Ill Will: A Novel

Ill Will: A Novel

NATIONAL BESTSELLER â€¢ Two sensational unsolved crimesâ€”one in the past, another in the presentâ€”are linked by one manâ€™s memory and self-deception in this chilling novel of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon.

â€œWe are always telling a story to ourselves, about ourselves.â€ This is one of the little mantras Dustin Tillman likes to share with his patients, and itâ€™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 Dustinâ€™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 DNA analysis hasÂ overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning.

Meanwhile, one of Dustinâ€™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 thereâ€™s more to the deaths than coincidence. Soon he becomes obsessed, crossing all professional boundariesâ€”and putting his own family in harmâ€™s way.

From one of todayâ€™s 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 Chaonâ€™s nimble, chilling prose, the past looms over the present, turning each into a haunted place.

Praise for Ill Will

â€œIn his haunting, strikingly original new novel, [Dan] Chaon takes formidable risks, dismantling his timeline like a film editor.â€â€”The New York Times Book Review
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â€œThe scariest novel of the year . . . ingenious . . . Chaonâ€™s novel walks along a garrote stretched taut between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock.â€â€”The Washington Post
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â€œPowerful . . . Chaon is one of Americaâ€™s best and most dependable writers, and in the end, Ill Will is a ruthlessly â€˜realisticâ€™ piece of fiction about the unrealistic beliefs people entertain about their world.â€â€”Los Angeles Times
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â€œThis 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.â€â€”O: The Oprah Magazine
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â€œPowerfully unsettling . . . Thereâ€™s a lot going on under the surface of Ill Willâ€”more than one reading will reveal. Going back and reading this oddly compelling book again will only provide more pleasure.â€â€”Chicago Tribune
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â€œTerrifically eerie . . . Too few writers prize atmosphere as much as narrative tautness. With Ill Will, Chaon succeeds at delivering both.â€â€”The Dallas Morning News

â€œOutstanding . . . Chaonâ€™s writing is cool and precise, but his story is thrillingly unstable. It also boasts, at the end, a traditional horror-novel payoff I didnâ€™t see comingâ€”Stephen King couldnâ€™t have done it better.â€â€”The Wall Street Journal

â€œOne of the best thrillers Iâ€™ve encountered in a very, very long time.â€â€”Newsweek
Country USA
Brand Ballantine Books
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 0345476042
ReleaseDate 2017-03-07
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780345476043

Country	USA
Brand	Ballantine Books
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	0345476042
ReleaseDate	2017-03-07
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780345476043

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