The God of the Woods

Fascinating (crime) story. Well written. Great characterisation. Great plot. A pretty serious book, no humor, but mesmerizing. I don’t think I have ever read anything like it.

I listened to an audiobook. It’s a little hard to get who’s who at first, because of multiple POV’s, but hang in there, after a while it gets better.

A new favorite writer.

WOW!!! I would be shocked if this wasn’t at least nominated for Book of the Year. This was such an incredible read, touching on themes of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and the fact that everyone has something to hide. I was most touched by the perspectives of the various women in this book. With each one, the reader will notice that freedom and what it means to them (along with what they would sacrifice in order to obtain it) is a shared theme. I can’t say much more about it without spoiling it, other than the fact that I simply couldn’t put it down and it did not at all feel like a 400+ page read. Brava to Liz Moore on a masterpiece!

I loved this book. The story line was riveting from the start. I loved how the book was written and formatted with multiple character point of views and timelines.

Very engrossing read. Was bummed when it ended, kinda abruptly, I thought. Left me trying to get into something new all weekend. Gaaa!

Well, I finished it... My review and rating will wait until I meet with my book club.

Mystery is not my usual genre, but I did enjoy this. It was particularly distressing due to the core mysteries both being about children. The ending had comforting elements, but I felt it was too wrapped up— not every element of a story needs to be explained in the end (especially ghost stories children tell each other at camp).

While reading this book, I felt like I knew both so much and so little at the same time. Liz Moore takes us back and forth in time to tell the story, which was really easy to get used to as all of it flowed quite well! Every character introduced was also so in depth and well thought out. Definitely worth reading!

The last section moves really fast in comparison to the first 5. Definitely a slow burn but interesting to see it all play out in the end

The God of the Woods adalah novel kedua Liz Moore yang aku baca. Novel ini memenangkan Goodreads Choice Awards untuk Misteri & Thriller Favorit Pembaca 2024.

Setting-nya di pegunungan Adirondack pada tahun 1975, di mana seorang remaja bernama Barbara Van Laar hilang dari perkemahan musim panas keluarganya. Kehilangannya mengingatkan pada hilangnya saudara laki-lakinya, Bear Van Laar, empat belas tahun sebelumnya. Cerita ini mengungkap rahasia keluarga Van Laar dan komunitas kelas pekerja di sekitarnya.

Seperti novel Liz sebelumnya yang aku baca, Bright Long River, ada elemen drama keluarga di dalamnya. Bagiku, novel ini lebih seperti fiksi slice of life, dengan elemen drama keluarga dan sejarah di dalamnya. Aku merekomendasikan novel ini pada penggemar semua genre.

i found myself waking up in the middle of the night to think about the story because i was so desperate to know what happened (even resorted to reading a few chapters in the middle of the night). i appreciate the way the plot/history/mysteries unfolded through various timelines and characters (and especially how the story ended). thank you to the author for creating this world. it will have a special place in my heart.

Read this for the book club I recently joined.
First few chapters bored me. The back and forth POVs in different years was hard to get used to.
A lot of unnecessary clues and subplots scattered across the book that didn't lead anywhere.
Not mad at the plot; it was a great concept.
The last chapter could be the whole book and that would have been fine.

Really loved the setup of this novel, its incredibly well-imagined setting and its characters (at least all the non-rich ones), and the early depictions of summer camp life. The writing is intentionally suspenseful, with chapters ending on cliffhangers and the next chapter jumping to a different timeline and character’s point of view, making the book compulsive to keep reading. Because of all the timelines and perspectives, the story also feels very deep, lived-in and cinematic.

But once the girl’s disappearance and the (overlong) backstory of Alice and Peter are established across Parts I and II, the story becomes more than anything a police procedural, spending a lot of time with Judyta as she puts together the pieces of both the “current” case, of a missing 13-year-old girl, and the now-cold case of her older brother’s disappearance over a decade earlier.

It is also a stinging critique of “old money” families and how terrible they are in so many ways. On this theme I think the author is a little too heavy-handed (the rich men are, every one of them, emotionless blocks of wood); I think it would be a bit more effective if they weren’t such caricatures.

But I very much enjoyed all the more subtle ways the author gives real, nuanced empowerment to the various women in the story more than the men: Almost all of the book’s shifting perspectives are from women characters, despite plenty of men being part of the story, and the way the author imbues them all with unique examples of strength and unapologetic self-reliance is applaudable.

Takeaway line: ”The Hewitts don’t need to rely on anyone but themselves. / It’s the Van Laars, and families like them, who have always depended on others.” (453)

3.5 ✨
This book is all vibes and no thrills. I really enjoyed the 60s/70s vibes and different POVs (though I could have done with a few less) but this book is far from thrilling. While we get a few really good red herrings and I thought it would go a different direction, the ending doesn't really deliver imo.
Reaching the ending I was thinking: oh. yeah I guess you could do that too..... ok.

I am usually the master at untwisting mysteries. This one eluded me. But very tight and satisfying. No gimmicks. Just a very, very, well-told story.

Thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm for the alc!

An intricate and interesting mystery with a lot of emphasis on character building. Great narration.

Compelling, complex, well written, held my attention and kept me coming back.
I will read more by this author :)

The God of the Woods completely captured me from the beginning and did not let go! Moore does an incredible job taking us on a journey through time - through two different mysteries - all while diving deep into each characters complexities, fears, dark sides, and motives. She does this while keeping the reader engaged and the pacing steady. She is able to tell a perfectly interwoven story that keeps you guessing, is clearly thought out, and is so much more than another “popcorn thriller”. Do not read if you hate multiple POVs and time hopping. My only gripe is that I felt there were too many loose ends at the conclusion of the book. To dive so deep into these characters, I felt the reader could have been offered a little more closure!

Wow! What a twisty, turny enjoyable read! I so enjoyed this mysterious and well written foray into the world of generational trauma, sexism, classism, and how one small decision can mean the difference between becoming the monster in the dark or one who fights monsters.

The book is decently paced, and gives you plenty of chances to guess wrong endings :p
Every time I was edging to a wrong conclusion, it gently corrected my course, leading to a finale that made sense and felt right. It is not like those mystery novels that pull off the rug under your feet just to boast a grand surprise — life does that to me plenty, so excuse me for wanting my books to be different. It is also not the sort of book that grips you so hard, you feel compelled to finish it quickly; instead, it is better read and discussed intermittently in a group. Lastly, I have one minor nitpick with the title: it gives me the vibe of magical realism, and there is nothing of such nature in the book.

This didn't grab me the way it did others. While it was sad and the setting is creepy (you know, killers are always hanging out at summer camps), the big reveal was not at all surprising.

Good, didn't love it. Just meh. Really wanted more drama and less conclusions being pre-chewed for you.

A novel where the (admittedly entertaining) mysteries were more scaffolding around which the characters could be built, and upon which to articulate the novel's main theme: how money and privilege let the wealthy get away with (metaphorical and literal) murder.

Full review at blog.

A legitimately interesting mystery hampered by over explaining. I feel that every character introduced is truly captivating until they’re not because of a very neat explanation or reason. The author’s cliffhangers are artificial and forced in the last third.

I had been excited to read this book for some time. When I finally got the chance to read it, I found it to be good, but I felt that the hype surrounding it was greater than the actual content. While I did enjoy the book, I must admit that it didn't fully meet my expectations.

A double mystery story about two siblings who went missing, 15 years apart. This was a good yarn, told from multiple perspectives, keeping you on your toes. But the author made some choices towards the end that felt too manipulative, guiding your suspicions one way before snapping them 180 degrees right after. Still, pretty entertaining, even if a tad bit too long maybe.