The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Some mysteries are driven almost entirely by the question of what happened. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore has that intrigue, but there is much more going on beneath the surface.
Set largely in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1970s, the novel begins when thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar disappears from her bunk at summer camp. The disappearance would be alarming enough on its own, but Barbara belongs to the wealthy family that owns the camp — and fourteen years earlier, her older brother also disappeared from the same area.
What follows is a layered mystery involving family secrets, privilege, relationships and a community whose lives are closely connected to the powerful Van Laar family.
What is The God of the Woods about?
Barbara Van Laar is attending Camp Emerson, the summer camp owned by her family, when she vanishes.
As the search for Barbara begins, Liz Moore gradually takes us backwards and forwards through the history of the Van Laar family and the people who live and work around them.
The story isn't told from just one point of view. Instead, different characters and time periods slowly reveal pieces of the two disappearances.
That structure means The God of the Woods isn't simply a missing-person thriller. It is also a family story and a character-driven novel about wealth, power, motherhood, expectations and the consequences of secrets being kept for too long.
For readers
Our review of The God of the Woods
The biggest strength of The God of the Woods is that the mystery gives you a reason to keep reading, while the characters give the story considerably more depth than a straightforward thriller.
There are a lot of characters and the story moves between different timelines, so this isn't necessarily a book to rush through without paying attention. At the beginning, it can take a little time to understand how everyone fits together.
Once those connections become clearer, however, the structure works extremely well.
The Adirondack setting also adds enormously to the atmosphere. The woods, summer camp and relative isolation give the novel an uneasy feeling without turning it into horror.
What we particularly liked is that the book doesn't rely solely on twists. There are mysteries to solve, but much of the interest comes from gradually understanding the Van Laar family and the very different lives of the people around them.
Class and privilege are important throughout the novel. The Van Laars have money, influence and status, while many of the people involved in their lives work for them or live in a community affected by their power.
That imbalance becomes increasingly important as the story develops.
Is The God of the Woods a thriller?
Yes, although we would describe it as a literary mystery or slow-burning thriller rather than a very fast, action-heavy crime novel.
There is plenty of suspense and a central mystery that keeps the story moving, but Liz Moore spends considerable time developing her characters and the world around them.
If you enjoy books where character and atmosphere matter as much as finding out what happened, this should be a very good fit.
If you prefer very short chapters, a single narrator and an extremely fast plot from page one, it may require a little more patience initially.
Who would enjoy The God of the Woods?
We would recommend it particularly to readers who enjoy:
- mysteries with strong characters
- family secrets
- atmospheric settings
- multiple timelines
- literary fiction with suspense
- stories about complicated families
- books that give you plenty to think about afterwards
It is also a particularly good choice for readers who want something more substantial than a conventional psychological thriller without losing the page-turning element of a mystery.
Why we chose The God of the Woods for The Book Resort subscription
The God of the Woods was one of the books we selected for The Book Resort subscription boxes in 2026.
Choosing books for our subscriptions is slightly different from simply choosing books that are already extremely popular.
We want subscribers to open their box and find a book that they are genuinely pleased to discover — whether it is something they had been considering themselves or a title they might never have picked up otherwise.
The books also need reasonably broad appeal. A subscription book cannot be so niche that only a very small type of reader will enjoy it.
The God of the Woods works particularly well for that reason.
It has the accessibility and suspense of a mystery, but it also has enough depth for readers who enjoy contemporary and literary fiction. There are strong characters, family relationships and plenty to discuss once the final page is finished.
That combination made it a strong fit for our subscribers.
Is The God of the Woods good for a book club?
Yes. In fact, this is one of its strengths.
There are plenty of subjects that could generate discussion without the conversation being limited to whether you guessed the ending.
You could discuss the Van Laar family, wealth and privilege, the different expectations placed on the women in the novel, parenting, the multiple timelines and whether your feelings towards individual characters changed as more information was revealed.
Readers may also have very different opinions about which characters they sympathise with, which usually makes for a better book-club discussion.
Is The God of the Woods worth reading?
For readers who enjoy mysteries with genuine depth, yes.
It isn't the shortest or simplest thriller, and the number of perspectives means you need to give it some attention, particularly early in the book.
But that complexity is also what makes it memorable.
Rather than simply racing towards an explanation for a disappearance, The God of the Woods builds a whole family and community around its mystery.
It's atmospheric, absorbing and particularly well suited to readers who enjoy trying to piece things together while also becoming invested in the characters.
More book reviews you may enjoy
- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
- Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
- When All Is Said by Anne Griffin
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