The God of the Woods by Liz Moore won the Goodreads Choice Awards for 2024’s best mystery. I came across it a week later in a bookshop with my sisters and had to buy the book that one blurb described as in the same vein as Dona Tartt’s The Secret History, a book I’ve loved for many years. I dove into the story completely blind and was enamored with what I found.
The year is 1975, and it’s early in the morning when a camp counselor discovers one of her campers, thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar, is missing from her bed. A search commences, featuring an expansive cast of characters and various flashbacks to different timelines, going back to long before Barbara was born, including her older brother’s disappearance fourteen years earlier.
The sheer number of characters and perspectives in this story is an impressive feat. Almost every character is given a rich and elaborate back story, from Barbara Van Laar herself to the town folk working for the Van Laar’s on their property. It should be hard to keep up with so many characters and so many different points of view, but it isn’t. The writing is clear, and each character is so unique that they set themselves apart in this insular world.
The Van Laar family are classic East Coast WASPs, or at least seem so from what I’ve read. Such people don’t usually invite girls like me to their soirees. The God of the Woods explores a troubled marriage, mental illness, and class dynamics in a way that feels utterly seamless through the scope of the tragedy that befalls the Van Laar family.
A summer camp in the Adirondacks in the 1970s feels like such a classic locale for a thrilling mystery. It’s very well described, truly transporting the reader to Camp Emerson.
There is a great deal of suspense building in this story right from the beginning. The author leaves little crumbs of important information on practically every page, giving the readers pieces of what promises to be a fascinating puzzle.
The God of the Woods features several timelines, from Barbara’s August 1975 disappearance to her parent’s first meeting, decades before. All of the perspectives are in the third person, giving the narration a definitive feel.
It’s a detailed story, exploring many different personalities and events that all converge in a single mystery. It is fascinating, although it does require some patience to read. But I promise the payoff is worth it.
Like many other mysteries and thrillers in the last few years, The God of the Woods delves into the dynamics of wealth, and how affluence can be quite poisonous. Class-based injustices abound in this story, and no one is unscathed. The book approaches this subject with a strong sense of irony that truly cements it as a must-read tale.
The God of the Woods would have been included in The Nora Theory’s Best Books of 2024 if only I had come across it before the new year. The intricate weave of time, characters, and storylines come together seamlessly to create a gripping and meaningful story that almost any reader will love.
Writing: 5
Kindle: $14.99
Hardback: $17.00
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