Dammit to hell. This book has such promise. Such promise. It's the story of a gruesome murder committed in 1983, and a series of seemingly unrelated deaths in the present day. A psychologist, his family, and one of his patients are the main players. And you spend the entire book waiting for the other shoe to fall.

This book is in intense need of a good edit. And I'm not just talking about our main character, Dustin, and his half finished sentences and casual drifting off. The confusion and disjointedness actually works brilliantly for him, because his mind is clearly not all there.

But this confusion and lack of a simple bloody outline follows every single chapter, from the twin sisters to the son, Aaron.

I wanted very badly to follow along. I figured out immediately where the serial killer angle was going. I suspected the ending to the family story, but fell for a few red herrings along the way. The family storyline was more compelling, even if it was the D plot of the book. Much easier to follow along than the serial killer plot.

Which is also a damn shame, because this is an untapped idea. The falseness of the belief in Satanic cults has been touched upon in other books, and in much better ways. But a serial killer taking out drunk frat boys? It's absolutely perfect. Comparisons could be made to how prostitutes are the most common serial killer victims, because no one looks too closely at "high risk victims".

Such a massive playground to work with, and this is what came of it.

I am so disappointed.

Ill Will by Dan Chaon is a highly recommended psychological thriller that contains murder, drug addiction, and satanic ritual abuse.

In June of 1983 the parents of Dustin Tillman, 13, and his cousins Kate and Wave were murdered. At the time his adopted brother, Rusty, was convicted of the crime. Now Rusty is being released from prison as DNA evidence now proves he was innocent. Dustin testified about his memories of witnessing a satanic cult ritual at Rusty's trial which helped convict him.

Now Dustin is in his 40s and a psychologist in Cleveland who uses hypnotherapy. He is still recovering from his wife's death from cancer. His oldest son is off at college, but the youngest son, 18-year-old Aaron, is quickly acquiring an addiction to heroin and has been secretly talking to Rusty and learning about his dad's past. At the same time a patient of Dustin who is a former police officer is telling him about the series of drowning deaths of drunken male college students that seems to point to a serial killer on the loose.

Dustin is someone who is easily persuaded and influenced by others, although the extent of this isn't clear at first. The story is told through several characters, flashbacks, and in multiple timelines, as well as following two different story lines. At one point Aaron's narrative is even shared through a split two-column page and in first-, second-, and third-person points of view, which works surprisingly well in this story where disconnection is a theme.

Charon has created a disturbing thriller with Ill Will and presents its many complexities in surprisingly straightforward eloquent prose. There is more going on, in the past and present, than is evident at first. The characters are complicated and unreliable. There is a sense of foreboding and doom that looms over the novel while you are reading. Because of the multiple points-of-view and timelines, you won't have any answers to nagging questions right away and some questions will never be answered.

My only complaint about Ill Will is that it seemed to drag a bit in the middle, making it feel overly long. If the narrative is compelling enough that it commands my complete attention I normally don't notice the length, which makes me think that there could have been a bit of tightening of the plot in the middle to keep the sense of foreboding at the fore-front of your mind rather than allowing the "this seems a bit long" thought to enter.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the Random House Publishing Group.
on 3/7/17 http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1933916968

I found the premise of this book to be very interesting, but the story itself left something to be desired. The two separate mysteries would've been gripping had the story stayed on track with those, but there was just too much going on in the periphery - too many different characters to keep up with. I found the constant changes in the timeline, tense, and persons to be more distraction than anything else and the ending was less than satisfactory.

Ill Will is a story told from multiple narrators, which is confusing at first and continues to be as the reader switches from voice to voice. In general, I do not like the "books as performance art" concept. That means incomplete sentences, multiple columns on a page for simultaneous stories (especially when they go over multiple pages) can really turn me off on a book. I was thankful this one wasn't as ridiculous as a few others I have read. Ill Will is a long slowly revealing book that comes to a somewhat sudden conclusion. I would have preferred if Mr. Chaon would have cut down on the excessive detail leading up to the end and had spent more time on the reveal and conclusion. It was as though he was happily writing along with no destination in mind but then was told "you have 1 hour to finish" and did it. But despite the many winding paths and distracting issues with presentation, the underlying story is a good solid one.

This book keeps you guessing until the end. A psychologist Dustin Tillman from Cleveland Ohio gets a patient in who is a retired cop looking into a case of a college boy who drowned. Dustin then gets a call and learns that his adopted brother who was in prison for murdering their parents is getting cleared of charges after spending 30 yrs in prison. The story then goes from past and present working the drowning cases and Dustin remembering the family life he had which included drugs; adultery; satanic cult. Was the past real or a drug haze memory. The author did a nice job keeping you guessing. The only part I did not like was the ending. It ends abruptly with no real closure. Maybe another book to continue where this left off?

