Ill Will, Chaon Dan

We are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves. This is one of the little mantras Dustin Tillman likes to share with his patients, and its meant to be reassuring. But what if that story is a lie?

A psychologist in suburban Cleveland, Dustin is drifting through his forties when he hears the news: His adopted brother, Rusty, is being released from prison. Thirty years ago, Rusty received a life sentence for the massacre of Dustins parents, aunt, and uncle. The trial came to epitomize the 1980s hysteria over Satanic cults; despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury believed the outlandish accusations Dustin and his cousin made against Rusty. Now, after DNA analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning.

Meanwhile, one of Dustins patients has been plying him with stories of the drowning deaths of a string of drunk college boys. At first Dustin dismisses his patients suggestions that a serial killer is at work as paranoid thinking, but as the two embark on an amateur investigation, Dustin starts to believe that theres more to the deaths than coincidence. Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundaries--and putting his own family in harms way.

From one of todays most renowned practitioners of literary suspense, Ill Will is an intimate thriller about the failures of memory and the perils of self-deception. In Dan Chaons nimble, chilling prose, the past looms over the present, turning each into a haunted place.

Praise for Ill Will

In his haunting, strikingly original new novel, Dan] Chaon takes formidable risks, dismantling his timeline like a film editor.--The New York Times Book Review

The scariest novel of the year . . . ingenious . . . Chaons novel walks along a garrote stretched taut between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock.--The Washington Post

Powerful . . . Chaon is one of Americas best and most dependable writers, and in the end, Ill Will is a ruthlessly realistic piece of fiction about the unrealistic beliefs people entertain about their world.--Los Angeles Times

This intriguing novel about a tightly wired criminal psychologist with a murky past has the tension of a thriller plus the emotional release of justice finally served.--O: The Oprah Magazine

Powerfully unsettling . . . Theres a lot going on under the surface of Ill Will--more than one reading will reveal. Going back and reading this oddly compelling book again will only provide more pleasure.--Chicago Tribune

Terrifically eerie . . . Too few writers prize atmosphere as much as narrative tautness. With Ill Will, Chaon succeeds at delivering both.--The Dallas Morning News

Outstanding . . . Chaons writing is cool and precise, but his story is thrillingly unstable. It also boasts, at the end, a traditional horror-novel payoff I didnt see coming--Stephen King couldnt have done it better.--The Wall Street Journal