First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Dan Chaon, and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for providing me with a copy of this book, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

In my first attempt to decipher the writing (ramblings?) of Dan Chaon, I was left with a bitter taste I am unable to mask. This novel, set in both the early 1980s and 2012-14 tells of two sets of unsolved murders, which sounds interesting enough. The first centres around a young Dustin Tillman, who spends much of his time with his cousins and adopted older brother, Rusty. Being much younger than the other three, Dustin is not privy to their drinking, drug-addled states, or promiscuity as they explore one another. He is, however, able to see an odd nature in Rusty, whose previous foster placement ended when the house caught on fire and the entire family died. Recounting events that include Satanic Worship (an apparent buzz word in the early 80s), Dustin lays the groundwork for horrific possibilities. On the morning before a family trip, the youths discover that their parents have all been murdered, though the killer is not immediately apparent. Chaon has the reader meander through the story to learn that Dustin did, eventually, testify against Rusty, who was sentenced to thirty years in jail for the crime. Fast-forwarding to a more present time, Dustin is now a psychotherapist who has done some work with Satanic worship, but was eventually drummed out of that and now does some run-of-the-mill hypnosis and projection exercises. When a patient brings an elaborate theory about a serial killer who chooses young men as his victims, Dustin cannot help but scoff. But, the more they talk, the more the idea germinates and soon Dustin is out on the road trying to piece it all together. Dustin's wife and two sons are left to wonder and go through their own tribulations, as the reader witnesses the evaporation of the family unit due to illness and drugs. With these two narratives running parallel, the reader is forced to make sense of what is going on, though there is little of a sensical nature. The premise is there, but the delivery, as strong as an over-boiled noodle. Beware readers who get caught up in the dust jacket summary, as I did. You are in for a flop!

I have always found author first impressions to be very important. If I cannot find a groove with an author after reading one of their books, I am usually leery to give them a second chance. This book has left me so confused with its lacklustre delivery that I am forced to question if Chaon's past literary awards were delivered in error. As I mentioned above, the premise is sound, or at least it could be. Two narratives telling of two sets of crimes; a protagonist who lives through both sets of crimes at different points in his life; the struggle to determine if that past accusation was an error and who might have committed the crime. All in all, Chaon is sitting on a potential thriller goldmine. He creates some interesting characters and surrounds them with a few plausible scenarios. But then, he pulls out all the stops to ruin a good thing. Paragraphs and chapters that end in the middle of a sen (note: purposefully done to prove a point), chapters that appear as columns on the page with each stretching over four or five flips (in which the reader must then return back the pages to begin the next column), transition between 1983 and 2012-14 between parts of the book, but not flowing seamlessly. One might presume that Chaon used his past acolytes to publish this, knowing that his reputation would allow sales to skyrocket (the James Patterson Syndrome). Some who loved it may troll on this review and comment that if I could do better, why don't I write a book. Alas, I am not being paid to write a book (or for this unbiased review), so I can hold those who do make a living of this to a higher standard. All around, a literary train wreck with toxicity spewing from all sides. Fair warning with flashing lights, bells, and blaring horns. Steer clear and find a better pick!

Oh, Mr. Chaon, one can only hope this was an one-off gaffe. That said, you surely did some literary bed defecation with this one.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:

Loved this book! Would love to see it as a movie if they stuck to the story correctly. I read this in one sitting.

Ill Will was okay...
There are things I loved about it and things I didn't like at all.
The book was hard to get through at times because the plot line was too disjointed at certain points and it did not flow enough to sustain the reading of the book.
I also basically hated all of the characters in the book. They were all HORRIBLE people! It reminded me of The Girl on the Train in that sense. And while I appreciated Choan's ability to show the dark side of everyone, I guess the optimist in me had a hard time finding all of the characters believable.
I did appreciate Choan's unique sense of organization in some of the parts but it was hard to read and follow two or three different threads of the plot line (at least it was hard to read the tiny font on my Kindle).
I did like some aspects of the book. The disjointed plot did have me hooked throughout most of the book because I wanted answers.
When I finished reading the book though, I couldn't believe that that was the end. It seemed like pages were missing. I wanted a little bit more resolution.
I haven't read anything else by Choan, but I love psychological thrillers like this. So, I would probably read another one of his books.

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!

Really enjoyed this book. Very well written and keeps you guessing until the very end. I look forward to more books from this author

4.5 Stars

"We are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves."

Ill Will is infused with a dark aura, an atmosphere of hazy confusion, a sense of an impending tragedy. Dread, a mysterious presence that is woven throughout this novel, like an insidious fog creeping under the doorway, into the home and the lives of those inside. So subtle, at first, that they never notice how much has changed, that they are no longer seeing things as they are, or maybe even as they were.

