A deep dive into Haiti in the early 1990’s. I adored Ben Fountain’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and his latest has much of the same vibe. It takes a bit to get into the story, but the narration is spot on.

DEVIL MAKES THREE by Ben Fountain and narrated by Ron Butler sheds Light on a historical time in Haiti with a layered suspense!

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1991-1992 Haiti is not a typical setting for historical fiction, but it came alive in its complexity through the combination of Fountain's writing and Butler's voice. I was entering high school during this period, so I was not remotely aware of anything outside my sphere (though I do remember the election).

Haiti has just experienced a coup d'état and the life of American, Matt Amaker is about to come undone. His surf shop is seized and he has reluctantly agrees to go in with his business partner Alix to look for undersea treasure. This adventure has them finding way more danger than they expected, and it ripples through to Alix's sister Misha as well as his girlfriend Audrey, another American with intelligence conflicts.

This is really a fantastic history lesson inside the world of entertaining fiction. The myriad of accents and voices were so well done by Butler, it made this story so easily consumed, despite its heft. I am so glad I had both the physical and audio for this one.

I could feel how this story showed the difference of my culture and Haitian culture. I say feel because it made me uncomfortable at times, but I am so glad to be immersed in a place (and time) that pulls me into new insights.

Thank you so much to @Flatiron & @goodreads for the physical ARC and @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for the audio! This is out today!

This is a very compelling book with many great angles showing how people in various walks of Haitian life had to scramble to deal with revolution. It's great to get perspective from various levels of power and influence -- sure there are some high level politicians and CIA operatives, but there are also people just trying to earn a living and stay alive -- and yes, dive for pirate treasure!
A great mix of social/political history with great plot and characters. It's very interesting now to see how people in other countries view a US presidential election and what it might mean for them, and the same problems they have parsing the reliability of campaign promises with the reality of their experience getting medicine for hospitals or other key functions.