Dustin Tillman is a psychologist in Ohio; he's married with two sons and rarely even thinks about the horrific incident of his childhood, when his adopted brother, Rusty, murdered Dustin's parents and his aunt and uncle. Dustin was just a child then, and his brother was arrested largely on the testimony of Dustin and his cousin Kate and the 1980s' fears over satanism. But now Dustin learns that Rusty is being released from prison; his appeal has been granted, and his verdict overturned based on DNA evidence. Meanwhile, Dustin is struggling with one of his patients, Aqil, a former police officer who believes there is a link among a group of drunken college boys who have died by drowning. As more and more things start going wrong in Dustin's life, he gets drawn into Aqil's paranoia-- and he threatens to bring down his family with him. 

This book had an interesting premise: linking two sets of crimes in the past and present, but I felt like that premise was a little forced/falsified, and I never got into the book, or the characters. As a reader, you'll probably find the way it's written either brilliant or incredibly irritating, and I fell squarely into the irritating camp. There are very abrupt chapter switches between the present and the past that are quite annoying, making it difficult to tell exactly where you are in time. The changes in point of view aren't as bad, allowing you to hear from Dustin, his son, and others, but it still gets confusing quickly. (Sidebar: doesn't anyone just tell a linear story from one person's point of view anymore?)

Even more, the story is written quite like the characters think--which is fine in theory--for instance, this includes Dustin's tendency to just stop mid-sentence, something his family teases him about. After a bit you get somewhat used to the random sentences that end mid-thought, or the weird white spaces, but it's still strange. Other parts are the story are split into two or three parts on a page and told almost in parallel, causing you to flip back and forth to read each set. I never was quite sure of the point of that. Yes, people in the novel are going crazy and on drugs. I could get that concept and not have to flip back and forth constantly to read chunks of the story. It's one of those storytelling devices that, to me, could be amazing, but just winds up driving you slightly insane. 

This novel is also very dark. Again, that's fine. I just finished The Roanoke Girls, which was incredibly dark, and loved it. But this one: I just didn't find it that interesting. I found myself finishing it more out of a vague curiosity and duty than anything else. I figured out one of the main plot points pretty on and wasn't engaged with any of the characters. Then, after all of this, the ending is awful and vague, and there's no resolution, and I found myself just throwing the whole thing down in disgust. Definitely not one of my favorites. I can see the potential for others, but it wasn't for me.

ILL WILL by Dan Chaon was written in a very different, but addictive, style than I normally read. In fact, I'm not sure why I pulled this novel off the shelf, other than to say that the author's prior awards drew my interest to his work. The subject matter is uncomfortable: boys and a tingling of homosexuality, other odd sexual circumstances, friendships by ill happenstance, satanic cults, booze, drugs, cancer, death, murder, etc. Mr. Chaon effectively created a world I do not want to live in, not even for the length of a well-written novel. His is an awful world and it is hard for me to understand how two lives—mine and theirs—can be so vastly different. With that said, I believe his is a world based on reality far more than mine, which opened my eyes. 

There is no denying that Dan Chaon is an impressive writer, because as uncomfortable as his subject matter was to me, I could not leave his book for too long without coming back to it and turning the page to find out what might happen next. 

The place where Mr. Chaon failed to impress was, unfortunately, the story's ending. I gave my all to his novel and he let me down when it counted most. Maybe he thought that I, as a reader, was simply smarter than I am. 

If you're looking for a novel to grab you and shake up your world, try this one. Maybe you're smarter than me, too, and your interpretation of the ending will bring you the reward I sought for myself.  

Overall, a reader can't help but be impressed with Dan Chaon. This was the first novel of his that I've read and I now have a clear understanding of why his earlier work received almost unattainable acclaim.

Ill Will is not a pleasant book to read, but it is compelling. I wanted to stop reading it, but I could not.

Ill Will is a story about psychologist Dustin Tillman and his family: a normal happy family until his wife dies of cancer and he withdraws, leaving his sons, Dennis and Aaron to find their own way. One succeeds, the other doesn't. 

