Ill Will is a new mystery by Dan Chaon. Actually, it's less a mystery and more a story about memory and a weird time in American history. In the mid-1980s, a moral panic surged across the US that Satanic rituals were occurring regularly in small communities - most of the stories involved children being killed or drinking their blood and/or sexual abuses. I remember, as a child myself at that time, thinking that if the amount of alleged abuse were actually happening, someone I knew would surely be affected, and I didn't know of anyone. Simultaneously, I also wondered if I had repressed memories, and beloved family friends actually put on hoods at night and sought to kidnap me and cut out my liver for a backyard bonfire. So, thanks, Chaon, for taking me back so completely to this bizarre time in my childhood when religious nuts in my small Christian community spent a lot of time freaking out kids with hand-wringing about a bunch of nonsense.

Ill Will's main character, Dustin, a psychologist whose career launched (and quickly sunk) in the study of "Satanic Ritual Abuse" was seemingly a victim of the phenomenon himself. His parents and aunt and Uncle when killed when he was a child and his adopted brother, Rusty, was jailed for the murder. Dustin testistfied at the trial that Rusty was involved in Satanic rituals. Dustin later marries and has several children who don't know about his past, but when a friend of his son goes missing, Dustin sort of gets involved in trying to figure out what happened. Meanwhile, Rusty's been released from prison and has contacted one of his nephews. Rusty seems to be a well-meaning man, lonely and good intentioned, however ill-equipped he may be to deal with life and human interactions in any responsible way, having spent most of his life in jail.

For me what was lacking was a woman's voice - there were a few short bits with Dustin's female cousins whose parents were killed as well - they were the characters I was most interested in.

To tell the truth, I found the end of Ill Will very unsatisfying. Things wrap up in a quick and sort of disassociated way. I did enjoy the analysis of memory and memory recovery, as well as the sort of clinical view of this out of control urban legend that so many people believed in.

Ill Will by Dan Chaon

I received this book in exchange for a fair review from NetGalley. I really wanted to like this book, because the blurb intrigued me. The beginning was confusing, because it jumped back and forth in time, but it pulled me in. The more I read, the more strange it got, by the time I got a third into I started to get annoyed. Too many different plots competing against each other, then the pages started to split showing two different sections of a chapter on the same page. This happened a few more times further on also. The way this set up, you couldn't tell what section belong with which. That would go on for two or three pages, then back to normal pages. I started to get annoyed with the characters, I don't think there was a likable or bright one in the bunch. The one character right from the start said "serial killer" to me, too many things about him stood out. Most of the characters, either young or old, in present time or past were too stoned to know what was going on. I totally agreed when one of the sons asked his father, how far up his butt his head was, that he couldn't see what was going on. I finally skipped to the end to see how it resolved, but even that was a confusing mess.
Sorry, even without the page problems and an intriguing blurb, this was not a book I would even try again once the page problem was fixed.

Dan Chaon's new book, Ill Will, is about two unsolved crimes, one in the present day and one from the past. These threads are tied together by the main character, Dustin Tillman, a forty-one-year-old psychologist with a small practice in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, whose speciality is hypnosis therapy.

Dustin is married with two teen-aged sons and, up-to-now, has been satisfied with his life. But in April, 2012, he realizes he is feeling a vague anxiety: "his brain seemed murky with circling unfocused dread, and the world itself appeared somehow more unfriendly--emanating a soft glow of ill will."

Two upsetting events occur around that time: first, the body of a male college student who has been missing since November 1 of the previous year is spotted in the ice of the local river. Was it an accidental death or is there a serial killer at work?

Dustin has a patient, Aqil Ozorowski, a former policeman of about thirty, supposedly on medical leave from the Cleveland Police Department, who has a theory that the drowning death of the student is indeed the latest in a series of such deaths. He has names and dates plotted out and he begins to draw Dustin into his informal investigation. The line between patient and doctor grows blurry as the two become friends. For all his education and life experience, Dustin seems easily manipulated, gullible, and clueless, unable to tell what is real and not real. Is this because of some trauma in his childhood?