Dustin is a psychologist, his parents died along with his Aunt and Uncle when he was thirteen, thirty years ago. Killed. His adopted brother Rusty has been in prison ever since, convicted of their murder, but has recently been released. They have DNA proof that he is not the murderer, and with the help of The Innocence Project, he has been exonerated.

Dustin and his cousin Kate testified against Rusty, with wild tales of sacrifices and satanic rituals. Kate’s twin sister Wave did not, believing Rusty innocent. Needless to say, this has created some tension in the years following, but with Rusty out of prison, tensions rise even more. Adding to this is the fact that Dustin’s wife, Jill, mother of his two sons, is dying.

As the news sinks in, old memories are revisited, again and again. Questioned. Transformed over time so that now the lines of what was once clear are softer, hazy. Like an unreliable dream.

This is only the beginning.

Every time I felt I was starting to believe I knew where this was going, I would be pulled in another direction, leaving me to recalibrate, as though the ground had slowly gone a bit off-kilter.

Narrated from multiple perspectives, this will frustrate those who like every detail of a mystery neatly wrapped up for them. It doesn’t always happen, in life or in novels. There is, in fact, more than one mystery to solve - however like a puzzle being pieced together with 480 pieces out of a 500 piece puzzle, you’ll know what you can see, and have to imagine what goes in those blank spaces.

This novel will frustrate those who don’t like writers experimenting with writing structure… Chaon allows sentences drift off into nothing, following Dustin’s speech patterns that his family finds… amusing, annoying. They have become used to finishing his sentences for him. You really feel this rather than just being told this – his incomplete thoughts seemed to add a sense of his detachment to everything. There’s several sections where there are narratives written in a side-by-side format, appearing almost as if they were newspaper columns clipped and entered as comparisons. These may lead you down certain paths, thinking perhaps you know what’s happened in the past, what will happen in the future, and who, really, is responsible. But, really, whose memory can be trusted?


Pub Date: 07 Mar 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Random House - Ballantine

4:52 A. M. That’s what time I finished Dan Chaon’s Ill Will and turned out the light to try to sleep. Ill Will is disconcerting, an exploration of memory and its unreliability, family and its unreliability, and narrative and its unreliability. On the surface, it’s the story of Dustin, a psychologist whose parents were murdered thirty years ago. Just as Dustin learns that his older foster brother Rusty, who has served thirty years in prison for murdering their parents, aunt, and uncle, has been freed by The Innocence Project, his wife Jill tells him she is dying. Meanwhile, a patient named Aqil is pushing a conspiracy theory that several area drownings over the past decade are really the work of a serial killer, perhaps even a cult of killers.

When his parents were murdered long ago, thirteen year-old Dustin and his cousin, Kate, testified against Rusty. They described satanic rituals he performed, tying him to the Satanic Ritual Panic that engulfed America in the past. Kate’s sister was there that night, too, but did not testify and rejected Dustin and Kate’s narrative. Rusty wants to talk it out, but when Dustin refuses to return his calls, he begins calling Aaron, Dustin’s youngest son. Aaron, reeling at the loss of his mother is sinking into heroin addiction and hanging with some very doubtful characters.

When Jill dies, Dustin finds distraction in Aqil’s conspiracy, joining him in interviewing the family and friends of some of the victims and looking for a missing, suspected next victim. Aqil is quite the unreliable and sketchy character himself, but Dustin’s suspicions and skepticism fade. After all, if he were not investigating this with urgency, then he would be alone and idle and mourning his wife. It is so much easier to seek a satanic cult than face his grief.

Ill Will is going to stay with you for a while if you read it. It does not present a straightforward narrative though most of your questions will be answered. Central questions, though, will remain. What really happened thirty years ago? Did Dustin and Kate lie out of malice or because they believed it was true? Perhaps their narrative was true but the inference based on the narrative was wrong. Who is telling the truth?

Chaon experiments with narrative, not just with telling multiple narrators in the past and present in the first, second, and third person. He’s got unfinished sentences, fragments, disjointed and broken narratives. There’s a section of side by side narratives that start and end, sometimes in mid-sentence, without connecting, but still moving us forward, revealing more and more of the story. We come to know a lot, but with uncertainty.

If you like your mysteries tied up with a neat bow, the dead buried, the killer arrested, and every question answered, Ill Will is going to frustrate you. If uncertainty intrigues and fascinates you, Ill Will will satisfy. No matter what kind of reader you are, Ill Will will keep you up at night.

Ill Will will be released on March 7th. I received an advance e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

A definite psychological mystery. The author goes into the dynamics of family and how abuse and tragedy can be carried through the generations. Rusty is an abused foster child. He is adopted into Dusty's family. Rusty brings with him a troubled and dark past. He inadvertently passes shadows of his abuse unto Dusty.
Dust is now a psychologist, helping other troubled people. One of his patients is an odd, man named Aquil. Their strange relationship soon developed from doctor/patient to a friendship of sorts.
This is a read full of twists turns, mystery, and odd relationships. Interesting and intriguing.
4 Stars

For me, this book was just a little too wordy, too complex despite the good story line. It was not a bad read, just a little frustrating.

