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A review by kba76
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Summer 1975. A young girl, Barbara, is discovered missing from her cabin. The two counsellors who should have been monitoring their charges overnight were both out. Alarming, and certainly suspicious…but even more so when we learn that fourteen years earlier Barbara’s brother, Bear, went missing from the same woods and has never been discovered.
Moore focuses on a lot of characters: the Van Laar family; the campers in Barbara’s cabin; the counsellors; the Hewitt family, who run the summer camp; an escaped killer known to frequent the area around the woods and the various police members charged with investigating the disappearance. The timeline, of necessity, switches as we focus on different characters. While this made it a slower read than I would normally enjoy, I was riveted.
This is one best to go into not knowing much. Enjoy the experience of seeing the different strands come together. By the end we know what happened to both children. It’s not at all what you might expect, but it was a captivating thriller.
Moore focuses on a lot of characters: the Van Laar family; the campers in Barbara’s cabin; the counsellors; the Hewitt family, who run the summer camp; an escaped killer known to frequent the area around the woods and the various police members charged with investigating the disappearance. The timeline, of necessity, switches as we focus on different characters. While this made it a slower read than I would normally enjoy, I was riveted.
This is one best to go into not knowing much. Enjoy the experience of seeing the different strands come together. By the end we know what happened to both children. It’s not at all what you might expect, but it was a captivating thriller.