The Devil Three Times, Rickey Fayne
The Devil Three Times, Rickey Fayne
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The Devil Three Times
A Novel

Author: Rickey Fayne

Narrator: James Fouhey, Robin Miles, Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Unabridged: 14 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/13/2025


Synopsis

“A debut of enormous ambition” spanning eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee as they are repeatedly visited by the Devil (Nathan Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness of Water)

Yetunde awakens aboard a slave ship en route to the United States with the spirit of her dead sister as her only companion. Desperate to survive the hell that awaits her at their destination, Yetunde finds help in an unexpected form—the Devil himself. The Devil, seeking a way to reenter the pearly gates of heaven, decides to prove himself to an indifferent God by protecting Yetunde and granting her a piece of his supernatural power. In return, Yetunde makes an incredible sacrifice.
 
Their bargain extends far beyond Yetunde's mortal lifespan. Over the next 175 years, the Devil visits Yetunde's descendants in their darkest hour of need: Lucille, a conjure woman; Asa, who passes for white; Louis and Virgil, who risk becoming a twentieth-century Cain and Abel; Cassandra, who speaks to the dead; James, who struggles to make sense of the past while fighting to keep his family together; and many others. The Devil offers each of them his own version of salvation, all the while wondering: can he save himself, too?
 
Steeped in the spiritual traditions and oral history of the Black diaspora, The Devil Three Times is a baptism by fire and water, heralding a new voice in American fiction.

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Reviews

Goodreads review by Ashton on January 24, 2025

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This might be my favorite book of 2025. So glad that this book was my first e-ARC. Summary The book begins with Yetunde waking up on a slave ship heading to the United States, accompanied by her dead sister's spirit. Yetunde s......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on March 21, 2025

The Devil Three Times" is a captivating read, especially for fans of magical realism. While I'm not great at categorizing books by genre, I believe it fits into magical realism, given the presence of the Devil as a character and elements like flying. The story begins with the dark themes surrounding......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on May 08, 2025

A multi-generational tale of a black family visited by the Devil seeking to redeem his way back into the good graces of the Almighty. Anchored by the spirituality and folklore of the American south and the black diaspora, Rickey Fayne crafts a sweeping and haunting southern gothic novel that reads l......more

Goodreads review by Alison on May 17, 2025

Great read. I was fortunate enough to have a teacher who recommended Ralph Ellison and Toni Morrison to me in high school and I definitely felt their influence on this one. Fayne mention in the acknowledgements these were some of his defining writers, and it shows. The Devil Three Times is a fairly......more

Goodreads review by Kera’s Always Reading on May 08, 2025

Yetunde awakens on a slave ship heading to the US. With a unique ability to see between the veil of living and dead, carrying around and conversing with the ghost of her dead sister, Yetunde is approached by the devil himself. He needs something and in an exchange, of sorts, starts the procession of......more


Quotes

“A major new talent announces himself with The Devil Three Times. Rickey Fayne has written a structurally inventive novel that challenges nearly everything we've been taught about God and the Devil and the usefulness of Jesus’s love for Black folks. This book is daring, and it challenged me at every turn. I was also deeply moved by its soulful belief in a universe in which we are all connected across generations.” —Attica Locke, New York Times bestselling author of Guide Me Home and Bluebird, Bluebird

“A debut of enormous ambition that succeeds on every level. This is a page-turning, rollicking novel that is both an intimate family saga and an elegy for the American experience. Not since James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain has a debut conveyed Black spirituality with such passion, style, and brio. From the first page, I was spellbound, and was left devastated by the novel’s end. This is what literature is all about.”—Nathan Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Sweetness of Water

“If Milton taught us something sexy about the Devil, this deliciously sacrilegious and profane debut by Rickey Fayne thrusts the dark and needy anti-hero through the sloppy heart of American nation building. In The Devil Three Times, the Laurent family and their black winged guardian—their triumphs or subjections, from the plantation system to the heavenly plane—will sing their way into the consciousness of any reader ready to listen. Fayne’s voice triumphs at the nexus of intimacy and violence, reminding us never to look away from what we all, under some banner of fear or righteousness, once dared to want.”

Joseph Earl Thomas, author of God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer and Sink

“A brilliant gospel chorus of resilience and humanity. We cover generations with storytelling that is equally smart, sexy, propulsive, and inventive. It’s a scary novel that holds armfuls of beauty. Whole pages will stick with you, as they’ve stuck with me. Rickey Fayne’s talent is a joy to behold.” —Gabriel Bump, author Everywhere You Don’t Belong and The New Naturals