It was a great read. I feel the character development was good and I would recommend to friends.

The lives of Dustin and his cousins were changed forever by the horrific murder of their parents thirty years ago. Even after they are grown adults and have gone their separate ways, Dustin and his cousins never forget the brutal incident. However, each one of them remembers it in very different ways.

Now, Dustin’s brother, Rusty, is being released after 30 years in prison. He had been accused of the murder of his own parents and of his aunt and uncle. Somehow, evidence came up that showed that Rusty had not committed the murders after all.

Just as this is happening, a psychiatric patient of Dusty’s convinces him that the drowning deaths of several young men are, in reality, linked, ritualistic murders. Once convinced of this, Dusty becomes obsessed with the idea, neglecting all else. He and this patient begin investigating these murders.

This story is a psychological thriller in its truest sense, because so much of the interpretation and, consequently, the telling of the plot takes place in the minds of the characters. Even the ‘fuzziness’ of memory is depicted in the way the writer wrote some parts. Sadly, this story was so overly long that it dragged in spots. When I finally arrived at the end, my questions were not fully answered. The author left, in my opinion, too much of the interpretation of what actually happened, to the reader.

This is one of those books that make me unsure whether I liked it or not. At this point I don't think I did although the premise is great. I like my loose ends tied up and this book did not give me that. I am still unsure what exactly happened. Perhaps that is one of the points the book is making? This book is bleak. Plus I felt a bit cheated by the turns in the latter part of the story. The shifts from time period to time period I did not find helpful. There seemed to be too many of them. I suppose that was to keep some stuff hidden until later but ti me it didn't add anything but confusion.

If you enjoy strange stories about weird and unlikeable people, told in a jerky and changing format style, this book is for you. You will finish it with a sense of achievement.

I had a hard time getting into this book, though I think it was for personal reasons more than it was a legitimate problem with the book. Ultimately, I had a hard time with the extremely short chapters and the switching POV/time. So, I didn't finish this book and I don't really intend to. Though, I should add, that I think Chaon had a strong voice and a firm grasp on the character/his backstory. This book just wasn't for me.

I would like to thank Dan Chaon, Random House and Netgalley for giving me this amazing book for my honest review.
Review By Stephanie
5 Stars
WOW what an extraordinarily novel! Be warned you will NOT be able to put this book down until the very end! This emotional tale will consume your life!
Dustin Tillman is 41 years old psychologist who has grown distant from his ill wife and children. The storyline of Dustin would be enough of an amazing story but Dan Chaon added so much more. He crafted an amazing story about an “accidental” drowning of several young men that had a lot in common. Dustin starts investigating the drowning which brings him back 13 years to when his own parents and aunt/uncle were killed…….
Ill Will is an amazing thriller! Dan Chaon crafts a novel that has so many levels. The only thing that was hard about this book is me writing this review because I do not want to give anything away! Just know this book is PHENOMNAL and #1 on my best of 2017 list!

Compelling story but would have been stronger and held reader interest better had it remained in the present with just hints to the past

I could not finish this book. I tried but it was too confusing. The book is written in first person; however, the first person may be Dustin or his son, or someone else -- I couldn't figure who was the "I" as I read. In addition, sometimes the book placed me in 1983; sometimes it was "now," and sometimes it was the 1990s, And lastly, the characters were constantly either smoking marijuana, snorting coke or heroin or shooting up while the "F word" was overused, with the author using where he did not need to do so. There may be a good mystery there, but after 25% of the book leaving me so confused as to the story line, I gave up.

Interesting premise and well written but the pace of the story was just too too slow for me.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC of "Ill Will" by Dan Chaon for my honest opinion. The Genres of this book are Literary Suspense, Thriller and Mystery. The plot is supposed to revolve around two different crimes, and timelines. Psychologist Dustin Tillman has survived a bloody family massacre. His stepbrother Rusty originally accused of this crime has been released from prison ,with new evidence of DNA proving his innocence .The author describes satanic rituals and the timeline responsible for Rusty being accused of this crime, in the first place.
Dustin, the psychologist becomes involved with a patient that is obsessed with the news stories and the timeline of the disappearance and drowning of college age boys. There is a mention of this possibly being done by a serial killer.
The author describes in different characters, the failures of memory. Dustin, at times feel that he is in a trance.
All of the characters are flawed and complex. Some characters are evil. Many of the characters seem like they are or could be criminals. There is a prevalence of drugs discussed and creepy shady characters.
There are twist and turns in this novel. At times, the storyline seems disjointed and choppy, and at other times the story is very slow and confusing.
I think the real question the author asks is "What is real or not real?". Who is responsible for the crimes and why? I was left feeling confused and would have liked more of a conclusion.

