I requested a digital ARC from Netgalley after hearing about this book. It sounded dark and creepy, and a perfect read for midwinter. When my request was approved by the publisher I was thrilled, and settled in to read this story about a possible serial killer that gets under the skin of Dustin, whose parents and aunt and uncle were brutally killed when he was young, the possible victims of a Satanic cult.

It was all these possibles that made me eager to read this book. Was anyone who they said they were, were the circumstances really what they seemed? At the beginning it was perfect. College boys were disappearing and turning up drowned several days or months later, causing most police to write their deaths off as binge drinking accidents, except for one outlier, Aqil, who confides his theories about the killings being related to some kind of ritual to Dustin, his psychiatrist. Dustin has demons of his own -- his family was brutally killed when he was thirteen, a crime blamed on his foster brother, Rusty, a troubled nineteen year old, who was said to be caught up in a Satanic cult. Dustin is now grown and married with two boys of his own, and his beloved wife is dying of cancer. Aqil's theories provide a distraction from the troubles of his home life. In the meantime, Rusty has been exonerated for the killings, and after thirty years in prison he has been released.

But as the story got more detailed, with more points of view coming into play, I got a little lost. I wish the author had delved a little more into the mystery of memory, and what made the Satanic killing scare of the 1980s and early 1990s so wide-spread. I also wish more focus had been either on Dustin's perceptions of the past, or his perceptions of the present. The novel felt more unfocused the more it went on, and the jumping back and forth in time didn't help. I was still eager to get to the end, but by the time I did, I was more than a little disappointed. For so much promise this book falls flat at the end.

Still, this is not a bad read. If you like atmospheric thrillers, you will probably like this, just be prepared to be a little frustrated by it.

Dan Chaon presents a novel about two separate sets of murders: the first taking place 30 years prior to the book's beginning and the other set in present day.  By itself these separate murders would be sufficient to underscore a fascinating novel about the circumstances of the crimes.  Dustin Tillman is a psychologist practicing in suburban Cleveland and with a saying he relates to his patients; "We are always telling stories to ourselves about ourselves"  Thirty years ago his parents and his aunt and uncle were murdered.  Dustin's adoptive brother Rusty was tried for the crime and sentenced to life in prison.  The murders coincided with a period of Satanic worship and in spite of a lack of evidence Rusty was remanded to prison.
     Dustin receives the notice  that after 30 years Rusty has been freed due to evidence found via DNA testing.  His testimony helped to send Rusty to prison and his worry is - will he come after me for revenge.  At the same time a patient becomes friends with Dustin and begins telling him the details of a series of murders aimed at young men.  They are captured and after their murder are dumped into a river to be found later.  The patient points out that apparently the dates of the killings are related and predicts the date for the next crime.
     Mr Chaon tells his story by going into his characters and relating their thought processes and reactions to what is happening.  The thoughts are distorted by what is being viewed and experienced as is normal in life. This type of approach makes the novel a study in interpretation by people involved in the events. The reader's point of view changes with the events portrayed and does not necessarily depict what is actually happening. It is quite a departure from murder mysteries that go from the crime, through the premise and the logical solution allowing the reader to "solve" the case, usually before the end.
     You are going to either enjoy this approach or get turned off by the apparent meandering going on.  I found it a very interesting method and would really like Mr Chaon to try this again.

When I read the blurb I really was interested in what this story was going to be about. It seemed to right up my alley. Well that wasn't the case for me I was really totally lost through out the whole book. It seemed too have two different plots trying to come together, not too mention the sentences not being finished. Another thing that bothered me was the jumps between characters and I didn't know who we were dealing with at first, until I read a few pages then it clicked. 
What really bothered me is what looked like maybe journal entries??? Not really sure what too call them but they were incomplete sentences that drove me crazy. 
I really liked how it seemed that this story deals with memories and how being young you can have your memories altered which seemed to be the case with Dustin. Though we slowly learn this throughout the story. 
It seems that Dustin's adopted brother Rusty likes the dark side of things so when their parents along with two others are murdered. Rusty seems to have the murders pinned on him, though is he truly innocent? It seems that Rusty has a few things to deal with when he gets out. Now while Dustin is dealing with his brother, he is dealing with things going on in his personal life and trying to solve murders. It seems that Dustin isn't running on all cylinders. 
The twist about the murders doesn't come into play until well towards the end and at the time I kept wondering if the murder was Dustin's alter ego or maybe even a figment of his imagination. I wasn't really sure as I was just not able too keep up. 
The book has possible potential maybe a clearer plot line or if the author is going to bring two plots together do it in a way that you are left with no questions. 
As far as characters go I felt they were just one dimensional I couldn't connect or relate in any way.

