This book is so popular right now, I kept hearing things about it and I find the cover so intriguing, I had to pick it up. It is my first book by this author and I loooved her writing style! This book was juicy, with short chapters. Every single chapter sucked me in. The time alternates from 1950’s to the present day (1970’s). There are many different perspectives throughout the book in such a unique way that sucked you into the story and then left you wanting more when they switched perspectives. I felt immersed in this story.

Barbara Van Laar is the daughter of a prominent, rich family. They divide their time between Albany and a vacation home in the Adirondacks called Self Reliant. The home and a summer camp, Camp Emerson, has been in their family for many generations. Barbara attends the camp and ends up missing one day. Additionally before she was born, her brother, Bear went missing from their home and has never been found. While searching for her, we hear from many strong women characters involved in her life. Each one has their own personal struggles that weave into the story. Louise, her camp counselor, Tracy her bff and cabin mate, Alice her mother and Judyta, one of the detectives working the case. Each of them have an important part of the story to tell. This is a narrative that touches on so many important things, family drama, addiction, naïveté, abuse, lies, and so much more! I highly recommend you pick this book up! It was a great read and I will definitely be checking out some of this authors other books!

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Riverhead, and the author for the opportunity to read this book. My opinions are honest and my own!

When 13 year old Barbara disappears overnight at a summer camp, everyone starts investigating what may have happened to her, especially since her brother disappeared fourteen years earlier. As they start to investigate her fellow campers and the people involved in running the camp, it's clear there was something going on with Barbara's family and it will take some things coming to light to figure out. Overall, a gripping mystery that's also part family saga with all of the different characters involved.

Absolutely wonderful! Enthralling character development and the description of the environment was just spot on. Insightful writing that was full of heart. It was a little confusing going back and forth between characters and years, but the stories wove together with complete satisfaction.

Not my usual genre, but I read this author’s previous book and glad I read this one too. A slow unveiling of a double mystery, the Adirondacks setting is perfect as 13 year old Barbara disappears from sleepaway camp. The time period is the 1970’s but alternates chapters with the 1950’s disappearance of Barbara’s younger brother, Bear. Their parents are the wealthy Van Laars, owners of a large preserve including a main house and the camp. The police involved are Danny Hayes, a local, and Judy, a young woman trying to make her mark as an inspector. Her insights are invaluable to solving the mysteries. There are many possible perpetrators, and I was not able to figure out what happened at all. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was phenomenal! I read it in just 3 days and really wish there was more. Characters were fully realized and the plot was complex without being cumbersome.

Once again. Moore has hooked me with an utterly unputdownable book. I loved the time period of this story and the camp setting was perfect for the mystery that takes place. There were so many times when I was frustrated with the men and how they acted but going back to the time period, it fit. Doesn't excuse it but illustrates what women dealt with back in the day.

The mystery of Bear's disappearance seemed to trump the disappearance of Barbara for me, even though they were siblings and both disappeared from the same place for the most part. There was definitely more mystery around Bear. and I was actually really shocked by the twist in this relating to that so that was fantastic! I do wish there was more closure with Barbara's side of the mystery, I felt even though there was "closure", it seemed slightly farfetched.

What to say about this brilliantly crafted novel without giving away any of the story... it is layer upon layer of mystery. But it is more than a mystery... so much more. It is about family. It is about friendship. It is about coming of age and breaking away. It is about privilege and wealth and status. It is about survival.

To say I loved this book is an understatement... I did and I do! The more I think about it post-finishing, the more I love how brilliantly Liz Moore crafted this novel.

If you are looking for your next perfect read... look no further. The God of the Woods is exactly what you need to read next... and it is perfection!

I would like to thank Netgalley, Penguin Group, Riverhead Books for the digital copy of this book. It was published July 2, 2024.

Van Laar Preserve has been developed into a camp for the privileged class. Years ago eight year old Bear Van Laar disappeared from the family home within the Preserve and has never been found. Now his thirteen year old sister Barbara is missing from camp. Liz Moore has written a masterpiece which incorporates multiple points of view as well as many timelines. The characters include the Van Laars, camp staff, local residents, and campers. The story is mesmerizing with several subplots. Moore lays everything out like quilt blocks and carefully pieces them together. This will be among the best books that I read this year. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The God of the woods is an excellent mystery with characters that you will fall in love with and be rooting for! I loved the seventies setting and I could not put this book down! 5 stars!!

The God of the Woods is the latest literary mystery from Liz Moore, and it delivers! People have been calling this the book of the summer for a reason, and I liked it a lot.

Bonus, for me: It’s set in the Adirondack Mountains, which is one of my favorite places on the planet. They’re not far from me, and every time I go, I’m itching to go back before I’ve even left. Moore nails the setting.

I call this a “literary” mystery for a reason: It’s fast-paced enough to hook your attention but also long enough to feel rich and rewarding (possibly a TOUCH too long, but not enough to elicit any major complaints from me). Moore spends more time with the characters and their relationships than a genre mystery novel would in order to widen the lens beyond the whodunnit, and I think she’s successful. In particular, I was a big fan of the focus on the women of this story — from the awkwardness of adolescence, to relationship abuse, to misogyny in traditionally male career fields, to the trappings of (men’s) generational wealth.

