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Dan Chaon

Biography

Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon is the author of seven books, including ILL WILL, a national bestseller, named one of the 10 best books of 2017 by Publishers Weekly. Other works include the short story collection STAY AWAKE (2012), a finalist for the Story Prize; the national bestseller AWAIT YOUR REPLY; and AMONG THE MISSING, a finalist for the National Book Award. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize Anthologies and the O. Henry Collection. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction and the Shirley Jackson Award, and he was the recipient of an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland.

Dan Chaon

Books by Dan Chaon

by Dan Chaon - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

It’s 1915, and the world is transforming. But for 13-year-old Bolt and Eleanor --- twins so close they can literally read each other’s minds --- life is falling apart. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie, the only kin they have left. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee. Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders. After a lifetime of having only each other, Eleanor and Bolt are finally part of something bigger. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril as strange as it is terrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.

by Dan Chaon - Fiction, Literary Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

At 50 years old, Will Bear has been living off the grid for over half his life. A good-natured henchman with a complicated and lonely past and a passion for LSD microdosing, he spends his time hopscotching across state lines in his beloved camper van, running sometimes shady, often dangerous errands for a powerful and ruthless operation. Out of the blue, one of Will's many burner phones heralds a call from a 20-year-old woman claiming to be his biological daughter. She’s entrenched in a widespread and nefarious plot involving Will’s employers, and for Will to continue to have any contact with her increasingly fuzzes the line between the people he's working for and the people he’s running from.

by Dan Chaon - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

A psychologist in suburban Cleveland, Dustin is drifting through his 40s 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. 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. Meanwhile, one of Dustin’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 eventually he starts to believe that there’s more to the deaths than coincidence.

by Dan Chaon - Fiction, Short Stories

In these suspenseful stories, lost, fragile characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection --- and find themselves in unfathomable situations.