The good news: I just discovered one of the best books of 2017. The bad news: it's only January, so I hope over the next eleven months I find more books just as good!  

For those of you who are familiar with Dan Chaon and his delicious themes of identity and characters who are never what they seem, this does not disappoint. Ill Will is, in my opinion, the top of his game. For those of you who have never read Dan Chaon before, you are in for a treat. Told from various perspectives and jumping back and forth from past to present, Ill Will is a murder mystery featuring several generations of a dysfunctional family. Need more to entice you? How about mental illness, addiction, alternate reality, urban legends, unreliable narrators....

I don't want to give too much away, as part of the joy (and terror!) of reading Ill Will includes exploring the unknown. But rest assured, this a well-written book with fully dimensional characters that will stay with you for a long time.

I don’t believe I’ve read a novel this grim in years, possibly not since I read AWAIT YOUR REPLY by this same author.  The cadre of characters in ILL WILL, while not the same as those who appeared in AWAIT YOUR REPLY, still possesses many of the same dark, dysfunctional characteristics and unrelentingly harsh life experiences.  From murder and drug addiction to sexual abuse and self-deception, it’s all there for the reader to vicariously experience.

The Tillman family, as a whole, is a disaster just waiting to happen.  From father Dustin, a gullible Cleveland psychiatrist (who actually should be seeing one himself) to his drug addicted son Aaron to his adopted brother Rusty (recently released from prison after serving 30 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit) this is a group whose combined pasts are macabre and whose futures look dismal.  Throw a crazy cop with a serial murder theory and a couple of odd cousins into the mix and you have narrative that will keep you reading in an effort to discover just what the heck is going on.

Without giving away too much, suffice to say that not all the characters in ILL WILL are who they purport to be and many intentions are murky at best.  You may want to prepare yourself for this read with a couple of glasses of your favorite wine or take an occasional break from reading by viewing an episode or two of Everybody Loves Raymond since there are absolutely no laughs in this psychologically taxing novel.

A dark, dark book with an excellent twist.  Dustin Tillman doesn't remember who killed his parents, aunt and uncle; or does he? In this book that carries you through a serial killer hunt, an odd therapy patient and a drug-addicted son, who is the real villain? Excellent read.

This is a story for someone who likes both true crime stories as well as psychological horror. Some people like to use “thriller” as a euphemism for literary books with horror elements, but I don’t want to do that. Horror shouldn’t be a bad word. Ill Will incorporates depictions of the Satanic Panic of the 80s both during the time that it was happening and during the fall-out. Dreamlike sequences unfold in three places at once, realistic and non-sensationalized depictions of heroin use and physical injury are at once tasteful and cringe-inducing, alternate realities converge to throw the reader off the scent of what might or might not have happened.

Chaon hammers hard on the theme of unreliable memory. “This was the thesis of my dissertation, in some ways,” Dustin narrates, “that experience is so subjective that multiple things actually do happen. That we can’t experience objective reality.”

Outwardly, Dustin’s career is damaged by his participation in repressed-memory-retrieval and a resulting lawsuit. Inwardly, Rusty’s release from prison causes him to question everything that he remembers about the night his parents were murdered. Did he even see Rusty there that night? And if Rusty is not the killer, who is?

What might on the surface seem like a typical whodunnit turns into an eerie, non-linear nightmare. There were entire chapters where I couldn’t be sure whether a particular character actually existed or not. There are large missing pieces that are presented just completely and incompletely enough that the imagination rushes in to fill the vacuum. Like any good scary piece of fiction, this lingers.

[Excerpted from my blog: entirety of blog is available through the attached link.]

I've really enjoyed Chaon's writing in the past (particularly Stay Awake), but I didn't find this one as well crafted as his short stories. I was entertained and I thought the story was compelling, but I also thought that some of the plot twists were obvious and I was irritated by the blatant red herrings. There were a lot of moving parts and the ending left loose ends and ambiguities that I found frustrating and unsatisfying (though other readers might not be as bothered by them). I also wasn't in love with the structure of the novel, with the first quarter of the book switching between multiple narrators and times, before settling down a bit. I'll definitely pick up Chaon's next work, but this one just didn't do it for me.

