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Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Blood
Let’s start with the characters, I honestly did not give two craps about them, there were so many of them. I literally had to make a list with their names and descriptions because I had no idea who was who. I don’t mind books being written in different point of views, but when there are 7 or 8 point of views, it gets incredibly confusing. On top of the fact that it went back-and-forth from 3-4 different timelines. A lot was thrown at you, but there was also just such a slow start to the story and it never picked up until maybe the last 50 pages. I honestly don’t even know why I bothered to finish this book because I was so uninvested in it that I just didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care about what happened to Bear or Barbara because so much stuff was going on outside of those two stories my brain didn’t know what to focus on.
also, I feel like the characters personalities were super inconsistent, specifically, Barbara. She was panned out to be this rebel type child that didn’t listen to the rules and loved art, but then all of a sudden she was really good and knowledgeable about camping and survival skills?? Made absolutely no sense.
I also feel like this book was incredibly too long for a story that didn’t really talk about anything? It was just so repetitive and I found myself wanting to skip chapters because I had already heard everything and just stopped caring.
After all of this BS I mentioned, the ending was satisfying, but it was not worth the 400 some pages before the ending was revealed.
I’m really upset this book turned out to be shit because the premise sounded really hopeful. I was gonna give it 2.5 stars but decided that the ending was good enough to receive .25 stars so, 2.75 it is.
Graphic: Child death, Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy
The setting of Camp Emerson in the Adirondacks is vivid and layered, a place where generational wealth, blue-collar struggle, and buried secrets converge. I eventually came to appreciate the disjointed storytelling. It mimics how an investigator would piece together a cold case, collecting fragments of truth from various sources until the bigger picture finally emerges. But I needed more tension and less filler for a book pitched as a thriller or mystery.
By the time the story picked up (around page 418), I was fatigued from keeping track of everyone: the Van Laars, the Hewitts, the townspeople of Shattuck, and the investigators. A family tree or character guide would have helped immensely. And while I admire Liz Moore’s ability to flesh out complicated dynamics, especially the imbalance between wealth and dependency, secrecy and survival, I didn’t feel invested in the mystery. When the truth finally unraveled, I didn’t feel shocked or satisfied. I just felt done.
T.J. Hewitt and Investigator Judyta Luptack were standout characters, and I would’ve loved a tighter story centered more squarely on them. While I have never attended summer camp, I can see how the nostalgic setting might enhance the experience for some readers.
If you like a slow-burn literary novel packed with small-town drama, power imbalances, and generational trauma, this might work better for you than it did for me. But for me, The God of the Woods was an overstuffed mystery that didn’t quite earn the emotional payoff it was building toward.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug use, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Lesbophobia
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Alcohol, Classism