Ill Will is a story about children knowing their parents use recreational drugs, using themselves at home and some becoming addicts. The parents permitting their children's drug use or being totally oblivious.

Ill Will is a story about the devastating, lifelong effects on Dustin of being abused as a child--both sexually and mentally (being manipulated by his older cousins and adopted brother) and finding his parents murdered. Who did it? Rusty, the adopted teenager? Dustin who found the bodies? Someone else? Was it a murder suicide? 

If you are getting the message that Ill Will is bleak, it is. The characters have some happy memories, but their present lives are largely unhappy. But it is also strangely interesting.

The author alternately tells his tale from the perspective of several of his characters. It was not always clear to me who was speaking. 

I did not find the ending satisfying. Seemed like the author just wanted to end it. Me too, but I also wanted closure.

Dustin Tillman has a PhD in psychology, is married, is the father of two teen boys, and has a decent, if not thriving practice in psychology.  His wife is a lawyer; seems to understand and accept him, but early in the book she is diagnosed with cancer and he is too soon a widower. He is vaguely aware of feelings that the world appears unfriendly, maybe even has a tendency to reflect ill will toward him personally.  He takes meds to regulate his depression and has for years.

Dustin tends to live a lot of his life in his head. His sons have gently mocked him for years for starting sentences he never finishes. He quit smoking and feels the world appears unfriendly, maybe even has a tendency to reflect ill will toward him.  He doesn't even realize how much estrangement there is between him and his sons.

One of his clients, a former policeman comes to him ostensibly for help quitting smoking, but his real passion is following the mysterious drowning deaths of young college men who disappear, remain missing for inordinate amounts of time, and then are discovered face down in bodies of water.  The police consistently assume "drowning while drunk" is the cause of death, but Aqil Ozorowski, the former policeman, is sure there is a pattern to the deaths and that there is very likely a serial killer out there.

And as we find out more about Dustin's past, we meet an astonishingly dysfunctional family. Dustin's parents and his aunt and uncle were murdered a few years after Dustin's parents adopted a boy several years older than Dustin, whose early years were even more tragic than Dustin's.  But that didn't excuse the abusive behaviour he enjoyed at Dustin's expense, and one can almost justify the testimony Dustin and his cousin gave which sent the adopted brother to prison 30 years prior.

That was back in the day of repressed memories of satanic rituals. The jury was convinced that adopted brother Rusty was a Satan worshiper and therefore the likely murderer of his adoptive parents and his aunt and uncle.  But now its 30 years later, that testimony has been thoroughly debunked, and The Innocence Project makes Rusty a free man.

Aqil gains more and more influence over the docile Dustin, and before long has him helping him with his research into the drowning deaths, spending less and less time on his practice or with his sons. The older son Dennis has escaped to an out of town college but poor Aaron is left to more or less to raise himself.  Dustin has no idea that Aaron has never attended classes at the local college where he is enrolled, and is in fact sliding deeper and deeper into the heroin world.

So there is the unsolved murders of 30 years ago...if Rusty didn't kill the four adults in the family, who did? And what is Rusty's attitude toward his adopted brother and the cousin who gave the testimony that sent him to prison three decades ago? It's unsettling to contemplate.

And there is the steadily increasing list of drowned college boys in the local area...surely it is not all coincidental, and who is the adult who will rescue Aaron, if such a person exists?

Dan Chaon has written a psychological study of what can happen to families with dysfunctional parenting generation after generation...not much chance of a happy ending but a very interesting journey down the long slippery slope that is the saga of the Family Tillman, and Chaon does a masterful job of pulling the various elements together in the end.

The book is due to be published in March 2017.  I read an e-copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley and recommend it to Dan Chaon fans and those who might soon be.

Based on the description of this book, I thought it would be exactly what I like. I was looking forward to a good murder mystery/psychological thriller. Maybe it's because this was an ARC instead of the final version, but I found this hard to follow and sometimes the dialog or paragraphs just ended without punctuation. The premise was interesting, and I think sometimes the confusion was purposeful and tried to add to the story line. I almost didn't finish this book, but I hate to stop a book halfway through.

