Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

by: Ben Fountain

A ferocious firefight with Iraqi insurgents three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare caught on tape by an embedded Fox News crew has transformed the eight surviving men of Bravo Squad into America's most sought-after heroes. On this rainy Thanksgiving Day, the Bravos are guests of the Dallas Cowboys and slated to be part of the halftime show. Among them is nineteen-year-old Silver Starwinning hero, William Lynn. Amid clamoring patriots sporting flag pins on their lapels and Support Our Troops bumper stickers on their cars, the Bravos are thrust into the company of the Cowboys' owner and his rich pals, a luscious Cowboys cheerleader, a Hollywood producer, and supersized pro players eager for a vicarious taste of war. Before this day is over, Billy will begin to understand difficult truths about himself, his country, his struggling family, and his brothers-in-arms and he'll discover pure love and a bitter wisdom far beyond his years.