Remember in The 80s when Satanic rituals were to blame for everything ? This is the basis of this novel . Very dark and lots of character study this a tense novel. There are two mysteries to be solved.. Part crime thriller part psychological thriller this chilling novel and the characters stick with you long after the last page is turned

This book is different,confusing at times as it jumps from journal-type writing to a storyline. It is a very dark book,very hard for me to get into what was happening for quite awhile,then became frustrating. Many questions left unanswered,a book about a very dysfunctional family,a murder years ago and a bunch of recent murders being "investigated" . There are many points where the 1980's media reporting of satanism is used,talking of cults and rituals they used. However I don't feel this had anything to do with the story. This book leaves me with no answers,not much enjoyment.

Ill Will by Dan Chaon, due to be released in March 2017, opens with Dustin Tillman, a 41 year old psychologist, learning that his adopted brother Russell has been released from prison after more than three decades, because DNA evidence has overturned his conviction for the brutal 1970's murder of both his parents and aunt and uncle. The murders were believed to be related to satanic cults. Not long after Russell's release, Aqil, a former cop and patient of Dustin's, involves Dustin in his unofficial investigation into a series of drownings that he believes are really serial murders, also with a satanic cult connection. These two crimes - the murders of Dustin’s parents, aunt and uncle, and the present-day serial killings -- provide the background and framework for a story that unfolds over more than three decades and through multiple points of view.

I had a difficult time understanding what this book was really about. It is quite long and sometimes seemed to lack direction. I was often confused as to where the story was going and how the two plot points connected. This was due in large part to the fact that I frequently found the writing muddled and disjointed. There were also a lot of unfinished sentences -- word strings that abruptly just stopped and sentences that seemed to be missing words. (Something at the end of the book made me think this may have been a plot device of some sort but it was still very distracting.) While the last 20% of the book was slightly better than the preceding 80%, I honestly don’t think I would have made it that far if I hadn’t been reading this for an ARC review. More than anything else, I felt this novel could really benefit from more editing, as both the rambling, convoluted writing style and unfinished sentences made the story line very difficult to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

BookFilter review by one of my writers, Janet Rotter: Dan Chaon’s American crime novel, “Ill Will,” is not for the fainthearted. It combines a violent murder set in the past combined with the chilling revelation of a serial killer stalking young college men in the present. There is no super detective or dedicated FBI agent who will save the day in either case. No. There is no relief from this novel’s remorse or psychological rage. And retribution will have its way. In fact, ill will stalks the novel’s characters like a cold fog seeping into every corner of their lives. For its probing character insight and its expansive analysis of how we think about crime, this is a true novel with an American crime landscape, from the plains of Nebraska to the strip malls of suburban Ohio to the farmhouses of Oregon. You may think of Leopold and Loeb, or Richard Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, or John Wayne Gacy. Dustin Tillman, a practicing psychologist who the police sometimes consult with, is haunted by his past as one of the survivors of a famous bloody massacre. Right before a family vacation, his mother and father and uncle and aunt were brutally shot to death. Dustin’s older foster brother Rusty was arrested, tried and convicted almost immediately. Rusty was a strange, disconnected and violent person. He was a drug user and an abuser who once used Dustin sexually, but most condemning to the jury was his fascination with Satanism. Satanism was the boogey man of the nineteen-seventies. People were all too willing to believe that it was a threat -- not just that people held Black Sabbaths for fun but that the devil was actually involved. At the beginning of the novel, Rusty has just been released from prison thanks to the efforts of The Innocence Project. Simultaneously, Dustin has a patient -- a retired cop -- who convinces him a serial killer is at large, murdering college boys and dumping their bodies in various local rivers. After a while, Dustin befriends that patient against all the rules of professional conduct and joins with him in what Dustin thinks will be a successful investigation. Both crimes -- the massacre in the past and the serial murders in the present -- are expertly juggled by Chaon, whose novel “Among the Missing” was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001. The writing is crisp and expressive. But it is the plotting that will get you. You are drawn in and tantalized by horrible crimes, jumping back and forth in time, with hardly a moment to catch your breath. And when you get toward the end, you might, as I did, want to put the book down for a moment or two so that the whole great read won’t be over. But of course, you won’t be able to put it down for long. My verdict? Nothing but good will for “Ill Will." -- Janet Rotter

Intriguing writing style. Like a cat on a hot tin roof. Weaving & Jumpy.

I thought Ill Will was very suspenseful and, at times, pretty creepy. I was well into the book before I really had a handle on the two murder investigations and how they related to each other. Not only did it keep me interested until the bitter end but it was quite the page-turner. I really had a hard time putting this one down.

