The God of the Woods is a quiet, compelling mystery/drama about the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl from a summer camp in 1975.

Barbara Van Laar, the daughter of the rich and prominent Van Laar family, disappears from her cabin one morning in a summer camp owned by the family. Tensions mount as the camp begins their search. But the rescue efforts are complicated by the town people's view of the wealthy and cold Van Laar family. After all, Barbara isn't the first person in the family to go missing...

Weaving together different stories and perspectives, we meet Barbara's counselor, Louise, her bunkmate, Tracy, her mother, Alice, and a young female detective, Judyta, who all have their own story. Through these characters, Liz Moore explores themes such as motherhood, gender roles, sexuality, identity, and class. As the plot slowly unfolds, the lives of the main characters intersect in surprising and often quite profound ways. I'd class this as far more character driven than plot - a good one for fans of Chris Whitaker's We Begin at the End. The setting is a huge part of the novel - these gorgeously rendered dense, claustrophobic woods, which can both provide and decimate.

I really enjoyed the structure of the novel: the timeline is non-linear, alternating between the past in the 1950s and the present in the 1970s. I think this was done well, although some sections didn't feel overtly necessary.

Overall, this was an incredibly compelling story with multiple timelines, characters and mysteries, expertly woven into one consuming narrative. A very quick read.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc!

Liz Moore does write a good thriller. My daughter did Camp America last year so I was all in for the tales of cabins, woods and councillors. The two cases of missing children are years apart but to paraphrase Lady Bracknell ' to lose one child is a misfortune, to lose two is carelessness'.

There are characters to root for, characters to suspect and others that seem just plain unpleasant. An all round cracking read!

Really interesting and gripping read with a fantastic ending, although I would have loved to know more of the ending

The God of the Woods is a twisty psychological thriller with a large cast of characters and aptly creepy setting of large family estate of the Van Laars and cabins in the woods where a summer camp is help. It is set in two main timeframes – 1975 when Barbara Van Laar, aged 13, goes missing from the summer camp. The other time setting is 1961, when Barbara’s brother, Bear aged 8, also goes missing from the camp. Barbara was born after the disappearance of Bear and feels like a replacement child. Her father, Peter, is not very loving and her mother, Alice, is an alcoholic and in poor mental health following the loss of her son.

I found the large cast of family and staff, who live and work in a the big house called Self-Reliance (what an odd name), and those who work at and attend the camp to be too many characters to keep track of. This was not helped by there being four generations of Van Laars with the main male line all being called Peter. Occasionally they are referred to as Peter 1, Peter II, Peter II and Peter IV but sometimes not and I struggled to know which generation Peter we were reading about at times.

Peter Van Laar III is a rich banker and his family are close friends with the McLellens, the Southworths, Williams and Barlows. Most members of these families were hard to like.

The summer camp is being run by TJ (Tessie Jo) Hewitt who is the daughter of Vic Hewitt, the first Camp Director. Vic is still alive but in poor health. TJ was good friends with Bear (Peter IV) despite their 5 year age gap. She was 13 when he went missing.

Louise, who is the same age as Bear would be, is the counselor in Balsham cabin where Barbara was staying. Louise's fiancé is John Paul McLellen but their relationship is very rocky with John Paul being an especially unpleasant character.

Meanwhile there is an escaped prisoner, Jacob Sluiter, on the run. Jacob was imprisoned for several murders of young people so his being on the run at the same time as Barbara’s disappearance is of particular concern.

There were too many characters in this novel for my liking and many of the sub plots were of no relevance to the main mystery. I also struggled to know which timeframe, 1961 or 1975, we were in at times as all many months/years were printed in feint with the current chapter one being in bold. Sometimes this was not obvious on my Kindle and other time no date was in bold but the heading was Day One, Day Two, etc. which meant it was 1975 and during the search for Barbara. I was reading a proof copy so hopefully this will all be clearer in the final print.

While I was keen to know the outcome it was not a great read for me and there were times when I found things quite unbelievable such as taking five days to find the blood group of a sample, even given it was 1975. I didn't like the end or think it was plausible.. With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m probably in the minority here as I had a bit of a struggle to connect with this story and the characters in the opening chapters, I’m in a bit of a reading slump at the moment and quite often find it difficult to concentrate so I’m putting it all down to that. Once I got into the story though I soon became absorbed by the plot, it’s a slow burner that gradually creeps up on you and I really liked that aspect of the read.
The are quite and number of characters all with different points of view and various timelines that keep you on your toes but the story does flow well with the twists well done.
So overall an enjoyable read with quite a few surprises and one that was something different.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, The Borough Press for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

I felt like this book was well-written novel with deep character development. However, its slow pace detracts from the overall experience, made it difficult to maintain engagement. While beautifully crafted, it’s often over use of time jumps and points of views resulted in this book being a solid but not outstanding three-star read.

The God of the Woods
by Liz Moore

I didn't realise how much I was dying to read this book until I received the ARC, thanks to #Netgalley and #HarperCollinsUK, and uncharacteristically for me, dropped everything, including the book I was already reading, and the next nine books I was due to read before this one.

This book pulls you in from the very first page. It is engaging, atmospheric and begins asking questions from the outset.

