As much of a love letter to the great outdoors, specifically The Adirondacks, as a dual timeline mystery and exploration of two families through time.

Barbara Van Laar vanishes from her bunk one night while attending the camp up the hill from her family's mansion. Further complicating matters is that Barbara is not the first Van Laar child to disappear. Her older brother went missing from the same area nearly 15 years earlier. The investigation into exactly what happened to both of these children will unearth secrets some people would do anything to keep buried.

This book draws you in and wraps around you like a blanket on a chilly night around the campfire. Rich in both atmosphere and characters, God of the Woods is a book you want to take your time with and linger in. Thank you to Netgalley and Riverhead Books for the review copy.

A solid mystery from a great mystery writer. This book has great deep-woods vibes with sufficient twists and turns that kept me guessing. A lot of POV switching, which can make it a little more challenging to fully invest in any particular character, but a satisfying read nonetheless.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was absolutely riveting. Moore masterfully weaves multiple timelines, story arcs, and a great many different character points of view into a truly engrossing and satisfying read. Perfect for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

In August 1975, Barbara Van Laar vanishes from her summer camp in the Adirondacks. This was fourteen years after her older brother Bear, had gone missing from the same camp, never to be found again. The premise seems intriguing and I was excited to read this one, but I was bored with it about halfway through. Unfortunately this book didn't work for me.

Opening in the summer of 1975 at a fancy sleep away camp in the Adirondacks, this generation spanning story follows the Van Laar family and those closest to, and hired by, them over the years. When Barbara Van Laar goes missing, it is a haunting echo of her older brother’s unsolved disappearance thirteen years prior. Moore layers perspective and plots one upon the other, but never does the novel feel muddled or unwieldy. In fact, the multiple voices lend depth to the story and create a complete picture of this community and the characters within it.

A fantastic character study and exploration of class and gender roles. Moore deftly blends social and historical commentary into this thriller.

This is definitely the best mystery/thriller I’ve read in a long time! I would give it 10 stars if I could.

When Barbara Van Laar is discovered missing from her summer camp bunk one morning in August 1975, it triggers a panicked, terrified search. Barbara isn’t just any camper; she’s the daughter of the wealthy family that owns the camp. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared in this region: Barbara’s older brother also went missing sixteen years ago, never to be found.

Following the timelines of each disappearance, Moore slowly and skillfully unravels the layers of mystery and secrets that the Van Laar family is hiding and the impact this has had on their family and on the people from the small town that led the hunt for both missing children. We meet a lot of people who are hiding things that they desperately don’t want discovered, but we also meet Judy Luptack, a brand new investigator at a time when there weren’t many female investigators. Judy follows her instincts instead of following orders and you can’t help but like her.

I have already read Long Bright River but now I’m going to read everything she’s written!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was interesting! I feel like I should have expected the turns it took, as it turned out to be a mystery much more about trauma and wealth then actual violence. All in all a good story, just dragged a little for me!

I thought that this book was a bit slow. It wasn’t the page turner that I was hoping for. There is a lot of character development which I thought deterred from building the momentum of the story. That being said it’s a good summer read on camp setting.

When Barbara Van Laar goes missing from her ritzy, upperclass summer camp, the past is brought forth again through the fresh eyes of an up and coming female investigator, Judyta Luptack, the only woman officer in the service. Coincidently, Barbara's own older brother, Bear, had disappeared years before and Barbara's absence forces Bear's closed case to be reexamined. As secrets are gradually brought to light throughout the investigation, characters discover the importance of self-advocacy and the dire consequences that can occur when they allow themselves to be pushed aside.

Engagingly written and enthralling throughout, "God of the Woods" is an analysis of relationships, family, and public status, asking the question: how far are you willing to go to preserve your public persona? And how much are you willing to go through in order to stand up for yourself? I love how it is set in the '60s and '70s, a time that presents itself without the distraction of digitized personas. Impressively, Liz Moore takes the pressures that online media bring forth and applies them to the characters in the story, emphasizing that there has always been that social pressure in the public sphere. It is a mystery that always keeps you guessing until the satisfying resolution at the end. There are some cliffhangers at the end of certain chapters, which I am not a fan of personally; if the book is good (which this one is), readers won't need cliffhangers to keep them reading. This is an original, gripping story, one that I would definitely recommend.

