The God of The Woods was such a twisty, layered, slow burn mystery done in such a masterful way. The setting being a summer camp in the Adirondacks adds to the eerie vibe as we unravel a current (1975) disappearance as well as a disappearance of her brother 14 years earlier. Seeing how the two mysteries intersect while exposing the secrets of the Van Laar family had me unable to put the book down until I finished.

The Adirondacks in upstate New York is where my family would vacation every year growing up so the familiar setting added to my love of this book. Even if you’re not familiar with the setting, Liz Moore describes it so accurately and beautifully that you’ll feel like you’re on there. The characters were written so well to the point you’ll feel sympathetic but also suspicious of almost all of them.

The way the parallel mysteries twist and turn and finally intersect was done in such a beautiful way that it’s definitely a new favorite of mine. If you love a slow burn, character driven mystery in a beautiful atmospheric setting, you’ll love The God of The Woods.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Wow, THIS BOOK. The mystery, drama, and setting had me fully immersed and devouring! Let me give you a guide. There are a lot of characters, multiple timelines, and it is slow moving at the beginning while all of the characters are being developed. I started with audio, but had a hard time keeping track of who was who, and what was happening when. I switched to a physical copy to get it all straight, then finished with audio 😂 It is worth being patient. Once I got into this one, I literally COULD NOT put it down! I was completely captivated and had to figure out how it ended.

Barbara Van Laar is the 13 year old daughter of wealthy parents who own a summer camp. This is the first year she is allowed to attend, and she goes missing in the night. Even worse, she is not the first Van Laar child to go missing. As the search begins, secrets begin to unfold.

Pub. Date: July 2, 2024

Perfect if you like:
•Multiple POVs.
•Summer camp.
•Family drama.
•Character driven.
•Missing kids.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Spice: 🌶️
Mood: 🍿🫗

⚠️: explicit language.

The God of the Woods is the newest novel by Liz Moore. This one is set at a summer camp in the Adirondacks in the summer of 1975. Barbara is a camper who has gone missing. Louise is the counselor who should have been watching her. TJ is the director of the camp. Over the course of a couple of months all three of their lives become deeply intertwined in a manner that will have long lasting effects. I devoured this book in a single day and found myself thinking about the characters whenever I had to take a break from reading it. Highly recommend checking this one out. Read and enjoy!

THANK YOU to NetGalley & the publisher for allowing me access to a free copy of this book in exchange for a review!

I think this is a 3.5 star for me. Pretty solid read, but not really what I was expecting based on the title. A little boring, and a little "unfinished" feeling, but overall a solid read for the genre.

I think if the description matched a little better with the actual concept of the book, I wouldn't have been so thrown off. However, it was easy enough to overlook once I realized there would be no paranormal or mythical element to the story, & I should stop expecting some deity to show up. (I was actually really disappointed by this aspect. I REALLY wanted a literal God of the Woods to show up. Frankly, I'm not sure who/what the "God" was supposed to be).

I was sort of initially thrown off by this book, I think, because (description aside) there was a lot of superficial, somewhat sexualized descriptions of women immediately. There was hardly any 'emotional' aspect to the characters introductions/thoughts/feelings for me to feel a connection. This way of character introduction is usually what I see in male authors, so I was thrown off to find that Liz is actually a woman. Author aside, it did create a slight annoyance in me that the few things I gathered about our main female characters (and there is a handful of them) is how their bodies or physical attributes are and less about them as individual personalities. I'm still not sure any of them really had personalities that ran much deeper than superficial.

This lead me wondering after a while -- why do I even care? I think this was my primary issue with the book. I just didn't care about what was happening with any of these characters. I didn't care about Barbara. I didn't care about Alice. I didn't care about the family. I didn't care about the drama. This made the first 65%-ish very dull to get through. This also, of course, made it difficult to care about the climax/ending once things started to snowball.

