Paul Mohrbacher’s novel, Brothers, delves into the relationship of two sixty-something siblings who have been estranged for several years. Once close, Ben and Nick’s different life choices drew them apart, with Nick moving to California and Ben staying in their Midwestern hometown in North Dakota. Nick’s choices — complicated by his drug and alcohol addiction — result in shattered health and ultimately homelessness.

The novel opens at their first meeting in several years when Ben travels to visit his brother, now a resident of a California board-and-care home, driven mostly by his need to know if Nick was involved in his wife’s death six years earlier. Nick’s outrageous style and the brothers’ intellectual sparring make what could be a dark tale a captivating, entertaining lark.

Read an author interview: "Mohrbacher explores aging, estrangement and more in fast-paced, surprising 'Brothers'": https://www.minnpost.com/books/2015/02/mohrbacher-explores-aging-estrangement-and-more-fast-paced-surprising-brothers