We wonder because next we learn more about Dustin. He receives a phone call from his cousin Kate, telling him that his adopted older brother, Russell, has been released from prison, where he has been serving a thirty-year sentence for the murder of his mother, father, aunt and uncle in June of 1983. With the help of a group called the Innocence Project that investigates wrongful convictions, he has been exonerated, DNA tests having proven him innocent.

Back in the 80s, some disturbed teens like Russell dabbled in satanic rituals, influenced by heavy-metal groups like Black Sabbath, and Russell was accused of the murders and convicted largely on the testimony of Kate and Dustin about his abusive actions, killing baby rabbits, carving pentagrams, etc. Now that he has been released, will he be seeking revenge? And who committed the murders, if it wasn't Russell?

Soon Dustin's personal life begins falling apart with the death of his wife from cancer and an emotional estrangement from his sons: "This little island I'd built for myself, this family that had seemed so safe and stable, was dissipating beneath my feet."

There are hints that Dustin takes mood-stabilizing drugs but perhaps he is over doing it. He frequently doesn't finish his sentences, leaving them hanging in mid-air--a habit which annoys his sons to no end--and when he experiences a few hallucinations, he thinks there might be the possibility of 'acute amphetamine psychosis'--causing paranoia and delusions.

This reader watched helplessly as Dustin and his family get more deeply drawn into a tangled web of evil. I found the book hard to put down and was up late finishing it. I was expecting one more twist but perhaps the author thought better of taking the story where my own imagination was leading me.

This is my first experience of Dan Chaon's writing so I cannot compare it to his other work but I'm very much looking forward to reading more.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this exciting new book. Dan Chaon has a new fan!

I would like to thank Net Galley and Random House for the opportunity to read Ill Will.

However, this book is very frustrating. It reads like a first draft, riddled with terrible metaphor and simile, with twists and turns that go into brick walls and characters that are not fleshed out. If there is any positive to come from this book, it's that unseasoned authors can read this book and see a future in becoming a published author.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Two separate threads of horrendous murders, Dustin's family is viciously murdered and his adopted brother Rusty is jailed and does 25 years but then he is acquitted. In present time, Dustin is a psychologist and gets involved in his patients theory about a serial murderer.

This is the first time I have read this author. The writing just felt too messy and disjointed, sentences would abruptly end and the thought wouldn't be picked up again in the next sentence. The vertical columns like in a newspaper or word doc didn't translate well to my Kindle, the print was micro-mega small and I was forced to skip past those pages. I thought the mystery itself was interesting but the back and forth exterior it was incased in was frustrating to read.

2☆

Psychologically complex Dan Chaon’s ILL WILL is a dark, haunting, and twisty suspense thriller full of madness, tragedy, murder, grief, and despair. Cancer, drugs, addictions, and satanic evil.

"We meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it." —Jean De La Fontaine.

Dustin Tillman is a suburban Cleveland psychiatrist. Father of two teenage boys, Aaron and Dennis. His wife, Jill dying of cancer, and one of his patients is now recruiting him to help investigate the drownings of young men that seem to match a pattern. He is struggling with his own past. He is the survivor.

In 1983, when he was thirteen years old, his mother, father, aunt, and uncle were murdered. Dustin accused his adopted older brother, Rusty (attracted to Satanism) of the crime. Rusty was incarcerated.

What really happened with the violent murder during a summer holiday in 1983? Two unsolved crimes. Past and Present.

"In the end it is the mystery that lasts and not the explanation."—Sacheverell Sitwell, For Want of the Golden City.

Now he has been exonerated and released. Thirty some years after Dustin’s testimony put him away for murdering their parents, aunt, and uncle. Now DNA evidence clears him of the crime.