I love the woodland setting and the whole camp vibe, something that brings me back to my own childhood summers, and predigital way that we engaged with each other, spinning yarns, passing on ghost stories, creating myths out of misunderstood behaviour.

Moore slowly reveals each character through alternating perspectives and timelines, using short chapters to drive the pace, and I will say that for quite a long book, I flew through the pages. She is generous with her reveals and the story never drags.

This is a character driven story and the women and girls are by far the most interesting. Moore takes her time to peel back the layers on each person, from their public persona, the impression they leave on those around them, their interior dialogue, their challenges and their ultimate growth.

I was less interested in the 1960s timeline which felt too spun out for the pages it took to tell, however it gives context to Barbara's family dynamics and also introduces layers to the myth and lore of flavourful characters within the community.

Overall I was slightly disappointed with the resolution from a storytelling point of view, but the ending is poetic given that characters arcs are the headline act.

A great summer read, especially if you are heading for the woods or mountains to camp.

Publication date: 4th July 2024

I didn’t love this. I found flicking between the time periods quite distracting and it was all a bit too much like other books I have read. The characters weren’t pleasant and I found the ending implausible. Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.

A slow burn mystery set in a summer camp, 1975 and Barbara goes missing, but she's not the first in her family to do so as her brother Bear did so before she was born.
Unfortunately, unlike other reviews I couldn't take to the novel, I didn't particularly take to the many characters and found it disjointed in places. However the writing was descriptive and I loved the setting. I can see why it appears to readers, sadly not for me

Impressive read. Took me a little while to get into the rhythm of this story, but Liz Moore weaves the tale between characters and years well. The story of the two missing children - years apart - from the same family has a real ache about it. The detailed character work is evident with each voice distinctive. Would read from this author again.

The 'rich US family' trope and the 'disappearance at summer camp' one have been quite overworked... but this really was terrific. I enjoyed it hugely and ended up waking up early to finish. Highly recommended.

"The God Of The Woods,"  revolves around the disappearance of Barbara from a campsite. Barbara is the teenage daughter of a wealthy and influential family, who are also the owners of the camp. 15 years earlier, Barbara's brother Bear also disappeared from the same camp and was never found.

The book is well-written and filled with intriguing descriptions. However, I struggled to follow the storyline due to multiple points of view and dual timelines. While I don't usually mind these, in this case, it was difficult to distinguish the different perspectives and the jumps in time were confusing. This was mainly because the story alternated between the current situation of missing Barbara and her brother's disappearance with little to no warning.

Regarding the characters, I couldn't connect with any of them, and some seemed one-dimensional and annoying.

When I first saw this book on NetGalley, I was expecting more of a mystical fantasy based purely on the title and front cover. Overall, it's a good mystery thriller but a slow burn.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers Harper Collins UK, and Harper Fiction for providing me with a digital review copy (eARC). These are my honest and unbiased thoughts, and I am sharing them voluntarily.

This was very well written and I did enjoy the story and the intrigue about what happened. But I found the constant switching of viewpoint characters and timelines a little confusing at times. And I didn't like any of the characters.

I absolutely loved this book! The author goes back and forth between different time periods and characters. Mainly the time where Bear went missing and the search for him and the time his sister later goes missing and the search for her. Who are hiding secrets? What really happened to the brother and sister?
Great twists and turns and I didn't figure out one of them till almost the end.
I would recommend this book.
Thanks to netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my goodness I loved this book. I felt completely absorbed in the mysteries, the families, and the Adirondacks. She writes with such depth. Awesome!

This was a really impressive novel. I was somewhat put off by the length however given the complexities of the story, it definitely needed that extra length to bring the story out.

The book does move between numerous time periods and POVs however the writer has a nice way at the start of each chapter of letting the reader know what timeframe she is referring to. This really made a complex story ever more enjoyable

This was an instant request the second I saw it, I took my time reading this story as I got to know the several characters in it during different timelines. The multiple characters were well developed and I will still be thinking of them now that ive finished it, isnt that always a good sign of a well written book.
Simply, this story was a murder mystery entwined with a wide spread of social ills and norms, narcissism, oppression, mental health, divorce, abuse and neglect.
Bear and Barbara, two siblings, both missing during different timelines, how unlucky can Alice and Peter be. They have everything except love. Barbara born to replace the void that Bear left. Is it to much for her to cope with.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC, I can't wait to get this in paperback for my home library.

Wow what a page turner. I literally couldn’t put this book down. Loved the characters and storyline which had lots of twists and turns. An excellent read.

Far too long for a such an obvious culprit. The many, many POVs added bulk to the narrative without really adding much to the plot and the dual timeline was clunky with the two periods not sufficiently delineated.

This was my first time reading this author’s work but I will be back and seek out her previous novels. This is an intriguing mystery centering around the disappearance of a teenager from a summer camp. However this particular teenager is the daughter of the wealthy influential family that own and run the camp and her brother had also mysteriously disappeared some years previous.
The book travels between time frames and people. The main difficulty I had was the number of characters involved although I’m not so sure too many could have been removed. Several twists along the way holds the readers interest, however the ending kind of drifted off which leaves one wondering what exactly was the point.

Overall a good read and thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and the publishers for an ARC.