NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two sensational unsolved crimes—one in the past, another in the present—are linked by one man’s
memory and self-deception in this chilling novel of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon.
“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 it’s 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
Dustin’s 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
analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning.
Meanwhile, one of Dustin’s patients has been plying him with stories of the drowning deaths of a string of drunk college
boys. At first Dustin dismisses his patient's 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 there’s more to the deaths than coincidence.
Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundaries—and putting his own family in harm’s way.
From one of today’s most renowned practitioners of literary suspense, Ill Will is an thriller about the
failures of memory and the perils of self-deception. In Dan Chaon’s 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 iest novel of the year . . . ingenious . . . Chaon’s novel walks along a garrote stretched taut between Edgar
Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock.”—The Washington Post
“Powerful . . . Chaon is one of America’s 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 . . . There’s 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 . . . Chaon’s writing is cool and precise, but his story is thrillingly unstable. It also boasts, at the
end, a traditional horror-novel payoff I didn’t see coming—Stephen King couldn’t have done it better.”—The Wall Street
Journal
“One of the best thrillers I’ve encountered in a very, very long time.”—Newsweek