From dark family secrets and deceit, this is one creepy grisly disturbing book. Unnerving, moody and atmospheric. Emotionally wrenching and complex.

Plot-driven, the author uses impressive skill and control, as he crosses multiple narratives with different perspectives— for a mind-bending saga which will leave your head spinning. An exploration of memories, delusion, and self-deception.

". . . Every memory he thinks of now is discolored and ugly. The past suddenly has vanished from underneath him, distorted, memories turned into something he doesn't recognize, something malevolent."

The author keeps the evil, despair, terror and suspense high. Exploring humanity’s darker side. If you are looking for a relaxing read, move on. However, you if like crossing over to the darker side, and enjoy well-written complex literary/pulp fiction thrillers, you may enjoy the scary intense ride.

A special thank you to Random House, LibraryThing Early Reviewers, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

JDCMustReadBooks

Full review to be posted on the blog https://inkepiphanies.wordpress.com/ soon!

Ill Will is such a perfect title for the novel Dan Chaol so masterfully crafted. I can't say a single bad thing about the book but I can throw warnings left and right. Being honest, Ill Will is not an easy read and I don't think every single person who takes the masterpiece into their hands would be able to finish it. It took me a while to finish it but I have zero regrets or negative feedback. From the very first pages, Ill Will drags you into a very dark, desperate and haunted place. Be ready to take it or leave, make a choice.

"It was that dull mood where you kind of felt the angsty life-is-meaningless vibe but you were too lazy to get very worked up about it."

Lately, I have been so lucky with my book picks and Ill Will didn't disappoint me a single bit. Although I did feel a bit heavy-chested from time to time, I only have good things to say. One thing I kept repeating to myself, "God, this is so messed up." It's messy, it's not pretty but it's so real and raw. Ill Will made me feel everything at once and what I felt was like being stripped of meat down to my bones. It hurt but for some darn weird reason I thought that I deserved it. That's what is so awfully beautiful about the prose, the storyline and the characters - the explosive combination makes you believe in all sorts of horrors. What is worse, those horrors haunt me even after I turned the last page. I keep thinking about Ill Will and I think, human nature is so twisted.

The humans of Ill Will are all...quite something. Everyone's got something to hide and everyone's so doomed and damned, it's hard to believe. You know, I thought I've seen plenty of that but turns out I was so wrong. The characters are very complex to the point where I could never say I figured one or another for sure. See, I wasn't looking for mysteries to be solved, so I was perfectly content in never really figuring out Dustin or Russell or any other human beings of Ill Will. That's the point. Don't expect the mystery to be unveiled. The novel isn't about that. Watch out for those damned.

"A certain kind of loneliness magnified inside me. A kind of terrible, unsolvable homesickness - for home that doesn't exist. That maybe never even was."

From what I have seen, many people express complaints about the unsolved. I have no issue with that since, as I previously mention, Ill Will isn't about that. Silly to say but it's the journey that matters. And that journey got me stuck somewhere in between constantly throwing up from disgust or crying out of this seemingly everlasting misery. You know, there are shows or book you are repulsed by because they are too graphic/too sensitive/too emotional/too something but you keep on with them for some strange reason. It's like being hypnotized by the darkest side of human nature. Something we all have but can't openly admit. That's it. Ill Will is disgustingly hypnotizing.

Nonetheless, there is so much raw human emotion in the novel. It's deep. It gets under your skin. It gets into your bed, your clothes, your food. I felt like I was poisoned by what I was reading. That is, my friend, a distinguishing trait of a quality content. This isn't some fun Caraval games, this is the sh**. You got it right here. That's why I recommend Ill Will to my friends and whoever I know, really, because it's a reminder to all those whiners of what rock-bottom is really like. All I wanted to do as I finished Ill Will is be grateful for the life I have. So, go figure.

