The God of the Woods: A Novel
4.4 | 104,833 ratings
Price: 12.99
Last update: 12-22-2025
Product details
- ASIN : B0CL1YQLB5
- Publisher : Riverhead Books
- Accessibility :
- Publication date : July 2, 2024
- Language : English
- File size : 3.7 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 492 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593418932
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank:#66 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
- Historical Literary Fiction
- Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:4.44.4 out of 5 stars(104,677)
Top reviews from the United States
- deliberatereaderA Forest Filled With SecretsAn engrossing story about family, loyalty and the lies that can destroy lives for generations. It’s a mystery, but also the story about the choices women make, and the outcomes when those choices are limited by circumstance, money and societal expectations.
The story centers around the investigation into the disappearance of the wealthy Van Laar children, who go missing in the family’s wooded estate: Bear Van Laar who vanishes in 1961, and Barbara, who disappears from summer camp in 1975. Both police procedural drama and family saga, the writing is concise, but soft, and the author takes care to craft her characters subtly, revealing more about their personalities by what is not overtly stated.
The strength of the novel are the women who carry the story. While the mystery of what happened to the Van Laar children is central to the plot, the growth of the female characters, and their inner lives and thoughts, is at the root of what makes this novel worth reading. - Amazon CustomerGreat book with a bad habit.Wow, this story was incredible! From the very first page, it kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing what would happen next. Each chapter introduced a new theory, making it super engaging. The characters were so well-developed and brought to life on the page. But, there were a few things that could be improved. The time skips between chapters were a bit jarring, and the story jumped around a bit too much. Sometimes, a character would be left in a confusing situation for so long that I wondered what had happened the last time I saw them. The page breaks were also a bit unnecessary. Overall, this is a minor issue compared to the rest of the book, which is incredibly well-written.
- Beth A.Maybe take a couple of days off to read thisThis novel grabs you on the first page and keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last word. The characters are expertly developed and the plot is deliciously crafted. I have to say I binge read this book. I’m glad my daughter recommended it.
- Darren M. ReedVery solid story with deep, compelling charactersI really enjoyed this novel. This is a compelling story set in upstate New York in the 60s and 70s. There are many characters that the author details beautifully. There is deep history between many of the families in the local community.
There are two mysteries that are being solved during this novel. The author takes you back to the 60s and then back into the 70s with many different characters, painting the complex mystery.
The main setting of this novel is Camp Emerson. A small rustic camp where young kids from well to do families learn to appreciate and navigate the wilderness. I especially loved this environment is I went to a camp very similar to this growing up in northern Minnesota. The cabins even sounded similar with similar names. The kids in this camp had many urban legends and one of them was of scary Mary. Which is funny because at our camp there was an urban legend about hateful Hannah. The author does such an amazing job writing that you feel like you are at camp Emerson.
There are so many “good” guys and “bad” guys and and lots of redemption. You will have to read it to find out more.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes a good story, psychological suspense, thrillers, historical fiction or just likes a good story. - Meghan CostiganCompelling mystery that will keep you guessing until the very endBeen waiting to read this book for MONTHS & I'm glad I finally got to! The winner of last year's Jimmy Fallon Summer Book Club, Liz Moore's "The God of the Woods" uncovers the truth behind the sudden disappearance of Barbara Van Laar, the 13-year-old daughter of an affluent family, from Camp Emerson in August of 1975. This is a case which becomes even more critical given the disappearance of her then 8-year-old older brother, Bear, almost exactly 14 years prior. The story is told through alternating POVs & jumping timelines as a way of putting pieces together & getting readers closer to what really happened.
Some authors make nonlinear narratives confusing, but I found it rather easy to follow, mainly because Moore's characters are fairly fleshed out enough to separate them out, but also because each POV informs the others, often filling in the blanks to the overarching mystery. These helped in guiding me to certain theories as the plot unfolded, & I found the big twists were fairly predictable, but the minor ones were sufficiently satisfying. The only POV I didn't emotionally connect to was Barbara's mother, Alice, who's an insufferable wet dish rag--she's submissive, neurotic, simple-minded, willing to dumb herself down, critical of her daughter's interests out of concern they would ruin the family's reputation, & virtually spineless (which goes against my ideal of what a woman should be)--who would do nothing to change her situation even if given the opportunity because she's been convinced by the people around her that she's dumb & erratic & she plays right into it. Whether that's just her being a product of her time or her privileged upbringing, even when knowing how difficult it must be to lose both her children, at the end of the day you just want to pity her. Her chapters were difficult to get through, but the rest I had no trouble with.
It was also an interesting read given the time in which it takes place because it reminds readers of what was accepted socially at the time vs. not 50 years ago, while also noting what's changed vs. stayed the same. It'd be interesting to know what these characters would be up to today & how they'd appraise the world. I hope that's something Moore will uncover in a later book because I think there could be enough substance for another one. - OctoberPageTurnerOkayThis novel was okay.. If I fall in love with a novel I read through it very fast, this one was slow-going over 5 months. I liked the storyline but I feel like the ending fell a bit flat. There was so much building towards the end & it became anticlimactic. I was hoping for a more powerful ending of the daughter, but the Bear received a justified ending. In the beginning I had to keep flipping back & forth just to keep the character's stories correct- like I would mix up who was Louise & who was Alice, it wasn't until the middle of the book that I had an established idea of who everyone was & kept their storyline correct.