A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
In the Adirondack Mountains, the Van Laars, a wealthy, well-connected family, live on a parcel of land they’ve controlled for generations, along with a summer camp they set up for the local community. However, after a nearby paper mill shuts down, the Van Laars and their summer camp become the only employment game in town, creating a situation between the two that becomes tense when the Van Laar son suddenly disappears one day. They don’t find the boy and no one’s formally charged, leaving the story to languish in the public imagination. That is, until the younger Van Laar daughter disappears as well one night at camp.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was a book that seemed like it would have been a bore based on marketing copy and some of the reviews that were readily available. The premise of a child going missing launching a thriller set in the 1970s doesn’t appear to be a solid foundation on which to build an engaging mystery on because there are already so many documentaries about crimes that have occurred int he 70s and 80s, which makes reading about a fictional one almost quaint.
However, on reading the novel, it’s clear that Moore’s book is a phenomenal case of a writer’s skill taking what may be formulaic and turning it into something entirely different. The God of the Woods is a thriller, but the crime serves more as a framework for the characters to operate in than a true focus of the story. Moore’s focus for much of the book is on the ways which family dynamics and socioeconomic issues play out over the course of a person’s life. The characters reflect these realities in the complex ways they express love, especially when that love is accompanied by a reluctance to engage with the people we care about the most. Additionally, the fact that the Van Laars are a wealthy family in an area with no jobs adds a layer of complexity to the investigation but also serves as a way for Moore to explore how socioeconomic conditions make family life even harder than is sometimes necessary.
For casual readers, The God of the Woods is a story that can be enjoyed most by those who love thrillers. While the crime itself may be more of a framework than anything, it is represented well enough as a thriller narrative for people who love the genre to enjoy it. However, even if the main interest of the reader is not the book’s inclusion in the thriller genre, there’s still plenty to enjoy if you’re more interested in books that deal with complex family dynamics and socioeconomic issues. Everything in the novel was enjoyable, but these are the features that stood out the most and therefore would appeal to readers who enjoy these kinds of themes.
For writers, The God of the Woods serves as a good reference point for how to write a thriller or a story that deals with families and socioeconomic issues. It would also be a good way of understanding how to handle multiple plot lines, as the novel follows several characters at once, with a particular focus on female characters and the unique hardships they face as members of the complicated and broken families around them. Even if you’re not interested in writing a story about these particular themes, there’s still value in reading the novel for its ability to inform any rendering of family life, given its nuanced exploration of the subject.
If you’re interested in reading the book and want to support local bookstores as well as my work, consider using this affiliate link: The God of the Woods.
What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of A.J. Hackwith’s The Archive of the Forgotten!
The Writerly Review 