I'm not sure how to review this book. There were sometimes when this book was down to earth and readable. Then there were times when it was out there and it was like reading psycho babble from someone who was on some really heavy drugs. Of course, one of the characters was really eff'd up, so I guess during those times, we were seeing the world from Aaron's eyes. I've never done H, but he was talking like he was doing acid or something.

Anyways, for the most part, I did enjoy this book. It was crazy at times. The ending was really ccccccrrrrrrazy. I definitely did not see it coming. I still have some questions about some of it. Like why was Aaron's car in Chicago? I guess I will never get an answer to that question.

Believe me, this was an out there book. It definitely held my interest while I was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. For the most part, I didn't start to question things until towards the very end. Then it started getting really weird. I mean it was weird throughout the whole book. Three teenagers (two twin sisters and their boy cousin) whose four parents were shot to death in the house while they slept in the camper/RV while they slept right next door. The girls 17 and the boy 13. That sounds morbid, but I'm not telling you about the kids. (Hiding the spoilers)

I'm just going to say that I didn't put this book once I got into it. It was a strange one, however I was mesmerized, entertained, shocked, curious, and like a trainwreck - I could not turn away.

Thanks Random House - Ballantine for approving my request and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars 

I have one word for this book: FRUSTRATING!!!!

I finished this 2 days ago, and the frustration is still strong, probably due to the fact that I still have so many unanswered questions. 

The problem wasn't with the storyline, as that held my interest. 2 different murder plots-one taking place in present time, and one that took place back in the 1980's. I was really intrigued with how the past and the present were going to collide.
I think the author did a great job of creating memorable characters as well. I can't say that I liked them all, but I don't think I was supposed too...

Where he lost me was with all the chaotic editing, or lack of. Sentences half finished, (this was prevelant throughout, so I am aware the majority were left this way intentionally) complete words missing, and the worst where chapters that were put into a column format of 3 sections per page. You had to read each section long ways, then go back to read the 2nd column, etc. Very confusing and frustrating to no end.

There is a lot of promise here, but the delivery was just too muddled to make this a good read for me. Maybe others will have better luck than I did, but based on the few reviews I did read, I don' think I'm in the minority here.

ARC provided by Netgalley

Ill Will is the latest story by Dan Chaon. There were times I was eagerly turning pages to see what happened next and then there were the other times when I would have liked to have thrown my Kindle against the wall as the writing felt like useless page fillers and it was a struggle to continue reading the book. I was given an early copy of Ill Will for an honest review and if not for that fact I would have never finished this story.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

This book definitely does deal with some heavy themes & I would turn away from my Kindle, process, & go back. The story didn't go in the direction I expected it to go, but was a good read nonetheless. The characters were interesting & the story was full of surprises as more & more is revealed.

A tale of perpetual deceit with many turns and a few twists.

First off I want to thank NetGalley, Dan Chaon and Random House publishing Group Ballantine for giving me a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.  

This book is difficult for me to review, there are aspects of this book I thoroughly enjoy and other aspects that I found quite irritating.  The starting premise of this book reminded me a lot of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.  A Nebraskan family was found murdered one summer evening.  The oldest adopted son is convicted of the murders, which are thought to have a devil worshiping connect.  Fast forward around 30 years and the adopted son is released from prison based on DNA evidence. 
From there the story bounces back and forth in time and changes points of view from several family members.  

So in regards to my opinion of the book;  
I enjoyed the fact that a couple of the characters were unreliable narrators.  I love to read from unreliable narrators and having to figure out what is true and what is bs from the narrator.  

I also liked how dark, gritty, and sleazy the book was.  The characters are definitely flawed and in many cases unlikeable.   Abuse of many types are portrayed in this book , it made it uncomfortable to read at times, but worthwhile.