Also, the audiobook was great — just pay close attention to the time stamps at the start of each chapter, because it bounces around in time a lot.

If you like character-driven mysteries and atmospheric writing, pick this one up for sure!



Content and Trigger Warnings:
Death of one’s child; Grief; Mental illness; Domestic abuse (severe); Pregnancy; Drug use

Mystery set at a summer camp attended by wealthy kids. When Barbara goes missing, everyone is convinced it is somehow connected to her missing brother from a decade ago. Are the two disappearances connected? Told in multiple timelines, the book discusses loyalty, what makes a family, grief, and how greed can corrupt. I feel like it lived up to its hype. Recommended.

This is the book of the summer. It is so rare to find a character-driven book with mystery, tension, and a feeling of unsettledness. Will read everything Liz Moore writes.

This was so good. Family secrets and drama, a brother and a sister go missing 14 years apart. You cannot put this down.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was an excellent mystery/ thriller and beautifully plotted connections to what happened in the past. A teenage girl suddenly goes missing from an elite summer camp, just like the other girl. The young detective is assigned to be the lead on the case and has good instinct and excellent skills. The missing girl is the troubled daughter of the family who owns the camp and lives on the property. Counselors at camping are keeping their own secrets and the director is manic about teaching survival skills. I was led astray many times and enjoyed the ending which I didn’t solve. Take a chance and be delightfully surprised like I was.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the eARC and the opportunity to read and review The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.
5 stars – Pub.Date: 07-2-24
#NetGalley, #RiverHeadBooks, #LizMoore, #Suspense, #Mystery, #Thriller, #SummerCamp

This mystery is the 2024 selection of the Jimmy Fallon Summer Book Club. The story takes place in a summer camp located on land owned by a very rich family who sponsors the camp and also lives on the property. The story covers two timeframes: the past, when a little boy disappears, and the present day, when his teenage sister is now missing. Lots of characters tell both stories, which I found very confusing. The author tries to make the timeframes clear, but for me, she failed. I struggled to keep things clear in my head. Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group, and Riverhead Books for providing an ARC.

I love Liz Moore. This book has sealed the deal. I loved her first book, Long Bright River, and there was something equally memorable and special about this one. She writes with a detachment that somehow makes the reader MORE invested in each of these characters, and she manages to draw out a conclusion over hundreds of pages, but it never gets slow or boring or predictable. You could call it a thriller, but I would call it more of a literary thriller because there is so much character and plot development included.

This book was absolutely fantastic. The setting, the story, the characters. One of my favorite reads this year.

Though slow to start, with multiple characters & timelines, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore really pleasantly surprised me. I was impressed with the author’s original story and engaging writing. It is 1975 and Barbara Van Laar, is at her family’s summer camp and it should be the start of a freeing summer. Her family is plagued with secrets and loss and Barbara needs to get out of their main house, at the top of the hill. The house itself is so heavy with grief that, the summer away would help ease her own despair. One morning though, a camp counselor wakes up and finds Barbara’s bunk bed, empty. The search for Barbara, brings up all the secrets of the past, including the fact that this is not the first Van Laar to disappear in the property. As we meet all the characters involved, we also learn of all the their faults and mistakes. Each character is unique in their relationship to Barbara and the investigators find one clue after another that seemingly has them going in circles. But one in particular investigator Judy, has a lot to process. She is a young woman on the force during a time when women were new to the profession. She has many things to prove to others but she also has to prove to herself. Her tenacity just may solve this disappearance before any of her male counterparts. Liz Moore has away of layering pieces of a the story in such a way that as a reader, you don’t realize the depths you’ve traveled until the end. I really enjoyed this story, the characters and the ending. I can tell you, I was completely surprised by the ending but it made such perfect sense. Just how I love an ending to be. I want to thank Netgalley, Penguin Group Riverhead and the author for my copy of this book for an honest review. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review it. I did have to take my time reading it, to keep some things straight but it was so worth it.

I was drawn to read The God of the Woods by Liz Moore due to its description of taking place at a family's summer camp in the 1970's where a camper, who happens to be part of the owner's family, disappears in the middle of the night. It sounded like a great summer read, and I was not disappointed.

The disappearance of any camper is a huge tragedy, and one whose parents own the camp is unthinkable. Everyone is desperate to find out what happened to Barbara. To complicate matters, we learn that the family's son disappeared fourteen years ago and was never found. The mystery of what happened is explored through many perspectives - from the local police state trooper to Barbara's mother to a fellow camper and counselor. That may sound like a lot, but the style worked because we readers were privy to all the juice details of what may have happened. The clues and twists were revealed at a satisfying pace as the story led us to a surprising conclusion. I had a hard time putting this one down. I am eager to read more by this author.

I will recommend this to readers who like family dramas with suspense.

Thank you to Penguin Group Riverhead and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Pleasantly surprised by this book. Got my attention from the start and kept it throughout! Have already recommended to numerous customers and coworkers.