The God of the Woods: A Novel

The God of the Woods is a crime mystery set in a sumer camp in the Adirondacks during the 1960s through 1970s. The camp is on the large property of a white family that is the American equivalent of the English gentry.

The chapters, as is the case with many boks written in the last few decades, mover back and forth over time. However, unlike post-modern fiction, we are given the dates and the characters they represent in chapter headings. Such as “Alice: 1961” and “Judyta:1975: Day 6”. The reader could probable follow the story without the headings, though I was grateful for them.

The plot is about the separate disappearances and searches of two children, one, Bear in 1961 and the second, Barbara in 1975. As the plot and plots show more unfold we are given sub-stories about the families of the characters involved in the disappearances and the searches.

These side stories lend some interest to what is essentially two missing-in-the-woods crime stories. The difference between The God of the Woods and your standard crime mystery is the depiction of the female characters. These women are depicted in stereotypical fashion, with twists.

Other than that, the baddies are rich white and privileged, and the goodies are poor white and underprivileged. Moore sort of admits this in her NPR interview Moore: - “Yeah, that's right. So this story functions kind of as a dual mystery with an upstairs-downstairs theme at the heart”.

The only real problem I had with following the main plot was with the names of the characters Peter I, Peter I, Peter III Pete IV, Tracey, Jesse etc - most very American. Some of the camp women had very similar names beginning with the letter L, so similar that I mixed them up, and no longer remember them.

The detectives are mostly men, rough diamonds who tolerate Judy, a smart young second generation woman from an Eastern European family. Judy is rising up in the force despite her teal name being Judyta and her family having misogynistic views ... oh and her lack of education. All topped off by her obstacles of being “a girl”.

Another woman “TJ” is the camp director who dresses like a man, lives an off-the-grid lifestyle, loves punk music, and is revered by the girl campers. Then there’s Alice of the wealthy landowner family, who lives off prescription drugs and alcohol and is bullied by her husband, one of the Peters.

The rest is pretty standard stuff. It’s a competently written book and I’m pretty sure the AI engines will be lapping it up. show less

WHEEEEE! What a ride. A real gripper of a mystery/thriller. The elements are irresistible: two missing children from the same family, nearly 15 years apart; dysfunctional families with and without vast resources; the Adirondack forest, with a lake; the 1960s and 1970s, when so much was changing; rotten men, scheming women, frightened children, rebellious teenagers, escaped convicts, red herrings...I could go on. But Moore has assembled, embellished and arranged all of these familiar bits into a totally engrossing story that sped by. I had a theory or two, rejected what I thought were obvious misleads, totally overlooked what should have been a significant clue, and was quite satisfied with how it all wrapped up. Most fun I've had with a show more book in a long time. show less

This novel centers on the disappearance of a twelve year old girl from a summer camp in 1973. Barbara disappears from her cabin one night, setting off a large manhunt. This being a novel, there's far more to the story; Barbara is the daughter of the owners of the site of the camp and her brother disappeared from the same location a year before she was born.

Liz Moore is the author of Long Bright River and she knows how to structure a good mystery novel, but what she's really good at is examining people's motivations and relationships with each other. Here, she gives herself a lot to work with, yet keeps the plotting tight. Moore follows several characters through the events, from the missing girl's mother, to the camp counselor in show more charge of the cabin Barbara was in, who now finds herself a suspect in the case, to the awkward girl who was Barbara's closest friend at camp, to a young detective working the case, as well as several secondary characters, all viewing the same events from different angles. Moore examines the role class plays in how people are treated and in who is believed, as well as the roles that were available to women in 1960s and 70s and the hoops women jumped through to be allowed some measure of freedom. But primarily, this is a very well-plotted and satisfying mystery novel. show less

I picked up this book when I saw it on Barack Obama’s 2024 Summer Reading List.

In the summer of 1975, thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar goes missing from Camp Emerson, an Adirondack summer camp owned by her wealthy family. Her disappearance brings back memories of 1961 when eight-year-old Bear Van Laar went missing. His body was never found though suspicion fell on a local man who died in police custody.

Judyta Luptack, one of the first female investigators in the country, is part of the team investigating Barbara’s case. Judyta is determined to discover what happened to the girl and suspects that there could be connections between the two disappearances. Were both siblings victims of Jacob Sluiter, convicted of several murders in show more the area in the 60s, who recently escaped from prison? Or does the truth lie closer to home?

