A Strange Mix of Satanic Worship, Drownings, and Serial Killings

I read Await Your Reply eight years ago and came to a delayed appreciation of the complexity of Chaon’s characters as well as their impending sense of doom. Chaon again plays with time frame in Ill Will as two stories are woven together with the common denominator being the main character.

Ill Will gives us two murder mysterious to solve, one from the past and one present day involving a string of male drownings that seem to point to an alleged serial killer on the loose.

Dustin Tillman is a psychologist in private practice whose wife has recently died of cancer. His youngest son has a serious drug problem and is losing his grip on reality as his eldest on begins to remove himself from a family he no longer want anything to do with. Dustin spends most of the book checked out from the dismal state of his own life and the unravelling of his family.

Dustin suffers from a kind of dissociative disorder which has plagued him since he was a child. As he is led by an exceedingly obsessive and inappropriate patient to begin a private investigation into the recent drownings, the plot moves Dustin towards becoming a possible suspect in the grisly murder of his own parents when he was just ten years old. His aunt and uncle were also murdered along with his parents and his female twin cousins are estranged, one siding with Dustin and the other carrying an alternate theory of what happened that night along with some of the answers to our questions. His adopted brother was framed for the murders and having recently being released from prison, haunts Dustin as he seeks out contact with Dustin’s son.

This is a dark, disturbing, and visually gruesome story. Editing takes a wild turn as sentences literally fall off into nothingness and the reader is left wondering if they missed something. Formatting also takes a very strange turn. The end is murky and the reader is left with the task of answering their own questions which may lead to anxiety and frustration. The buildup to a satisfying suspense thriller ending was a letdown. Chaon is a gifted writer however this book will not be to everyone’s taste.

BRB Rating: Skip It

A mystery/crime thriller, set in my home region, about the unknowable nature of truth... a novel that I would have asked to be written if I had that power. The manner in which Chaon peels back the layers of his flawed but deeply complicated characters demonstrates exceptional technique. Our perception of them gradually shifts and then erodes. Structure as a vehicle for character. A powerful, mysterious conclusion, like life.

Oh what a jumbled up novel. The whole thing was chaotic and disjointed. Dangling sentences and switching back and forth between a conventional writing style to a two or three column writing style on many pages was very strange and really made it difficult to read. After liking the opening chapter, there was really nothing else I liked in the entire book. In the end it left more questions than answers. One that will only be remembered because it was disliked so much. A hard one to finish!

I thought I was reading a book about an adult whose older adopted sibling has just been released from jail, exonerated in the multiple murders of their parents through DNA. Presumably the case was reopened and the sibs had to reassess their relationship. If only. The central character in the book is deeply unreliable but readers barely notice because the author keeps changing time frames, POV, narrators, and writing styles. The book becomes its own Rubik's Cube as we try and line up various pieces in an attempt to get a cohesive tale in any time period or around any character. This could be dark and creepy but mostly it's confusing. I finished it but I'm not sure everything was wrapped up; or perhaps I just missed most of the final clues. The book is a lot of work without much return. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

When Dan Chaon (pronounced "shawn") wrote about how willing people were to believe a conspiracy theory in the 1980s in which throngs of highly organized and interconnected Satanic cults across America and around the world were suspected of committing ritual abuse, it might have seemed easy to poke fun at gullible, poorly informed people living in a simpler time. Evening news programs took these rumors seriously, running special segments with titles like Exposing Satan's Underground, theorizing about a link to heavy metal music. Police departments formed cult task forces. Events in the short time since Chaon penned those passages make it easier to understand how people can be swayed by conspiracy theories.

The Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) mania was going strong when 13-year-old Dustin Tillman's parents, his aunt and his uncle were murdered the night before the the two families were about to embark on vacation. Dustin and his two 17-year-old twin cousins, Kate and Wave, spent the night in the camper in the driveway. A news photographer won a Pulitzer for photos of the three teens the next day shortly after they discovered the murders that had happened inside the house while they slept.

Absent that night was nineteen-year-old Russell, Dustin's adopted older brother. When Dustin's father received a large settlement after a worksite accident that left him with a hook in place of one hand, he decided to foster a child as a way of keeping one boy from suffering the kinds of indignities he had as a child.

Dustin was a particularly gullible child. Kate and Wave used to have fun implanting false memories to see what they could get him to believe. After the murders, Kate and Dustin become convinced that Russell (Rusty) was the murderer, and they compare notes to come up with a credible story that involves Rusty's bullying behavior, his fascination with Satanism, the fact that he liked to torture and kill animals, and the suspicion that he had been responsible for his birth parents' death in a house fire. One of the book's main questions is whether Dustin's testimony was true or if it relied on more false memories. Either way, Rusty was convicted and sent to prison. Dustin has not spoken with him since.

Nearly thirty years later, Dustin receives word from Kate that Rusty has been exonerated by Project Innocence. No one else is implicated, but this news disturbs Dustin. He is now 41, a therapist, married with two teen sons, the younger of whom is a drug addict, unbeknownst to Dustin. His wife is dying of cancer. He is a vague, diffident man, prone to leaving sentences unfinished or groping for words. He recently quit smoking and is suffering an existential dread that the world is emanating ill will toward him.