Some of the POV cuts are in weird spots, or very abrupt. Frankly, the ending was the exact same way. I think it just added to the confusion a little bit in the story, rather than working as a cliffhanger like the author wanted it to. Or maybe, not so much a cliffhanger, but like an "end scene".

I found myself thinking about Silence of the Lambs (Judy), and Twin Peaks like A LOT. This story feels like it borrows from both of those in concepts and descriptions. It's not a bad thing, just an obvious one. I would be surprised to learn that Liz doesn't have any expose to either of these as the similarities are so close. Woodsy theme, a rebellious teenager with twisted fantasies, a "Leo Johnson & Shelly" type relationship/characters, Family drama, & "pine trees acting like curtains". IYKYK.

Lets talk about the ending. **SPOILERS**
It felt a little convenient or cheap that the main suspect we discover was someone never really included in the primary plot at all. Like, of course we the reader would never pick up on that, because we were given anything to pick up on. This felt a little "ugh" to me. If I’m reading a murder mystery and NOT a fantasy mystery about Gods in woods, let me at least have the opportunity to "Clue" it out a little.

When it was actually revealed what had happened & 'who done it', I was honestly disappointed. I thought it fell really flat and it made me go "aww why thoooo". It just didn't do it for me. I also felt like the whole book ended too abruptly. We got no closure or conclusion. I know it was intentionally, I just don't think it works. Again, why the hell did I slosh through all that stuff I didn't care about for no payoff? I didn't care about anything from the 'past' timeline, and then when I started to care about Barbara, it was just pulled out from under me. Ugh.
**END SPOILERS**

Overall, I would recommend it for traditional Mystery fans if the premise of the description speaks to them, but would advise a revision to the description to make it a little clearer that the story really isn't about a teen girl going missing, and whatever the "God of the Woods" is, isn't going to be literal. I think that was my major disappointment (if I knew this was a straight mystery novel, I probably wouldn't have picked it up as Fantasy is my genre). Also, the pacing issues due to past/present content/switches. All in all, a 3.5!

Mystery — between 4/4.5⭐️

Barbara is a thirteen year old who missing at summer camp. But she’s not just any teenager, she’s the daughter of the camp’s owner and the second of the Van Laar children to disappear.

I’ve only read Long Bright River by this author, but having loved that one, I’m not surprised I was equally captivated by Moore’s newest.

This captivating mystery (x two!) is packed with drama, secrets, and creepy summer camp vibes. Every character seemed suspicious and the ending still caught me completely off guard. Plus, as a summer camp kid, I loved the setting.

Beneath the mystery, is a multi-layered story that explores themes of class, misogyny, parenthood, and trauma. The kind of depth that I crave for when I pick up thrillers/mysteries.

Just to note, there are a lot of characters in this one that required me to take strong mental notes to learn who’s who.

Dysfunctional family, police procedural, complex characters.

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing.
What comes next is a mystery following a family history, two missing family members, and so much more.

I am simply OBSESSED with this book.
The writing, the storytelling, the characters. It’s INCREDIBLE and you must read it. I was enthralled with the summer camp setting and quickly became obsessed with this book as the mystery began to unfold. Before you pick this up, it is not a thriller, it’s a mystery, but there are sooo many elements that make this incredible.
Reading this book is like peeling back an onion, there’s just so many layers to it. You get the POV of an investigator, family members, and children at the camp. This is a must read. Definitely will be one of my best books of the year.
🏕️ Summer Camp Setting
🧑‍🧑‍🧒 Family Secrets
🔎 Tense Mystery
👩🏼‍🤝‍👩🏻Multiple POVs
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this incredible book. This book comes out July 2, so get a pre-order in!!

