The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024)

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024)

A tale of missing children decades apart, connected through one summer camp.

Laura’s Rating: 3/5 Stars

Plot: In 1975, a camp counselor wakes up to discover that one of her campers, Barbara is missing. The missing camper is the daughter of the family that owns the camp and the younger sister of a boy who went missing fourteen years earlier. Are their disappearances connected? Can the authorities find Barbara before she vanishes forever?

Opinion: I continue to be over the alternating viewpoints and timelines as an artificial way to build suspense. I literally just wanted to know what was happening with one set of characters, but every few chapters, a new one was introduced. It was honestly getting out of hand. I’m one third of the way through the book and BAM another character that’s never been mentioned before is narrating a chapter. This got old fast. What it all boils down to is a missing kid and some unhappy rich people. Then another missing kid years later (with the same unhappy rich people plus some new ones). 

Originally, the story was a bit boring in my opinion and it felt like a lot of setup, especially with so many characters. I was finally more invested about halfway through and there’s a couple interesting twists, but then I got bored again. Also, most of the characters end up being pretty unlikable, which is always hard to pull off. By the end, I just didn’t care about the major players enough.

Despite the average rating, I feel like my review reads pretty negative. The God of the Woods wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t anything spectacular either. It did receive a Goodreads Choice award last year so maybe I’m in the minority, but I think you could skip this one or at least push it down on your list to read.