This was an amazingly-well-crafted psychological thriller that had me glued to my Kindle, unwilling and unable to get off of the thrill ride, until I had read the last page. And, once I had done so, I could do little more than sit back and mutter in awestruck wonder, "Whoooooa!" My brain was successfully boggled and my mind was effectively blown.

The characters in this story are some of the most complex and multi-dimensional that I have come across in quite some time. They are written so vividly that you almost come to feel as if you know them... and, in some cases, fear them. You're never quite sure who you can trust and who is telling the truth... or if they even know what their OWN truth is.

There are several plot lines that all tie in together, seamlessly. Each plot line has you thinking you know exactly what is going on and who did what, and then comes a twist... then another... and another. If you think you have figured out the "full story", just wait until the last few pages and see how right (or very wrong) you are!

If you're like me, and enjoy the challenge of a psychological thriller that you haven't already figured by the time you're only a few chapters in, then this is the read for you! This was my first book by Dan Chaon, and I am now starving to devour more.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books in order to read and provide a voluntary and honest review, should I choose to do so.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
When Dustin was younger, he and his cousins Kate and Wave lost their parents in a violent death.  With the testimony from Kate and Dustin, his adopted brother Russell is put away for murder.  But what if he didn’t do it?
That is what The Innocence Project is out to prove- that Rusty is indeed innocent, and victim to a witch hunt of sorts where terms like “Satanic Ritual killings” is used to pin the murders on a boy that was not innocent, but not a killer.
The problem?  Dustin firmly believes everything he testified to.  Is he a trustworthy narrator though?  Are any of them?  Told in different POV’s and spanning back and forth from before the murder to present, this book begs the question on what to do when one can no longer differentiate between reality and delusion.
My thoughts:
The premise of this book had me so excited.  I was dying to read it!  I will admit that for me, this is a pass.  I almost DNF so many times.  The author uses tricks in pagination and story hopping to create a disassociated feeling.  Now, when done well I have absolutely no issue with moving back and forth in a story line so long as I feel it helps to move the story along.  The first 5% of this book was painful, though.  We jumped story line a dozen times, often for no seeming reason.  The storyline was jumpier than a room full of  meth-heads.
I will say that with the POV of Aaron, Dustin’s son, it was easier to keep track and he made more sense.  I understand that doing Dustin’s POV is a spastic way was supposed to help show his state of mind… but it was always pretty obvious that he wasn’t all there so how necessary was this?  All the constant jumps did was keep me from immersing myself into the story.
I read this in eBook format on my phone, and because there were times where the page was chopped into up to six pieces I was often having to move the font size up and down to accommodate. I did look it over on my much larger tablet and found I had the same issue there.  So that was upsetting.  Overall I feel like there were a lot of cheap tricks used to create an air of disturbance that were unnecessary.  In the end this was just not for me.  Two stars. 
On the adult content scale, there is drug use, violence, a large amount of substance abuse…. you name it.  I cannot recommend this for anyone under 18.  I give it a nine. 
This is just my opinion- it is actually getting a lot of happy chatter on Goodreads and Litsy.  I do recommend buying a paper copy, the eBook format just made things worse.
The book is out now.  Have you read it?

What’s it about . . .
Dustin Tillman, a psychologist in his 40s, is haunted by the murder of his parents, aunt, and uncle in the 1980s. Convinced his step-brother Rusty, a boy with an already troubled past, committed the murders, Dustin and his cousin testify that Rusty was involved with satanic cults. Even without physical evidence, their testimony was enough to convict him of the murders. Thirty years later, with the help of The Innocence Project and DNA analysis, Rusty is exonerated and released from jail.

Recently, Dustin has lost his wife to cancer and is probably not thinking clearly when he befriends a patient and crosses a professional boundary to help him investigate a serial killer who preys on local college boys. Meanwhile, Rusty, newly released from prison, has made contact with Dustin’s son, who is dealing with drug abuse problems and the recent death of his best friend.