Rich people behaving badly. A nice twisty mystery. Strong writing.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

I loved LONG BRIGHT RIVER and now THE GOD OF THE WOODS is another five-star read from Liz Moore. It's a bit of a slow-burn mystery, but doesn't drag at all, even at over 500 pages. It's a dual-timeline and multi-POV story, covering the events surrounding the disappearance of a young boy nicknamed "Bear" and then the disappearance of his sister fifteen years later at a summer camp on the grounds of a mansion owned by a wealthy family. The bulk of the story takes place in 1975 and features female police investigator Judy, along with other strong female characters - T.J. the summer camp director, Louise the camp counselor, and Barbara, the missing camper. A perfect summer read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars! Once I started reading this book I had a hard time putting it down! I loved the author’s writing style and with short chapters and little reveals throughout, I was engaged the entire time. I really loved the atmospheric descriptions and summer camp setting. Mix that with toxic families and kids going missing and I am on board to figure out the mystery.

Very much character driven, we get multiple POVs from the camp counselor, Barbara’s bunk mate, her mother, and the detective on the case. There were quite a few characters to keep track of, but as the story progressed it was easier to slowly figure out who was who.

I really enjoyed the swap between multiple timelines from the 1950s to 1970s that helped unravel the characters motives, trauma, and actions. The characters were flawed and everyone seemed to be hiding something.

This was such a unique book and I think a lot of people are going to love this one!

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me access to this arc!

I devoured The God of the Woods: the campground setting nostalgia, the perfectly flawed characters, the intricate web of evidence woven into every exchange. I’m not normally a thriller reader, and I loved this read.

A girl goes missing from a camp in the middle of the night. As the search for her ensues, clues to what might have happened to another missing child- her brother- come to light and both cases are run side by side in this character driven, dual-timeline novel.

Although on the slightly slower paced side, I loved this layered mystery novel. The characters and the intertwined plot are so good, and it is a very satisfying read. I do wish the chapters were labeled with character perspective and time frame a little bit better for clarity, but hopefully that is enhanced for the final version. Despite a larger cast of characters, once I got into it, I was able to keep everything straight just fine.

I'd highly recommend this book for a summer camp mystery with some creepy vibes. This is definitely not horror, however, more of a complicated family saga with missing children.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC for this book – my first ever!

I generally love Liz Moore's prose, and she maintains a quiet, methodical voice throughout this novel that fits the overall tempo of the plot. The result is a steady-flowing character drama ("thriller" maybe suggests a higher adrenaline level than is present here) that muses on themes of class, parenthood, community, and trauma.

To my knowledge, this is Moore's first time balancing multiple narrators (or at least, this many, and across so many timelines). After an initial learning curve, I did settle in easily with each character's backstory and motive.

Two things I didn't love about the structure of the book:
1. Extremely frequent mid-chapter page breaks. I felt that these were thrown in a bit too generously, and struck me as a filler/crutch, rather than having any real impact.
2. End-of-chapter cliffhangers directly followed by a perspective and/or timeline jump. By the time the cliffhangers were resolved, I'd often been inundated with so many other plot developments that I'd forgotten about the initial reveal.

In all, I'd rank this book below "Long Bright River" and on par with "The Unseen World". A solid addition to her repertoire.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I was a fan of Moore's previous book, Long Bright River, and while this one is very different in terms of story and structure, it was another hit for me as well. This is a slower paced story, but one that is hard to put down in that compulsively readable way that I love. This is part mystery, part family drama that stems from generations of family secrets and tragedy. The characters are all well-developed and while not equally like-able, they will evoke empathy from the reader. The story is sadly, all too believable. The setting plays a key role in the narrative and the atmosphere/tone of the book pulls you in and places you within the story. There are hard things within the story, but the ending is redemptive. 5 stars for storytelling and payoff.

Thank you Riverhead Books and Netgalley for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars rounded up!! This was one of the best mystery/thrillers I've read in a while. Set at a summer camp owned by the wealthy Van Lara family, Barbara, the eldest daughter, goes missing while attending the camp. Not only does this send a shockwave through the camp due to her last name, but also because her brother went missing fourteen years prior and was never found. The novel proceeds to follow the search for both Barbara and the previous efforts in the past to find her brother through the point of view of family members, campers and staff, police detectives, and other community members. I loved the dual timeline and multiple POVs throughout this book. They wove together such a great story that kept me turning the page. There was a few POVs that felt unnecessary/out of place and added a bit of confusion for the reader, but otherwise I would highly recommend picking this up next time you're in the market for a mystery that feels original and has depth.