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an impartial review.

Excellent! Great story, smartly plotted, interesting characters--all the hallmarks of a very successful literary mystery and a notable instance where multiple POV and timelines don't hinder the storytelling. Moore's sophomore effort indicates she continues to up her game!

This book might be a bit much if you're not in the mood to keep track of multiple narrators and all the time hopping, but I think the author did a really good job weaving everything together to create this slow burn mystery!

"The God of the Woods" is my favorite sort of mystery, one that seems very straightforward on the outside, but the more time you spend with it the more gnarled its paths become. A rebellious teenager goes missing from the summer camp her family owns. She is the second person to go missing from this area - her brother disappeared over a decade before. This new mystery throws the old, supposedly solved case into turmoil, and exposes some of the friction between the different classes. Is old money hiding secrets? Or are urban legends true?

I loved this book because every character was so empathetically realized, even the one that were objectively awful people. I ordinarily do not enjoy books that bounce around in terms of time period and point of view, but this one sucked me in so efficiently that I was excited for each perspective's tale. I thought I knew where this book was going; I did not. This gloomy, eerie story held such compassion for its characters; I can't wait to read Moore's other book.

Two children go missing from the same family, years apart. Are the disappearances related? What happened all those years ago and did they accuse the wrong person? Solid mystery title for any collection.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I wish I could live forever in Liz Moore's writing. I did not want to put this down. I did not want it to end. This isn't a happy tale but it's a mesmerizing one. This is told from multiple perspectives and over multiple timelines: The daughter of a summer camp's owner goes missing from her cabin. Her younger brother also disappeared over a decade ago. You get insight into the family, whose wealth can't buy them happiness. You hear from the working-class town and the detectives trying to find these missing persons. You hear from the camp's director about how her family is intertangled with the owners. Sometimes I got a bit lost in whose perspective I was reading but overall, I loved this book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

As a fan of Long Bright River, Moore’s previous novel, I was very excited to dive into The God of the Woods. The story centers around a teenage girl who goes missing from a summer camp in the Adirondack mountains. The camp belongs to her very wealthy family, and it’s not the first time someone in her family has gone missing. The book is a slow burning mystery that focuses on the Van Laar family as well as the townspeople around them. The timeline jumps between 1950s and 1975, with multiple POVs, but they were easy enough to tell apart. I really enjoyed this one, and would recommend it.

The pacing of this book is excellent. Moore doles out teaspoons of information while rocketing around from one POV character to the next, keeping the reader on their toes through the entire story. The POV characters are chosen thoughtfully and are people she makes you want to root for, even as painful revelations surface about each of them. This is a perfect book for summer.

I couldn't wait to read Liz Moore's latest and it did not disappoint. She adeptly develops the characters, the plot, and the setting. You feel like you are back at summer camp. The narrative highlights so many of the tensions inherent in the time period - socioeconomic inequalities, misogyny, etc. The mysteries surrounding the disappearances of the Van Laar children unravel slowly, but the reader's patience is rewarded. It's a truly tragic story with some horrible characters, but there are some good folks in there, too. The young investigator Judyta Luptack is sure to be a reader favorite.

Shifting expectations of women in family and society are only two of the many issues coming under the lens of this satisfying mystery. Class and gender norms are also challenged by some of the richly drawn characters in this multi-generational saga. Even the woods are a character, able to affect the lives and fortunes of those who believe they own and control the land where they live.

Enjoyed this long, twisty mystery involving the disappearances of two children, decades apart, from the same wealthy family. The summer camp setting, peppered with the rich landowners, the local townspeople, and the camp's inhabitants, provides a varied backdrop to contrast the myriad lives brought together in the course of the tragedies. There's no shortage of family secrets or misdirection to keep readers guessing to the end. A great mystery, fascinating characters and a well plotted storyline make this a winner.