The God of the Woods

This is definitely one of the best books I’ve read all summer. It is just… epic! I think what I love about it so much is that the writing is exquisite but it’s also very plotty. It is a slow burn, but not in the way where you are bored and frustrated. You actually want to slow down and savor it, because the book is just so good and the writing is so perfect. It’s the sort of thriller I wish I could write. I truly bow down to Liz Moore. I finished it while in LA and am a little embarrassed by how often I found myself sneaking away from my bf to go read. I was just immersed in it! This is set in the seventies at a summer camp in the Adirondacks. At times it was a little strange to read as my ex-boyfriend grew up going to a very similar sounding summer camp in the Adirondacks and we spent a lot of time there. So, I was picturing that camp in my head. When 13 year old Barbara Van Laar disappears one August morning, it is a big deal. Not just in the way that it’s scary when a child disappears… but it’s extra eerie as her (very wealthy) family owns the camp and 14 years ago, her brother Bear disappeared as well. The case was never fully solved. Throughout the book, we get to know Barbara’s mother (back in the early sixties) and the circumstances surrounding Bear’s disappearance. We meet Barbara’s counselors and her best friend. And of course, the detectives working on the case. As panic grows over Barbara’s disappearance, the plot becomes thrilling. Family secrets… the blue collar community surrounding the camp… old tensions and resentments between the community and the Van Laars surface. Are the cases connected? I couldn’t put it down. I was thoroughly immersed.