The murders are, understandably, a seminal event in his life. His doctoral thesis explored the SRA phenomenon. His wife's illness and subsequent death unpin him, and the news about Rusty sends him into a spin. He is certain Rusty will come after him, seeking vengeance for all those lost years. He doesn't know that Rusty is already in touch with his vulnerable 18-year-old son, Aaron.

Dustin specializes in hypnotherapy, which he uses primarily as a quit-smoking treatment or to alleviate idiopathic pain. His newest client, Aqil Ozorowski, a cop on medical leave for reasons he won't divulge, is convinced that a serial killer has been preying on young men thought to have drowned after binge drinking. He lays out his evidence, identifying numerological details that seem to tie these deaths together. Eventually, he proposes that Satanists are involved, which naturally piques Dustin's interest and helps to penetrate his skepticism. Aqil is intense, and his demands on Dustin push the limits of the patient-client relationship.

The novel leaps around in time, gradually divulging more about what happened between Dustin and Rusty in the late 1970s. It also follows several characters, including Aaron's misadventures in some of Cleveland's seedier neighborhoods with his friend Rabbit, who may be another victim of Aqil's putative serial killer. At times, the narrative is split into multiple parallel threads, streaming beside each other down the page like adjacent stories in a newspaper. This is mildly distracting but occasionally effective, especially when different perspectives on the same event are shown side-by-side.

What is the truth about those long-ago murders? Dustin's cousin Wave, who has gone off the grid and is no longer in touch with the family, might know. Is it within Dustin to dig past a cloud of possibly false memories and get to the bottom of what actually happened nearly thirty years ago? The epigraph Chaon selects to precede one of the book's chapters advises: "In the end it is the mystery that lasts and not the explanation." There are no easy answers to the conundrum of memory.

This book grabbed my attention immediately. Good plot and characters.

Ill Will is a book that will creep you out. Told from the vantage point of several different characters and over two different time periods, the book concerns the recollections of several characters who were involved in a cold case and several others who are involved in what may be a serial killer at the present time.. All of the narrators have an axe to grind and the reader has no idea who, if any, is telling the truth. Very enjoyable book with one huge caveat. The advance copy of the book is impossible to read on Kindle because at several parts the narration breaks down into three columns. The font was way to small to read on my Kindle Whisperbok.

Ill Will by Dan Chaon is about Dustin, whose parents and aunt and uncle were supposedly murdered by his adopted brother Rusty when he was a kid. As the book opens, Rusty has just been released from jail because of DNA evidence proving his innocence. The book jumps back and forth between timelines, exploring Dustin's childhood and his family now, including his troubled teenage son, and Dustin investigating a possible new killer.

I really enjoyed reading this suspenseful book. It gave me that nervous feeling in my gut towards the end, when I'd started to put some of the pieces together, and I could see the characters getting closer to disaster. It got hard to read, not in the I-don't-like-this-book way, but in the I-wish-I-wasn't-home-alone way (though there was a very troubling part at the end). I also liked how we learn about events from multiple perspectives, from Dustin to his cousins Kate and Wave to his son Aaron. I think one of the themes of this book is reality vs. fantasy, and it's presented in multiple ways. And it's not just fantasy like people make up spells and lies and whatnot, but also how what we tell ourselves and how we present and think of ourselves isn't always based in reality. There are characters who have different memories and perspectives on past events. There's the killer in the present day, who may or may not be a serial killer. And for me at least, there's he gradual loss of trust in the main character and who really is.

Most of this book is a five star book. There are two things that bothered me. One is the writing style. There are lots of sentences that just end abruptly, in the middle of the sentence. Which I can get used to, as it's a reflection of how the main character thinks/talks. But some of the sentences just didn't make any sense at all. I also wish I knew more at the end, <spoiler>especially about what Jill thought about Dustin and what exactly happened to him with Aqil.</spoiler>

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This book takes you down many paths and leaves you with many feelings and mysteries unsolved - and the writing style will probably cause some to give up reading. But I definitely think it's worth sticking it out, even though the ending won't be given to you wrapped with a bow.

The book is set in Northeast Ohio and involves two mysteries - one in the 1980s and the other in more present time. The first mystery involves a grisly murder scene - two married couples all shot. Their children, Dustin and his two older twin cousins, Wave and Kate, were outside sleeping in a camper. However, there's even more behind the scene. Dustin was a very gullible, malleable child whom his cousins enjoyed exploiting. Dustin's family had adopted Rusty, a troubled youth from an abusive background. He was accused of committing the crime and Dustin and Kate's testimony was what put him behind bars. But was it true? How can we know what the truth is?

In the present-day, Dustin is now a psychologist raising his own teenage boys with a wife who is ill from cancer. A patient comes to him with the second mystery - which involves a series of college-age students who seem to be heavily intoxicated, leave their friends, and are discovered later drowned in a nearby body of water. The police dismiss these deaths as "death by stupidity" - they were drunk, these things happen. But do they? This patient becomes Dustin's only friend and they join together to find out what happened to these boys.

The writing style is very unique - adding to all the mystery. There are text bubbles, pages written in columns that you have to flip back and forth to read, and sentences that just stop - showing how Dustin had the tendency to speak.

Quite the ride!

This was ramble-y, with an inordinate amount of run on sentences.

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.

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.

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.