What did I think . . .
I enjoyed this immensely; however, this is not a book for everyone. Besides being a rather dark story, it is also creepy and, at times, scary. Plus it’s not the easiest book to read or listen to. Using three narrators, shifting points of view, two time lines that span three decades, and a unique writing style makes this novel, at times, challenging. But it was so worth it!

The story is multi-layered and complex, but also a compelling mystery. It isn’t until the very last section that everything comes together. And at that point I asked myself why I didn’t see it coming! If you like Stephen King style creepiness or Hitchcockian suspense, you will probably enjoy this unique novel. This is already one of my 2017 favorites.

Creepy, disturbing, gritty, and dark. The atmosphere in Ill Will is palpable. Dustin is a psychologist in Ohio. Thirty years ago, when he was a thirteen year old boy, his parents, aunt, and uncle were massacred. He and his cousin Kate testified against Dustin's adopted brother Rusty. Now Rusty is being released from prison due to an overturned conviction. DNA evidence proves he did not do it. The case was amid the satanic cult ritual hysteria making for a rather fascinating foundation. However, there is also a possible serial killer targeting drunk college boys. The writing style is certainly unique with what some might call ramblings at times, though it illustrates what is going on in Dustin's mind. The novel ends up being quite multi-layered making us question whether we can truly trust one's memory. I enjoyed the unique style and will certainly be checking out more Dan Chaon in the future.

Two unsolved crimes are linked together - one in the 1980’s, another in the present time of 2012 and a protagonist who lives through both crimes. I normally enjoy unique writing styles and an author going ‘outside of the box’, but in this case I became confused with Chaon’s disjointed style and shifting storyline. All starts to make sense, however, as I got to know the characters and settled in, feeling a strong sense of impending doom. I was determined to finish this book that took me out of my comfort zone. Although I was not a fan of some of the subject matter or the ending, I believe it well worth a read by those looking for a very dark, intriguing and disturbing psychological thriller.

Dustin Tillman is a modern day psychologist and part time hypnotist. He's happily married with two sons and living a pretty good life, when his adopted brother gets released from prison. The thing is, Rusty was in prison for killing Dustin's parents. Did Rusty really commit these crimes? Another story line is weaved through this novel. It seems that a serial killer is on the loose, college guys go missing, and are found on patterned days drowned in the river. Dustin and Aqil (one of his patients) try to start investigating these strange killings.

This was interesting to start, and I was immediately drawn into the author's writing. I found the storyline from the past intriguing and I desperately wanted to discover what happened to Dustin's parents. The tension was held throughout the book. There were parts that were all too real (Cancer), parts that were a little too detailed for me, lots of drug use, and a mystery that took forever to solve and ended too quick. This book made me sad, the relationships were brittle at best. Dustin's children clearly did not respect him and saw the delusional states that he struggled with, instead of helping him, they basically wrote him off. I struggled with most of the middle as the writing seemed to stall, but once we got to the end, I was happy with the journey. This is a hard book to review, but one I think would make for a wonderful discussion.

Dustin Tillman's parents - Colleen and Dave and his cousins Kate and Wave's parents, Vicki and Lucky, were killed in June 1983 in Nebraska. They were gunned down with a shotgun. Dustin was the one who found the bodies. Dustin's adopted brother, Russell, was seen racing off from the scene. The children were hauled off and forced to live with their grandmother. Russell was arrested and Dustin and Kate testified against him that he was the person who killed their parents. Russell was sentenced to over 30 years in prison. As the years went by Dustin went to college and became a psychologist. He married and was the father of two boys. One of Dustin's clients, Aqil, was an ex-cop who had some issues of his own which consisted of paranoia and OCD. Ability started presenting evidence to Dustin about college aged boys who were being murdered on certain days of the month. The evidence was overwhelming. Instead of Aqil going to the police, he Asked for Dustin's help in solving these murders. Eventually Russell was released from prison, after 30 years. He received help from the Innocence Project. Dustin's wife dies and their sons are dealing with it on their own ways. Russell wants to know why the Kate and Dustin lied and basically took his life away from him. He decides to become friends with Dustin's son, Aaron. The storyline goes back and forth between the current day and the days in the past. What will happen between Dustin, Kate, and Russell? Will Dustin and Aqil solve the murders? Will Dustin's sons eventually heal from their mother's passing? There was definitely Lot of intrigue and mystery to this book. I was not able to give this book 5 stars. The back and forth from past to present was too confusing to me. The book seemed to go on forever. I feel that it could have been accomplished in a much shorter book. The formatting in quite a few pages were in columns instead of pages and made it hard to read. The ending lest the reader to decide what they would take away from this book. I can't say that I really enjoyed this book because it was so long and confusing.

