The Bad Angel Brothers by Paul Theroux

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.

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