I do not have words to describe this book.
This is a complex story, with various plots, that the author ingeniously knit together in an engaging kind of way.
I think the main point is the not knowing, the uncertainty of the facts is what keeps you hooked up till the end.

Not a book I would read again. Very confusing and it just felt like the author took every awful thing that could ever happen to a child and stuck it in.

I really had no love for any of the characters, because we really don't know any of them. A lot of time I didn't even know who was speaking. There was definitely no communication between characters.

It took a lot for me to finish this one. I did finish it however and just went "Ew".

Really interesting, dark book. Reminded me a bit of Gillian Flynn's stuff.

The story kind of floats along much like the lead character Dustin. You're never quite sure what is real or true. The shifting character perspectives add to the mystery. The whole thing is well done and well written. A few cons: I'm not sure I loved the 3 column layout for a few sections. I get what the author was going for, it just was a little annoying to read. Same goes for the sentences that. The sentences that end out of nowhere, like that last one just did.

And that ending. This is not a great book to read if you're looking for a neat and tidy resolution. Now I don't need all loose ends to be wrapped up in the books I read, but I did have an AWFUL LOT of remaining questions on the last page (which is a testament to the writing) and that left me feeling frustrated.

While the basis of Ill Will dealt with stringing together narrations and memories from two different events/time periods in Dustin Tillman's life, the format of the story felt disjointed and unfinished in a way that left me feeling disconnected from both the characters and the plot. There was not only shifting between the past and the present, but also between characters - Dustin's son, his cousin Kate, etc. all become the focal point of certain chapters. From these narrative shifts to the chapters that end with unfinished sentences and thoughts, Ill Will just became to feel sloppy to me in its execution.

Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine Books for allowing me the chance to read this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Publishing for providing me with an ARC of Ill Will by Dan Chaon. Below is my unbiased review.

If you're looking for a warm, fuzzy feelgood read, look elsewhere! This book is dark, disturbing, disjointed and all kinds of terrifying. I finished this book in one day because I was completely caught up in the story.
Dustin, a middle age husband and father, survived a horrific crime in his childhood which was said to be committed by his foster brother, Russell. Now, thanks to DNA testing Russell has been exonerated and Dustin fears Russell may seek revenge. Meanwhile, Dustin is dealing with a crisis in his marriage and balancing his work as a psychologist. When a patient of Dustin, a former cop starts presenting Dustin with startling evidence of a possible serial killer, Dustin's fragile existence begins to implode.
Told through multiple perspectives and shifting narrators this thriller is gripping and riveting.
Dan Chaon has written a smart crime and psychological thriller , that did not disappoint this reader.

What you think you know...What you think you remember....what if it was wrong?

The book opens as Dustin, a Psychologist in Cleveland, receives the news from his cousin, Kate that his adoptive brother, Rusty had recently been exonerated through DNA evidence after serving 30 years for a crime he did not commit. The Crime - killing he and Dustin's parents, aunt and uncle. The trial that sent him to prison symbolized the 1980's obsession with satanic worship. Rusty was sentenced to 30 years primarily based on the testimony of Dustin and his cousin Kate.

Dustin believes that Rusty will come looking for him. As he braces for that, Dustin spends his time with a patient who is obsessed with a sting of drowning deaths of college men. At first he believes his client is just paranoid when he suggest there is a serial killer on the loose. But then as Dustin talks with his client more, lines get crossed and the Doctor - Patient relationship goes out the window and the two become like amateur detectives on the search for a killer. Not only does Dustin risk his professional career, he puts his family at risk at well.

Bad judgement seems to be a theme for Dustin. The book goes back and forth between the past and the present. From the past we learn more about Dustin and Rusty. Their "relationship" and behaviors leading up to the killing. We also learn more about all the teens in the book and their "relationships" with each other. There is a lot of Dustin being lead astray and a lot of twisted relationships.

There is also Dustin's present day family. His wife has passed away and he has two sons. The oldest is away at College while his youngest is on a downward spiral due to drug abuse. Rusty enters the young man's life causing all the characters to be on a collision course with each other. The two investigations come together in the end.

What is Memory? How easily can memory be changed? How susceptible is someone to having false memories implanted? HUGE questions for this book.

I liked the book. I didn't love it. There were parts that I really enjoyed and there were parts I thought were repetitive. I think I would have liked the book more with a little more editing. I also wanted more of Rusty's trail, more information on how he was exonerated - what led up to that the part his cousin played in finding him innocent. What I did like, was the revelation that Rusty had about himself. I wont give it away but it was insightful. At least I can say, that his character knew himself. In the end, I felt let down by the conclusion. I was sitting there thinking "What..it just ends like that?" I wanted more from the ending. I was slightly disappointed.

I received a copy of this book from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.