interactions of the two brothers, and their families. Cal perceives Frank as a manipulator, but Cal also has issues of his own. The plot twists and turns throughout until the final confrontation between the brothers, with an ending I never anticipated! Thank you to the Scene of the Crime, the author, publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary copy

I very much enjoyed reading this! The writing was strong and the story was enjoyable. I recommend it.

Published by Mariner Books on September 6, 2022

Paul Theroux always takes me to worlds far from my own. Surfers in Hawaii (Under the Wave at Waimea). The jungles of Honduras (The Mosquito Coast). High-end escorts in London (Doctor Slaughter). The Bad Angel Brothers is set in more familiar terrain (the East Coast and Arizona albeit with trips to Alaska, Columbia, Zambia, and the Congo), but the subject matter — prospecting for gold and jewels in the modern world — is well beyond my experience.

Still, after scenes are set, the novel becomes a domestic drama, the kind of drama most readers have either experienced or closely observed: sibling rivalry, failed marriages, the acquisition and loss of money. I enjoyed the settings and the prospecting more than the core story, but I never lost interest in the protagonist’s plight.

The Belanger brothers are polar opposites. Frank is a successful lawyer, admired by most residents of his small community, apart from the clients he cheats. Frank is a hypocrite who pretends to help his neighbors while only helping himself. Cal leaves his brother and the community behind after earning a degree in geology. He becomes a prospector, finding peace in solitude. He discovers enough flakes of gold in Arizona to support himself before contracting with mining companies in South America and partnering in a small emerald mine in Zambia. His hometown views him as an outsider, even when he returns to visit his mother. Frank is seen as the reliable brother, the one who stayed in time to share his success.

To please his mother, Cal endures uncomfortable lunches with Frank, but Frank is insufferable. Frank steals Cal’s stories and envies his success. When he loses his assets in a divorce, Frank borrows money from Cal and tries to swindle Cal out of repayment. When his mother wants to give the family home to Cal, Frank persuades her to add his name to the deed to assure that the brother with a secure job will always be there to pay the mortgage. In fact, Frank is not to be trusted — a lesson Cal learns when his own divorce rolls around, despite his hope that he has been giving his brother insufficient credit.

The domestic drama has a contrived feel. A competent lawyer could put a stop to Frank’s shenanigans and probably have Frank disbarred, circumstances that detract from the story’s credibility. Cal’s grievances about Frank are legitimate but they become redundant. Theroux piles on evidence that Frank is dishonest and a bad brother long after the case has been made.

More interesting is the arc of Cal’s life: his marriage, followed by prolonged absences from home to pursue business opportunities that he hides from his wife; his chance encounter in the Arizona desert with the member of a Mexican drug cartel; his relationship with a woman in Zambia; his dangerous trip to the Congo, where he placates his wife by investigating Chinese companies that put children to work in cobalt mines. Cal experiences more adventure than most of us could manage in five lifetimes.

One of the novel’s highlights is Cal’s comparison of rocks to people: undifferentiated aggregate surrounding an occasional unpolished emerald that is distinguished by its impurities as much as the “glittering and verdant garden” of its interior. Cal compares the inclusions in precious stones to Frank in the way they devour the light. That’s clever writing.

Theroux strives for a suspenseful ending but given the nature of Cal’s character, it never seems likely that the story will proceed to its telegraphed destination. I suppose Cal is blinded by anger, but the final pages had me wondering why it took him so long to devise the obvious remedy to his problems. While the journey in The Bad Angel Brothers is better than the destination, the journey is too rich in detail to be spoiled by the disappointing ending.

RECOMMENDED

Main character is a geologist who travels the world, gone for months at a time, mining cobalt, rare earth, gold, etc. Very successful and lucrative business, but neglects wife and son who remain in small hometown, where his brother and mother also live. Brother seems to be spiteful and mean character, but by the end I didn't know if the narrator was unreliable or if his brother was truly as much of an ass as was portrayed! I didn't find the main character to be sympathetic and thought the book needed editing. Not a fan.

