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, which takes fraternal antipathy to a whole new level.

Enemies seemingly since childhood, the small town of Littleford, where they are nicknamed ‘The Bad Angel Brothers’, 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.

Apart, their differences are muted by distance, but when Cal, newly rich and newly wed, returns to the town of his birth, to buy a house and raise a family, Frank gives him the opposite of a brotherly welcome. From undermining Cal’s marriage, while Cal is away on business, to torpedoing his finances, nothing is off the table, setting the scene for a tale of gleefully vicious betrayals and reprisals, culminating in the ultimate plan- murder.

Few authors 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 a remarkable new work from one of America’s most distinctive writers.