Ill Will is not an easy story to read. Hopping between the early 80’s and between 2012-2014, the story follows Dustin Tillman as he slowly gets involved in a serial killer investigation and learns that Rusty, his adopted brother is getting out of prison after his prison sentence was overturned because a DNA analysis proved that he didn’t do it. Rusty was convicted of killing Dustin’s parents and his aunt and uncle. The story also follows Dustin’s son, Aaron, a strung out junkie trying to cope with the loss of his mother and trying to figure out who killed his best friend, Rabbit.

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If you have triggers, I don’t recommend you read this review. There will be talk about child molestation and drug use.

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Like I said in the above paragraph, this is not an easy book to read. It deals with a wide spectrum of issues…..from child sexual abuse to mental illness to drug abuse, it’s there and it is not glossed over and made pretty. Which was one thing I liked about this book, it wasn’t pretty. It dealt with all these issues in a real world sense. No one was mysteriously cured of their mental illness or drug use.

The Satanism cult angle was fascinating to read. I am old enough to remember the insanity over Satanic cults and the aftermath when it turned out that almost all of those memories were false. I really can’t comment anymore on that part of the book but I will say this. Read with a very open mind because not everything is what it seems.

I didn’t know what to feel for Rusty. I felt awful for him because of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother and her “boyfriends”. No child should go through that and the author did keep true to the abused child abusing other children. But, however, Rusty was a real screwed up dude as an adult. When the author wrote from his perspective, I got the chills and did wonder to myself “How long until he kills someone”. Even the fact that he had a mental kill list was scary.

Dustin was someone who truly scared me. He started off as a scatterbrained therapist and just morphed into someone else. I believe that his wife’s death along with Rusty being released from jail pushed him over the edge. To be honest, he had been on a slow slide into insanity since he was 11 and I think those two things pushed him over the edge. His obsession with the serial killer case that Aqil was working on him with even furthered the slide. It was sad to see it.

Aqil. Let’s talk about him and how he totally fooled me. Yeah, not happy about that and I think I groaned when it was revealed who and what he was. I was like “Why didn’t I see that coming!!!” Totally frustrating for me but very good on the author’s part.

Aaron was pretty dead on for a heroin junkie. Everything about him rang true. I did find it very sad that he slid into addiction after his mother died. I truly believe that it was a way to cope because his father was starting to flake out and his older brother was in college in a different state. But, even with his addiction, he still cared enough about what happened to his friend to go looking for the last person to see him alive. And oh boy, was he in for a surprise when he realized who it was.

There are a couple of twists in the story and I didn’t see two of them coming. The one with Aqil (which I already mentioned) and the one with what really happened that night and how Rusty went on trial. I will say this, I was disgusted and very surprised.

The ending was sad. NO HEA’s. Definitely no HEA’s. I do have a couple of questions about Aaron that I wish was answered. But with the way that the book was written, I don’t think that will happen….unless a book 2 happens.

How many stars will I give Ill Will: 3

Why: This was a really hard book for me to rate. I liked the storylines, they were pretty easy to follow. But my main complaint is with how the book was written. It would go from normal chapters to almost a split screen format with what looked like Dustin or Aaron’s running thoughts in them. There were a few chapters like it and it made it very confusing to read because I couldn’t follow the trains of thought. Maybe it would be better to read it in paperback instead of on my Kindle.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age Range: Adult

Why: Sexual themes, language, violence. Pretty descriptive scenes of child molestation, of murder sites and of murdered bodies. Also very detailed scenes of drug use.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

I loved the premise and the novelty of this book. However, I felt the writing was a bit choppy - sentences not finished and left hanging. The back and forth (which was easy enough to follow) became a bit tedious and I felt the book wasn't getting anywhere. I realize that some authors leave you wondering and sometimes this works for me. Unfortunately for me, this time it didn't quite hit the mark. I do realize that those who like this type of writing will love this book and I think had I been in a different mood or was willing to wade through the choppy waters with a keener eye, I may have felt differently.

