At one point in Dan Chaon's novel Ill Will, his protagonist, Dustin Tillman, alludes to a phenomenon known as scopaesthesia, "the prickle on the back of your neck when you sense that someone you can't see is looking at you." Whether or not there's a scientific basis for that sensation, you may well experience it as you read this murder mystery that's also a chilling investigation of the fallibility of memory and the damage inflicted by family secrets.
Chaon (You Remind Me of Me) relies on a nonlinear narrative. The story moves from the near present in Cleveland, Ohio, where Dustin works as a psychologist in private practice, back to a terrifying night in June 1983, when his parents, aunt and uncle are murdered in a small Nebraska town on the eve of a family vacation. Thirteen-year-old Dustin's testimony is instrumental in convicting his adopted older brother, Rusty, but after nearly 30 years in prison Rusty is freed by DNA evidence. His release coincides with the appearance in Dustin's office of Aqil Ozorowski, a suspended police officer who's convinced he's tracking a serial killer preying on inebriated male college students in the area.
Employing several narrative voices, Chaon faithfully carries out his responsibility to keep the mystery plots--who killed Dustin's family members and whether the contemporary serial killer is real or a creature conjured out of his patient's imagination--simmering in a pressure cooker of suspense and emotion. Complex and evocative, Ill Will successfully slips over the wall some would erect between literary fiction and the mystery genre. --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer