A review by veganheathen
Ill Will by Dan Chaon

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I really don't understand how this book is marketed as horror. It certainly wasn't "chilling" as the description says. It was more of a story about people who experienced abuse and trauma and some have mental illnesses. No one was really getting any treatment for this or realized their issues and so everyone got worse. This book was so long, too. I kept thinking it would all come together in the end and I would rethink some of what I'd read with new perspective, but nope. The end just sort of meandered like the rest of the book, just more so. It was like the author wasn't sure how he wanted to wrap things up so he came almost close to an idea and then scrapped it and moved on to the next idea. Rinse and repeat. I don't mind when books leave the ending open to interpretation, but there is a certain way that can be done well and this isn't it. I mostly feel annoyed that I read this whole book and nothing really happened and there was no payoff.