The Bad Angel Brotjers is primarily a novel about relationships. Cal and Frank Belanger in particular. Cal becomes a geologist and is often away from home and wife Vita for months at a time. Frank, on the other hand, becomes a lawyer who is quick to manipulate others, and also to horn in on Cal's wife Veta.
Author Paul Theroux does an excellent job of creating believably characters with huge faults. Frank is very unlikable, Cal not much better. As the story progresses, Frank gets the upper hand in an implausible way- he becomes an equal partner in owning the home that the boys mother inhabits. Frank orders huge repairs to the house, and I wondered how someone with only a 50% stake could do that. But it's part of the plot, and as such helps detail the downfall of this relationship.
Well-written and intriguing, I recommend The Bad Angel Brothers.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The best thing I can say about this book is that I finished it because I wanted to find out how it ended and I was disappointed with that. I was never invested in the characters. I agree that it needs editing, pace was very slow. Sibling rivalry can be a compelling plot, this one might have worked better as a novella

Frank and Cal Belanger are Brothers who grow up in small New England town of Littleford where secrets are hard to keep. In the community they were known as the Bad Angel brothers. Frank seemed more of a mama's boy and one to stay in the community and Cal took more of a liking to his father who encouraged him more to be adventure some. Both appear very successful in their chosen careers with Frank being a big-time lawyer and Cal being a geologist going around the world and being successful at finding gold, emeralds and cobalt along with other precious stones. Buthe one thing that Cal cannot escape is his overbearing Brother who with the passing of their father at a relatively young age assumes the head of the family. As you read this you will see that Frank is really obnoxious even though he is the popular hometown boy who everyone even though they could not see that he was one to take other people's stories and make them his own with embellishment sometimes. No matter how far Cal goes around the world he cannot escape his brother worming his way into every facet of Cal's life to the point that Cal his driven to revenge and the possibility of murder. In my opinion the first part of this book where it was really focused on how overbearing Frank could be should have been shortened up it got a little bit much. The story pickups more with Cal's adventures around the world but overall, the book keeps your attention to the end.

For me a four star read must have three things, one, lovely descriptive language which this book had a great deal of to my enjoyment, two, it must have well-drawn characters which this book had way too much character development and three, a storyline that holds my attention which this book really didn’t seem to have until I had read two-thirds of the book..

When I find myself at the half-way point of a book and it’s still not holding my attention due to a total lack of an interesting storyline (or in this case any storyline at all), in fact, I’m actually bored, I can’t wait for it to be over. Even if the author wants to hold the big reveal until the end, well, there has to be at least a hint that there is a big reveal. Just one sentence could have made this a more interesting read. Just a hint of something important that the author won’t reveal until the end. If there is something to reveal at the end, please, give me a clue, please because you’re losing me with every page I read unless I know something momentous is coming.

Well, something did happen finally at the end of the book. I wish I could have given this book four stars because of the amount of research and language but, also, due to the lack of a storyline for so many chapters and way too much character development I can’t give it more than three stars.

This book was a free download thanks to Scene of the Crime, HarperCollins Publishers Inc and Netgalley.

The Bad Angel Brothers
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Fiction Literature
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 9/6/22
Author: Paul Theroux
Publisher: Mariner Books
Pages: 352
Goodreads Rating: 3.91

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Mariner Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: An evocative novel about two brothers whose rivalry as youths in the Massachusetts town of Littleford reverberates throughout their lives, with striking consequences. As they grow into men, they develop into very different people on very different paths - Frank becomes a successful lawyer, and Cal becomes a geologist - but they are constantly drawn back to one other. As they grow into middle age, their relationship reaches crisis point after the death of their widowed mother. The Belanger Brothers is an intimate portrait of family, resentment, and the bonds that shape our lives.

My Thoughts: The story is narrated by Cal, slightly an unreliable narrator, from his POV. Cal is portrayed as the “good brother” while Frank, the “bad brother.” This was a different read for me, more of a character driven plot with a psychological domestic spin. I love how Theroux always includes a global spin on his books. The message of this book is how hatred can grow into revenge, which is not a good thing. You should always say how you feel, especially to family. The characters were well developed, they were the plot, they had depth, emotion, somewhat mysterious, and creative. The author’s writing style was complex, empowering, through provoking, and unique. I would recommend picking up this novel next week when it releases, especially if you love dysfunction family environments.

Theroux's travel writing is simply the last bastion of great travel writing in the industry, and thankfully, he writes fiction too. His last two novels have been just as good as his non-fiction. At least there's someone writing good stuff that's still out there. Recommended!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Cal's older brother has gotten everything he wanted handed to him. Cal decided to become a geologist and made a lot of money doing so. Cal is left with a choice that no one should have to choose. I liked the different characters in this book.

This is a fascinating story of two brothers, Frank and Cal Belanger, known by their local nickname, "The Bad Angel brothers". Cal is the narrator throughout, a geologist intent on traveling the world in search of precious gems and metals. Frank is a successful local lawyer. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the book describing Cal's explorations in various parts of the world and his perceptions of the natural world! This is a very character centered novel, with the author building suspense through the actions and interactions of the two brothers, and their families. Cal perceives Frank as a manipulator, but Cal also has issues of his own. The plot twists and turns throughout until the final confrontation between the brothers, with an ending I never anticipated! Thank you to the Scene of the Crime, the author, publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary copy!

I won't summarize what the plot of the book is about. Many others have already done that. The writing is superb. I loved the descriptions of places that the main character traveled to and how they made him feel. I also liked the comparisons of people and relationships to geological and gemological terms. The book moved along well and the description of the relationship between the two brothers and their interactions was fascinating.

In The Bad Angel Brothers, Paul Theroux tells the story of Frank and Cal, brothers that grew up together in a small community. Told from Cal’s perspective, the reader sees how passive aggressive and manipulative Frank is, and how he slowly destroys Cal’s life. The other people around him regard him as a hero, making the situation even more unbearable for Cal, who would happily be far away doing work as a geologist. But as much as that can work some of the time, it is only so long before he gets sucked back into his relationship with Frank, a situation he exacerbates when he moves his wife into the community where he and his brother grew up. Theroux does an excellent job in making Frank into a person you hate and can’t wait to have nothing to do with. This, for me, is the biggest downfall of the book - I couldn’t wait to be done having any interaction with Frank. It makes you empathize deeply with the protagonist but it doesn’t make you want to continue reading the book, especially when you want to tell Cal to walk away or just say no even if it is his family. The end of the book was also a letdown for me. It feels like it is building towards a major confrontation and instead the ending feels more like a whimper. It certainly didn’t make me feel like putting up with Frank for hundreds of pages was worth the ending. This is definitely an interesting and emotional book regarding sibling dynamics but it was, quite Frankly, very hard for me to read.

A well-crafted, riveting mystery which you don't often see from a writer in his 80s but Theroux mostly pulls it off. He is wonderful at using words and sentences to quicken and build pace. The central relationship between two brothers, one a bombastic, conniving lawyer and the other a mild-mannered, ambitious geologist, is fascinating to explore and read. I won't give away any details because the mystery has a plethora of plot turns. But there is more depth here than your standard airport mystery buy, as anyone should expect from a writer of Theroux's caliber. A good read.

A story about a toxic relationship between two brothers. The protagonist, Cal, is the younger brother who has suffered a lifetime under his older brother Frank's aggressive and manipulative tactics. Everyone thinks Frank is the bee's knees and only Cal seemingly sees his true nature. While Frank becomes a lawyer and settles into town, Cal realizes he must get out from his brother's shadow and becomes a successful and wealthy geologist, traveling the world. Yet inexplicably when he gets married he settles back into town with his brother and is sucked back into this dysfunctional relationship with this sociopath. It is frustrating. Ultimately the betrayal is so bad Cal feels it must end in murder. This is a well-written story and a deep character study but left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

I love Paul Theroux's nonfiction travel books but The Bad Angel Brothers is the first novel of his I have read. Not surprisingly, there is plenty of world travel to be enjoyed here but mainly we have a capital D for dysfunctional family drama set in a small town. It is the story of two brothers locked in a sibling rivalry gone terribly wrong. Cal, the younger brother is the sole narrator. According to Cal, his brother Frank is a despicable blight on the world, a manipulative sociopath and compulsive liar who has everyone fooled except Cal. Frank is the worst of the legal profession, a bottom dwelling, ambulance chasing personal injury attorney and he has spent his life making Cal miserable. But we have to wonder, is Cal a reliable narrator? We only know his side of the story. Why does he keep falling for Frank's schemes? Is Cal really so pure, so innocent, so naive? And what will it take for Cal to finally stand up to Frank?

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed Paul Theroux's writing and I look forward to reading more of his fiction. I deducted one star as I felt the story could have benefited from a bit of paring in the first two thirds of the story.

I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
Publication is slated for 9/6/22.