Arts & Letters Live: Ben Fountain

Devil Makes Three, the brilliant and propulsive new novel by Ben Fountain, addresses blood politics, the machinations of power, and a country in the midst of upheaval. When a violent coup d’état in Haiti leads to the fall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, an American expat desperate for money teams up with his best friend, the only son of a socially prominent Haitian family, to explore the legendary shipwrecks off the coast of Haiti rumored to contain priceless treasures. This mission kicks off a cascade of ill-fated incidents, including the discovery of an arms-trafficking ring masquerading as a U.S. government humanitarian aid office.  

 Ben Fountain’s novel Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk received the National Book Critics’ Circle Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He received the PEN/Hemingway Award and a Whiting Writers Award for his short story collection Brief Encounters with Che Guevara.