"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 DNA analysis has overturned the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning"--Dust jacket flap.

This was a pretty disappointing read for most of us. Chaon has a decent thriller story at the center of the novel, with a dysfunctional and disturbed father watching as his family disintegrates at the hands of a serial killer. As genre work goes, we felt there were some interesting twists and the complex mess of the protagonist's family (especially the disaffected son) was compelling at times. But no one would accept the word 'literary' associated with this book. The author deliberately took some steps to stylize the work, some subtle (e.g. writing a flourish of a description) and some bold (e.g. write two character's stories in parallel columns for a full chapter). None of these worked -- not one. The author's style was generally weak, so any stretches there fell flat. Worse, the structural tricks just seemed pointless. Why were we hearing about two characters at the same time in one chapter, but not in the next? How were we supposed to read those sections? What was the value of having them next to each other that way? Over and over again, whenever Chaon stepped over the line to try to do something tricky, he tripped and the book just looked ridiculous. But even if we overlook the overwrought style, Chaon trips on the ending as well. After all this time thinking about the father, it's the random guy who's been 'helping' him who's the villain? Why is he attacking teenage boys? The killer was not compelling or believable, and his presence in the book felt tacked on -- which, to be clear, is not how you want the main bad guy and solution of the mystery of your story to feel. By the time the villain's plan comes to fruition, it just feels gratuitous. Well done, Mr. Chaon, you not only managed to torture all your characters, but you tortured us readers as well with this silly and overly ambitious thriller.