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Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence
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: 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: Child death, Domestic abuse, Classism
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abandonment
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: Child death, Physical abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Blood, Alcohol
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief
Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence
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
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Classism