It's been a long time since I was so compelled to keep tearing though a book as this one! It didn't feel nearly as long as it was because of the mini-reveals spread throughout it, all intricately woven together to reveal the final puzzle. This novel was extremely well-plotted and kept be continually guessing. There would be lots to discuss in a book club and I've already chosen it for one of mine. A juicy summer read with a lot of substance, larger interesting themes and a great setting-- I was so excited to read this one and enjoyed it even more than I expected.

A mystery set in a summer camp in the Adirondacks in the 1970's. I loved the setting and the description of the camp as well as how the divide between the wealthy and the workers played out. The switching time periods and narrators was a bit much at times. Ultimately, the plot kept me guessing in this atmospheric tale.

This was a page turner!

The story is told from multiple points of view and during multiple timelines. Although you are bouncing between these timelines, the writing is very well done and reads without confusing the reader.

There are two mysteries you are trying to uncover. A teenage girl has gone missing from a summer camp that her family owns, the same camp that her brother went missing 15 years prior. It’s mystery and family drama all wrapped in one.

Even with a large cast of characters, they are well developed. You are rooting for some and hoping others get their due.


Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN for the ARC.

wow!! what an excellent novel. this book was intriguing, heartbreaking, infuriating, yet satisfying all at the same time. i will for sure be buying a physical copy and reading Long Bright River ASAP.

i read this book in less than a week, while reading other books as well—which says a lot since this is almost 500 pgs. this is not necessarily a fast paced book and is more character-driven, but something about Liz Moore's writing is so captivating. i was never bored while reading this, and the structure was a little unconventional yet easy to keep up with. it follows a nonlinear timeline with different perspectives (written in 3rd person), but it was easy to tell who was who. this book is a compelling mystery and family saga which also examines the privileges of the rich, secrets of a strained yet close-knit community, and how young girls are sexualized yet grown women are infantilized. Moore incorporated the 50s-70s time periods well and attitudes surrounding women at those times without it being stereotypical or contrived. the themes were able to come across to the reader in a subtle way, without being preachy or hitting the reader over the head.

the characters were all so vivid and felt real—not caricatures. Moore delves into the important players’ inner thoughts and backstories, yet still makes the reader question who to trust. it’s easy to root for some characters and hate others, yet feel unsure about many of them. Moore also parallels similar feelings in certain characters in order to connect them to a common theme, forcing the reader to think about the thematic threads that bind different characters.

this book also took me by surprise with the ending and reveals. i feel like this would be a perfect book for a discussion! the setting in upstate NY was also impeccable. i could picture everything as i was reading, and there is even a little map at the beginning. however, i didn’t need to refer to it much because of the atmospheric descriptions.

i would recommend this book if you like:
⁃ character-driven books
⁃ subtle commentary on wealth, class, and the female experience
⁃ unconventional structure
⁃ summer camp/outdoor woodsy settings

thank you to Riverhead Books, Liz Moore, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a really well done, slow burn, thriller/ drama. I loved the upstate NY setting as well as the dual timelines and multiple POVs .

I wanted to LOVE this, as it's a literary thriller set at a summer camp! I would say I really enjoyed parts of this, but as a whole literary thrillers are still hit or miss for me. I feel like sometimes they need to "pick a lane", so to speak. This one felt a bit flip floppy between a thriller and a family drama. Anyways, like most thrillers, this is the story of a girl who goes missing. But at summer camp! She's the daughter of the founders of the camp, and her brother also disappeared from the camp years ago. We have multiple POVs from another camper, a counselor, a detective, and family members. At its core it's mostly an examination of a really messed up family. There was a bit too much going on at times, but it still made for a great summer read.