Great story and vivid writing. I was intrigued throughout by this story line and have to admit I "didn't see it coming"  at the conclusion. The characters were rich and the plot full of satisfying twists--a page turner for sure. I do wish the ending was more decisive but I'm hoping for a sequel! I can see a screenplay from this book--very dark at times with outstanding parallel dialogues. I want to see more from Dan Chaon and think this is a perfect book for lover's of Gillian Flynn.

This is an excellent book, extremely well written and an interesting story. A little Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks and almost Shakespearean tragedy create a twisted tale of a family and family of tragedies.  Just who is whom, really and what drives each of them to make the choices they do can get confusing here and there; everyone has so many layers.
The author is quite skillful with his descriptions of each character and gives each a unique and authentic voice. His descriptions of feelings and particularly those  as a result of a revelation, is wonderful. He elicits visceral and physical reactions to thought and feelings.

I am not entirely clear exactly what happened to each and everyone, but its ok, it seems everyone ended up where they were ultimately destined to and the ending felt very right.

I wasn't able to complete this book....at about 34% through, the set up changed and there appeared to be two unrelated pages on each page.  It made no sense and the type was very small....sorry.

I hate to say this but I did not like this book at all. I couldn't even finish it. Dark, depressing. confusing and just wierd. The changing of the font, text and format of the pages was very annoying as well.  This book sounded so interesting, but it was a total let down for me.

I did not enjoy this book. In fact, it was hard to push myself to finish it, so it took longer than usual. It's a twisted and heavy read, but I can handle that if the story is good. But animal abuse, sexual abuse of a young boy (among other things), all by an adopted teen boy. It was just cheap and cliche, and I saw it coming a mile away, dreading it and then skipping over most of it.

The characters were unlikable and unrelatable. I didn't care about any of them. It was all just depressing.

Disturbing and depressing is the most apt desciption for Ill Will. Not a single character takes responsibility for their actions, and those actions are horrific. 

The book is a great advertisement for really being present in your childres' lives. It is not for the faint of heart..

For me, it didn't ultimately live up to the promise of the earlier parts. One of the final surprises, which was apparently meant to be shocking, was telegraphed long before it occurred. Thanks anyway, but it just didn't do it for me.

When Dustin Tillman was a young boy, his parents and aunt and uncle were brutally murdered, and Dustin and his cousins were the first to discover the bodies. His adopted brother Rusty was charged in the murders, in large part due to Dustin's testimony. Flash forward to Dustin in his forties. He's a well-respected therapist with a happy marriage and two sons. He finds out that Rusty has been exonerated and has been released from prison. At the same time, one of his clients, an ex-cop, draws him into an amateur investigation into some drownings of local college boys that he believes are murders. 

What Chaon does well is peel back layers slowly that reveal things we never could have guessed about the characters. He's clearly good at building and maintaining suspense. However, we've got several different mysteries here, along with a lot of other plot elements. After awhile, the stories and characters get a bit muddled. It's almost like this should have been two different books. Still, the stories flow along pretty well until we get to the ending, where they all crash into each other in a big, unbelievable, letdown of a mess. This book is the definition of anticlimactic, and it's a shame, because it had a very promising start.

A father with a past he's never shared with his sons. Sons who see but are told, "That's dad." Relatives they can relate to, and relatives that don't relate. Yes, this is a crime novel, with a bit of horror and mystery thrown in. But it's also a story of family secrets and a family ignoring what is right in front of them. And, it's a story that experiments with multiple points of view, which, while the technique could serve to simply inform the reader of what really happened, instead serves to complicate matters even more. An extremely interesting read, but you may find, as I did, that it doesn't quite all come together.

Dark and suspenseful and completely unpredictable. Plan on reading it straight through! I will be adding this one to the list of suggestions for Gillian Flynn fans.

It truly was a thriller. Frustrating that things don't have a clean finish.

ILL WILL by Dan Chaon is eerie and unsettling and bleak. Chilling and teaming with IL WILL while at times confusing the book is a strangely compelling psychological thriller. .

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.