Dustin Tillman has a lot on his mind. His wife died less than a year ago and his relationship with his two sons seems to be drifting away. He’s a psychologist and he has a new patient,Aqil, he can’t quite get a handle on. And now, his cousin Kate has called to let him know that his adopted brother, Rusty, is getting out of prison twenty-nine years after being convicted of murdering all of their parents. A conviction that was obtained through the specific testimony of Dustin and Kate, but has now been overturned by DNA evidence proving his innocence. This is Dustin’s world in Dan Chaon’s new novel, Ill Will. A world that is going to get a lot more complicated.

Yet, even given all these circumstances Dustin seems relatively unfazed by this latest news. In fact, he’s largely unruffled by almost anything. Instead, he exhibits a distracted air in much of his life and always has. He has been joked about within his family as being spacey—a fact Chaon highlights in Ill Will’s formatting by leaving many of Dustin’s sentences open. No ellipses of thought, no trailing off, just a stopping of whatever he might have been trying to say. This dreamier mental pace serves him well as a psychologist, allowing him to assess why Aqil is obsessed with a series of drowning deaths of college-age boys that have occurred in their area over the last decade, but won’t talk about his own past at all. Until, Aqil’s fixation becomes Dustin’s own and what was a harmless inattention begins to feel like negligence in and denial of his own life for some wild theories about serial killers.

Dustin is not the sole focus of Ill Will. Chaon makes use of his cousins, Kate and Wave; his younger son, eighteen-year-old Aaron, and even Rusty, as narrators. Not surprisingly, even going back to the summer of 1983, each has a very different story to tell. Chaon ups the creepy factor by tapping into a very real social phenomenon of those times: the belief that there were widespread Satanic cults committing heinous acts of ritual abuse throughout America. Some of Rusty’s teen behavior aligns with the sensationalistic news and is, ultimately, what Kate and Dustin say led him to murder four family members. Now, Rusty is out and has chosen Aaron as the only member of the family to contact. Aaron, who didn’t even know he had an uncle, much less one that murdered his grandparents.

Because there are so many ways a mystery can go I have to give credit to Ill Will for choosing an option that only works if the tale has been strong enough all along—that of the ambiguous ending. Whereas Dead Letters slammed an unexpected reality into my face, Ill Will insinuates right up until the very end. Throughout the novel Dustin Tillman is a vague figure—is he troubled? Gullible? A dupe? Or the exact opposite of all these, the Keyser Söze of the novel? No spoilers from me. Suffice it to say, what I liked most about the novel was that Chaon made sure I wouldn’t stop reading until the last sentence and he did so not just with murder, but by delving into the always intriguing concept of reality, specifically how we perceive the world, ourselves, and how we are perceived. Scary stuff.

I really tried to enjoy this book, but I found it to be very disjointed and the storyline was difficult to follow. The flow and characters were all over the place and at times I didn't know if I was reading fantasy or if it was part of the story. There are very few books that I do not enjoy, but this was one of them. I really had to make myself read it to the end as I kept hoping that it would get better and that everything would pull together and be explained, but that never happened. The synopsis sounded exciting and I usually enjoy this genre, but I was bitterly disappointed.
I do thank the publishers for giving me an advance copy to review through Netgalley.

