The God of the Woods by Liz MooreMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The setting is a very upscale mansion and the summer camp that the Van Laar family owns in the Adirondack Mountains. The story takes place between the mid-1950s and 1975, and is told from multiple points of view. An 8-year old boy has gone missing in 1961, never to be found, and then a 13-year old girl goes missing in 1975. The book is an incredible family drama, and has multiple mysteries, secrets and red herrings before you reach the end.
The structure of this book is very unique, but works quite well in the telling of the story. There is a very large cast of characters, both main and peripheral characters. The chapters are short and the point of view changes with each chapter. On top of this, the timeline of the book is not at all linear. I ended up keeping a running list of the characters in order to keep them all straight in my mind. In addition, I kept flipping back and forth to keep the timeline clear. All this to say, reader, pay attention when you are reading! And I'm not sure how it would work if you are listening to the audio book. Bonus feature is the map of the compound, the summer camp, and the surrounding area. It's always helpful when an author includes a map so that the reader can get the lay of the land.
This was quite a page turner, and I raced through the 476 pages in three days. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more by Liz Moore. And I can certainly see why it was chosen as Jimmy Fallon's Summer Book Club Pick for 2024!
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