Review: Ill Will

Ill Will by Dan Chaon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw this book recommended on Don't Mind the Mess. While Chaon's previous book Await Your Reply didn't enchant me as much as it did many others, I decided to give this one a try. It was great. It was about a man named Dustin, who learns that his adopted older brother is getting released from prison, after being sentenced to life for killing their parents and aunt and uncle. The book talks about their relationship in childhood, as well as that of their cousins, but also spends a fair amount of time in the present, where Dustin gets engrossed in a current-day set of crimes involving college students. Also present are Dustin's sons, suffering their own dramas.

While this book was complex, moved across timelines, and had many characters, Chaon did a great job stitching it all together seamlessly. I was fascinated by the characters, and their hazy relationships with truth and reality. Dustin isn't an unreliable narrator per se, but he isn't completely sure of what he knows either. I really enjoyed the experience of reading this.

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