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.
This was a very frustrating book to read, or let me say try to read. It was somewhat suspenseful but not enough to call it a "ground breaking thriller".
This book is in intense need of a good edit. I see why it has such a low rating on Goodreads.

Ok. This book reminds me of another twisted version of another book I recently read by Gillian Flynn called Dark Places. Especially the piece where the main character has a brother who was accused of murder and later exonerated. Only, in Gillian Flynn's case, the brother was not. Both stories bounce from the 80s to somewhat present date and they also bring in the satanic cult hysteria from back in the 80s as well. Besides that, Dan Choan takes over from there.

I don't like predictable books, in fact, I despise predictable books. When I read, I want to the author to make me think. To show, not tell. Dan does just that. He gives you these realistic characters in surroundings that reach outside the fictional world and grab you by the hand and will not let go till their mission is complete.

Are there rough spots? Absolutely, but the author rebounds and makes up with his suspenseful turns. Be prepared to open your mind and be taken on a wild ride!

"What do you call it when someone can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not real?"

Dustin Tillman's life is in a crisis. The sudden death of his wife to cancer has left him with little control of his actions and emotions. This is particularly troubling because Dustin's work as a psychologist sees him guiding patients through their own difficult situations. Without the support and better judgement of his wife, Dustin has taken a particular interest in his patient Aqil.

Aqil is a former police officer who is obsessed with a series of drownings. In each instance, a young college-aged man disappears after a night of binge drinking. They turn up days later, drowned in local waterways. All of the investigative authorities have concluded that these deaths are accidental and unrelated, but Aqil has other theories. Blinded by his grief, Dustin willfully encourages Aqil to explore the case and even joins in the investigation. Is Dustin on the heels of a serial killer who has evaded any notice by the authorities, or is he simply supporting the delusions of a madman?

To add to Dustin's emotional stress, we learn that his childhood was no walk in the park. Along with his twin cousins, Dustin stumbled onto the bodies of his murdered parents, aunt, and uncle. We learn that his older adopted brother, Rusty, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life in prison. Dustin's descriptive testimony of both Rusty's abuse toward him and participation in satanic rituals played the largest role in the conviction. Now, 30 years later, Dustin receives word that Rusty has been released and exonerated of all crimes. Dustin is sure that Rusty is guilty, but he can't recall specific details of that horrific night. Has he repressed these gruesome memories from his mind? Did all of the things he testified even happen?

"In the end it is the mystery that lasts and not the explanation."
- Sacheverell Sitwell, For Want of the Golden City

Ill Will is told from the shifting perspectives of various characters in the novel. While the central focus surrounds Dustin and his ironic descent into the kind of madness his profession fights against, the supporting characters are also allotted time to develop. By moving to different characters and times within the story, author Dan Chaon disorients the reader and creates a murkiness to his consistently suspenseful narrative. In a device that is as equally unique as it is satisfying, Chaon presents portions of the novel in columns. This allows different pieces of the story to unfold concurrently across perspective and time.

The subject matter is extremely grim. If you are looking for a "light" read, this may not be your cup of tea. Chaon writes of sexual and emotional abuse, drug addiction, and mental breakdown with a clarity that brings the characters to vivid realization. Despite the difficult subject matter, I was immediately sucked into the story and wasn't released until the very end. Ill Will works as both thriller and character study, shedding light upon dark situations. Chaon's dexterity with the material and inventive methods of presentation make Ill Will a disturbingly riveting read.

Thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to read Ill Will. The weaving of the present and the past was done well in this comtemporary suspense thriller. I have not read any of Dan Chaeon's novels previously and will defintiely look for future books.
Chaeon writes in first person and sometimes third, which makes this an interesting read. This is not just a thriller, but a disfunctional family journey. Readers will feel as if they are under water while they read this sometimes terrifying novel.
Recommend.

I