In negatives, I read this book on my kindle.  There were pages where their were three stories occurring simultaneously and they were shown as 3 individual columns on one page.  It was irritating to read these pages.  First of all it left you very disjointed (which I'm sure was intentional) but I still did not enjoy reading it this way.  Secondly on these pages the font was quite small. I was not able to increase the size of the font on my kindle, so I had to resort to taking pictures of the page with my phone and then enlarge the pictures.  It was annoying and time consuming to have to do this.  Secondly I found the middle of this book to drag quite a bit.  I feel like the book would have benefited by having some of that middle part edited down.  The end and beginning I found to be really engaging but the middle not so much.

Did not finish due to problem with galley and size of text.

I really wanted to love this book, as I've heard so many great things about Dan Chaon's previous novels. The early reviews/descriptions of ILL WILL sounded right up my alley, including an experimental narrative structure and the intertwining of two potentially related crimes committed decades apart. Because I've never read Chaon before, I realize it's possible that all of his books are akin to ILL WILL, and therefore if you've loved him before, you'll love this one - hence my somewhat line-toeing 3 star review. Personally, I found the multiple points of view distracting not because of the device itself, but because the voices of some of the characters felt a bit "off" (especially Aaron) - and although the book kept me turning its pages because I wanted to find out what happened, I found the resolution (or lack thereof) of the various plot threads less than satisfying. There's no question that Chaon is a fine writer and that ILL WILL is a complex, ambitiously conceived novel. Whether it delivers on that conceit is, perhaps, as open to interpretation as the events of the novel itself.

Suspenseful, exciting and thoroughly disturbing novel. Not my normal genre.  It was thought provoking  The plot was well developed and the characters interesting.  Having multiple narrators gave a much broader picture of what the events that were "remembered".

What a strange, creepy and dark book this is. I really enjoyed it - don't get me wrong, but man, as the reader I was left tracing my way back to try and figure out what the heck happened. I raced through it, though, since it kept leaving me needing to know more. Was it Rusty? Dustin? One of the parents? Someone else? Will we ever know?

Brilliantly written, with characters you feel you know at the end of it. I wished we could have had more from Wave. I wished there was a reliable narrator, anywhere, in this tale. But overall? I loved it.

** spoiler alert ** **I received a Kindle edition of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Dustin is a Cleveland psychologist with an interesting past. When he was younger his parents, aunt, and uncle were murdered and his adopted brother Rusty was charged with killing them. Now, 30 years later Rusty is being released from prison after DNA analysis proved his innocence. Dustin and his cousin had a huge part in why Rusty was charged with the killings and he isn't sure if Rusty will try to contact him when he is released. 

Dustin is distracted further due to one of his patients involving him in a theory about a serial killer targeting college boys. A number of boys have been found drowned in rivers after disappearing after drinking at night. The police have so far chalked it up to suicide or accidental drowning from being drunk, however Dustin's patient provides a convincing theory about why a serial killer could be responsible. Pretty soon Dustin is devoting all his free time to investigating the killings and finds the relationships around him start to suffer.

I really wanted to like this book. It had a lot of promise and got started right away. I thought it would hold my interest the whole time but about 1/3 of the way through it completely lost me. There was too much jumping around between the time and the characters. The time periods jumped all over the place. Sometimes it would take me a minute to realize who's perspective the author was writing from. There were also a lot of incomplete sentences. At first I thought it was bc this is an ARC edition and might still be unfinished, however I read the same thing from another review on Goodreads. The sentence would just stop right in the middle and you would have to come up with the ending all on your own. There was some drug use in the story which made the character confused and out of it, and made me even more confused. Not knowing the time of day, people around you, or even where the story was taking place. Much more of that towards the second half of the book. I was totally confused as to what was happening at certain points. 

What bugged me: One of the main characters goes missing towards the end and that's the last you hear of him. I could tell there were things going on where he was being held which tied to other parts of the book (the giant tub like thing filled with water was the Ultrasound that Dustin received?) but I really can't even be sure. I need a more definitive resolution. What happens to the person who was taken?? Also, if the DNA that cleared Rusty was mentioned I missed it. 

This book got my hopes up at the start, let me down in the middle, and totally confused me at the end.

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