Author: Liz Moore · Published: 2024 · Genre: Literary Mystery, Suspense
The God of the Woods is a literary mystery about a teenage girl who vanishes from a summer camp owned by her wealthy family, years after her brother disappeared from the same land. It’s absorbing, humane and carefully plotted, with more to say about class and power than most crime novels. It’s slow to start and juggles a lot of voices, but it’s one of the best mysteries of recent years.
What it’s about
In August 1975, Louise, a young counsellor at Camp Emerson in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, wakes to find a bunk empty. It belongs to thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar, whose rich family owns the camp and the vast wooded preserve around it. Barbara isn’t just any missing camper. In 1961, her older brother, Bear, vanished from the same property as a young boy and was never found.
The story moves across decades and among many characters: Louise; Barbara’s cold, controlling father, Peter, and her fragile mother, Alice; T.J. Hewitt, who runs the camp and teaches its survival skills; the local people who work for the family; and Judyta Luptack, a junior investigator whose male colleagues underestimate her. Suspicion falls quickly, and not always fairly. Meanwhile, the camp carries on around the search, with its rich campers, underpaid staff and traditions that go back generations.
What works
- Structure. Moore moves between 1975 and several earlier periods, and among a large cast, in short sections. The pieces fit together precisely, and small details in early chapters matter later. The book rewards attention.
- Class. The Van Laars own the land, the camp and, in a sense, the people who work for them. Moore shows how wealth protects some people and exposes others, and how quickly suspicion lands on those with the least power. The gap between the family and the locals who serve them is the book’s real subject.
- Place. Moore evokes the Adirondacks beautifully: the lake, the dense forest, the rituals of summer camp, and the constant sense that the woods could swallow a child without a trace.
- Judy Luptack. The investigator’s chapters follow a young woman fighting condescension in a 1970s police force. Her quiet, stubborn competence gives the book its most satisfying thread, and she’s easy to root for.
- Women’s lives. Alice Van Laar, trapped in a loveless marriage, and the other women around the family are drawn with sympathy and precision. The novel is as much about control within families as it is about a missing child.
What doesn’t
The first hundred pages are slow, and the number of narrators and timelines can be confusing, especially in audio. Some characters feel more like mechanisms than people, and a couple of threads get more space than they need. Readers who want suspense from page one may give up before the book finds its rhythm.
The resolution is satisfying and fair, but it depends on several revelations arriving close together near the end, which can feel a little neat. Some readers also find Barbara, at thirteen, more mature and knowing than seems believable. And while the prose is elegant, Moore rarely lets the tension spike; this is a slow burn rather than a thriller.
The book was a major bestseller, spending many months on The New York Times list, and a Netflix series adaptation is in production.
Who should read it
Fans of literary crime such as Tana French or Kate Atkinson, and readers of family sagas who want a mystery at the centre. It’s an excellent book-club choice. Read it slowly, because the payoff depends on details you might be tempted to skim. If you prefer tight, fast thrillers, it may feel long.
Rating: 4/5
Image credits — Cover image via Open Library. Cover design © the publisher, shown for review purposes.
