A review by lindsaymck
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.75

This was a compelling and complicated story with many moving parts to follow and even more mysteries to uncover that had a somewhat satisfying conclusion. I would’ve been lost in the woods myself if I had relied on the audiobook version. I recommend the print/digital version because of the multiple timelines and seven+ different character POV chapters across those timelines. 

We are following family, friends, and law enforcement as they search for two missing children, siblings who disappeared from Camp Emerson in the Adirondack Mountains 14 years apart. The non-linear approach to the storytelling gives readers clues to compile from multiple POVs as they learn more about the wealthy Van Laar family and everyone who has been sucked into their orbit. In trying to uncover the truth about Barbara Van Laar’s disappearance in 1975, the disappearance of her brother, Bear, in 1961 becomes a not-so-closed closed case. Readers must collect scattered information and details from the four primary POVs - the missing children’s mother (Alice), Barbara’s camp counselor (Louise), Barbara’s friend (Tracy), and an investigator digging into both cases (Judyta) - as well as minor perspectives from suspects in Bear’s disappearance (Jacob + Carl) and Camp Emerson’s retired director (Vic). The mysteries surrounding Bear’s and Barbara’s disappearance make for a tangled web of secrets and lies and after more than a decade, the truth of the past finally comes out to shine a light on the present. 

Spoiler-ridden thoughts… 
The plot is slow-burning and woven around the vivid setting, blending together crime and character. That being said, my biggest hiccup with this book was in moving between the 7+ perspectives and different years. Each person provided unique context and insight, but I kept getting frustrated that JUST as something interesting was about to happen or be revealed, there would be a switch to a new POV. This effectively and consistently killed the momentum for me and by the time we’d get back to that person, I really had to stretch my memory to recall what was happening for them. I also found that a literary breadcrumb trail that seemed to be really exciting was often resolved off-page or mostly glossed over, leaving me to connect the dots and doubt what was actually important in the investigations. Maybe this was purposeful to resemble the reality of investigations like this where some leads pan out and others are duds. I can appreciate how much organizing Liz Moore had to do to tie together storylines, but it often disrupted the flow for me. 

I was PISSED at Alice’s sister, Delphine, for using her own open marriage to wedge her way into Alice’s husband’s bed. In my opinion, we don’t get enough closure for Alice at the end, even though this story is centered around the desperate decisions everyone makes to protect her from the awful truth and preserve the Van Laar family’s reputation and business. It is as if she disappears to the sidelines at the end, just like the Van Laar family has always wanted. Her lack of independence, self-awareness, and self-confidence created a really tragic character whose reliance on pills and alcohol to cope with her daily life inevitably led to the loss of the one thing she truly loved and kept her stuck with the grief of uncertainty. This unending grief prevents her from connecting with her daughter and leaves Barbara to seek connection with others as she forges her own path away from the neglect and indifference of her family. 

The women in this book are as fascinating as they are frustrating. Alice and Louise are struggling in a patriarchal society, tending to let the men in their lives walk all over them and not ever standing up for themselves. I was proud of Louise for her intent to evolve by the story’s end. I think it’s a unique way to show how our role models, or the lack of them, shape and guide us. Alice and Louise never had a reliable, strong person to look up to and therefore defer to the powerful men in their lives. T.J. was lucky to have her loving dad, Barbara is lucky to have T.J., and Tracy has her mom and (briefly) Barbara - for them that made all the difference. Judyta is the woman who really challenges gender stereotypes by succeeding in a male-dominated field and defying her family’s expectations as an unmarried woman living on her own. Overall, I liked how the four women (Alice, Louise, Tracy, and Judyta) are the primary storytellers, as the themes of family, motherhood, identity, class, and 
societal roles are best explored through their voices.  

The complex dynamic between Vic Hewitt and Peter II (Bear + Barbara’s grandpa) was an interesting reveal. The choices of one generation really affect not only the generations to come, but the entire town! I did like that to make up for their choices in the past, Vic and T.J. took a different path this time, casting off their loyalty to the Van Laars and risking their own futures to share the truth about Bear and give Barbara the skills and opportunity to seize her own freedom (… even if I did think that a 14 year-old girl living alone on a remote island until she came of age was a bit of a stretch, no matter how competently outdoorsy she was). 
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