There is a large cast of characters. We are given the perspective of people such as Tracey, Barbara’s bunkmate; Louise, Barbara’s counsellor; Alice, Barbara’s mother; and T.J., the camp director. All characters are complex with complete backstories so they feel like real people, and the reader has no difficulty differentiating amongst them. It is interesting how the lives of several of the characters are interconnected.

This is very much a literary mystery. Besides presenting mysteries to solve, the novel examines class, emphasizing the differences between the rich and the poor. Connections and money come to the fore to rescue the haves, whereas the have-nots, who have no such networks and influence, become easy scapegoats when the rest of the time they are regarded as menial labour and largely unseen. What is also stressed is the concern for reputation amongst the wealthy. The Van Laars are obsessed with their public reputation, prioritizing it over family well-being.

Many of the female characters elicit sympathy. Judyta is expected to live at home until married even though the commute is a real hardship. Alice is expected to be submissive to her husband, just as her mother-in-law submits to her husband. Barbara challenges expectations and so is sent off to a boarding school where she’s basically ignored by her parents. T.J. is the target of gossip and speculation because she also does not behave as a woman is expected to behave. Louise is subjected to physical and psychological abuse.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Multiple timelines are revealed in non-chronological order, but I never found myself confused. The book is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) or substack (https://doreenyakabuski.substack.com/) to see over 1,100 of my book reviews. show less

The God of the Woods is a perfect blend of setting, characters, and a suspenseful twisty plot. For generations the wealthy Van Laar family has presided over their Adirondacks estate, which includes a lavish house used for summer holidays and entertaining, and a camp where children learn outdoor survival skills. The book opens in 1975 with the disappearance of 13-year-old family member and camper Barbara Van Laar. Several years earlier, Barbara’s brother Peter (nicknamed Bear) went on a hike with his grandfather and didn’t return; he was never found. Investigators descend on the estate to search for Barbara, and inevitably must also explore what happened in the past.

The Van Laar family is a horrible bunch, accustomed to using their show more wealth and privilege to make life easier for themselves, usually at others’ expense. Men don’t come off well in this book but there are a number of delightfully strong women. Judyta, the first female investigator in the state, initially has little credibility with her superiors but takes on more responsibility when a few key observations gain the attention of senior officers. Camp director TJ has grown up in the shadow of the Van Laar family, taking over the camp when her father could no longer do so; she now cares for him in her home. Counselor Louise is working hard to become independent from her mother and provide for her much younger brother, but is held back by a dysfunctional romantic entanglement.

The novel moves fluidly between the 1950s when Barbara and Bear’s parents met and married, Bear’s disappearance in 1961, and Barbara’s in 1975. There are plenty of subplots to keep the reader guessing about just what happened – both to Barbara and Bear – and Liz Moore deftly maintains the mystery and suspense throughout. The ending, while slightly unrealistic, was just and satisfying. show less

I am one of those annoying people that knows how a movie will end about 15 minutes in. Trust me, it’s frustrating for us too. That being said, this novel kept me guessing up until the final page. Moore was done a superb job of balancing great story telling with layered points of view characters, feeding the reader subtle hints to the solve the mystery. Every thing we needed to know was in front of our faces the whole time but much like the characters in the story, we are misled. The way Moore pulls back the veneer of propriety of the uber rich, exposing their rotten inner core, and magnifying their flaws through the eyes of those they deem as “not of use” elevates the narrative. Much like the anonymous taxi driver that brings show more Alice to the Preserve, we are invited to laugh at the lack of self awareness displayed by the Van Laars while we are trapped in the spider web of their machinations. It reminds me of a something my professor Dr Heather McNaugher once said, “If you take their money, you take their shit.” While we occupy this pocket universe of the Adirondacks lorded over by the larger than life prescience of the Van Laars dynasty, we are as much victims of their whims as the townsfolk are in the novel. This twisting thriller is grotesquely beautiful and riveting to read. I can’t wait to share this book with others just to enjoy the thrill of the chase again. show less

In my head, this was a terrifying serial killer book. That is absolutely not the case. It’s much more of a character-driven investigator book withA big dose of family drama in the same vein as Jane Harper and Tana French. I’m so glad I gave it a shot. I loved it! Combine summer camp, the Adirondack woods, class complications between the rich and the locals, and gender politics in the 1970s and you’ve got quite a plot. Plus the tension of a missing child, so good! We flipped back-and-forth in time and POV as the story unfolds. Nothing is quite what it seems on the surface.

Don’t let the title dissuade you if all that sounds like you’re a cup of tea.