I really enjoyed this book! Ill Will by Dan Chaon is about two unsolved cases that are decades apart. I've always liked a story that jumps from timelines and character perspectives. This is another one. The only thing that isn't always clear is who is telling the story in the different chapters - you need to read a little to catch onto the perspective you're in.

After 30 years in prison, Russell is being released after new DNA evidence comes to light. This causes psychologist Dustin Tillman's world to turn upside down. His adoptive brother was arrested for the murder of his parents, aunt, and uncle - which became one of the most iconic murders in the 1980s - and Dustin's testimony put him behind bars. Meanwhile, a patient of Dustin's becomes obsessive with all of these college frat boys turning up dead. He seems to believe that their drownings are actually the work of Satanic rituals.

I will say that I enjoyed the first timeline more. The one that had to deal with Dustin as a child. Meeting Russell (Rusty) as a child and now he had a huge impact on Dustin's life. His cousins, Kate and Wave, the night of the murder, and then the days leading up to the trial. All of the Satanic ritual elements were very intriguing, and not typically something you read too much about lately.

Overall, it was well written and kept an ominous and dark feeling the entirety of the book. It'll definitely keep you wondering! I will say that it felt like it dragged on a little bit, but it would only be in spurts. (example: a couple chapters on the investigation, and then a flashback sequence to the original murder would pick up the intrigue again) I would recommend this to fans of the slow burn mystery. If you get bored easily with the procedural and investigation focus, then this might not be the one for you!

Thank you to Ballantine Books and Dan Chaon for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ill Will by Dan Choan, a new thriller that is about to be released this month. The story is another of those double mystery things – a current mystery that is taking place and dredging up memories of a past mystery. At the heart of both stories is Dustin, a psychologist in Cleveland with grown-ish children who has not quite pulled it together after the recent death of his wife from cancer.



The current mystery is somewhat bizarre… a series of seemingly accidental drowning deaths of random college boys that could be the work of a serial killer. The evidence of this is presented to Dustin by a patient (not exactly the best way to get solid information) and together they turn into amateur sleuths and start jumping into some very dark places.



The past mystery is thirty years old, when Dustin was a child his parents, aunt and uncle were gruesomely murdered while on a camping trip. His adopted brother, Rusty, has been in prison ever since, but at the outset of the story he has been exonerated by DNA evidence. The old mystery is compelling, and made more complex by a Satanic cult rumor.



The thing about both of these stories is that Dustin is so unreliable. He is a mess in his current life, it feels like he never really healed from his traumatic childhood, and he is all over the place – actually everyone in this book is an unreliable narrator to some extent. This book left me incredibly uneasy, and I never quite knew where anything was going or what was happening. There is a bit of a drug storyline, which is my absolute least favorite thing to read about for some reason, but it doesn’t go too far. Dan Choan is one of the best writers when it comes to creating suspense and uneasiness, and he really goes for it here. The book is ultimately about memory and grief and how violence and trauma imprint themselves on us. The story is ambitious and dark and not for the overly anxious.



Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.



Ill Will by Dan Choan – Grade B+

Dan Chaon’s wonderfully readable and heartbreaking “Ill Will” should come with a warning label. If you’ve ever lived through certain experiences, or had nightmares about them, put this book back on the shelf and forget about it.

No one warned me, so I read “Ill Will” and I did think it a marvelous book. It has both heart and humor. The characters are believable, likeable, and very real. The book has multiple narrators who make up the main cast of characters, and Chaon uses this technique to great advantage. You care about Dustin Tillman, his sister, and his cousins, who were orphaned when their parents were brutally murdered. The lot of them are now grown and launched in life with their own careers and families. They appear to have recovered, as much as anyone can recover from such an event.

The question of who was responsible for the murders is never certain. At the time it was blamed on Rusty, a troubled teenager who was adopted by Dustin’s parents. Rusty was sent to prison for the crime, but the Innocence Project has recently proven that Rusty was not the murderer, and he is released from prison.

The fates are not finished with Dustin who, in my view, is the center of the story. He is now a psychologist and seems at the beginning of the book to be fairly well adjusted and professional in his work. He is widowed and is raising his two sons by himself. He has the odd habit of not finishing his sentences—or is it his thoughts that are incomplete? His kids think he’s weird, but don’t all kids think their parents are weird?

As the book moves on, revealing more and more of the family’s problems, Dustin makes a monumental mistake. He buys into the crackpot theories of one of his patients and goes off the rails in terms of professional ethics and his role as a single parent. The last quarter of the book is absolutely bone chilling. That’s as much of a spoiler I’m willing to give. Read “Ill Will” if you dare, but don’t forget I warned you.