Two children from a respectable family go missing 14 years apart. Coincidence?
God of the Woods by Liz Moore drew me in with its eerie premise and kept me riveted with its rich storytelling. At its heart, this is a tale about what we owe to the land we inhabit—and the unrelenting price the land sometimes demands. The characters feel startlingly real, and their choices carry the weight of generations, making the stakes painfully high and utterly absorbing.
The author’s prose is both lush and restrained, with descriptions that evoke the primal, almost sentient power of the woods without ever feeling overdone. The sense of foreboding builds slowly, wrapping you in its grip until you’re devouring the final pages with bated breath. I especially appreciated how the central mystery was layered, peeling back in ways that were as satisfying as they were surprising.
If I could offer any critique, it’s that I wanted more—more time with the characters, more exploration of the woods’ mythology, more of the story’s magic. But perhaps that’s the mark of a great book: it leaves you hungry, longing to linger just a little longer in its world.
For readers who love atmospheric, character-driven stories with a touch of the uncanny, God of the Woods is an absolute must-read. Perfect for fans of The Bear and the Nightingale or The Changeling.
This mystery set in a summer camp in the Adirondacks provides the background for an exploration of wealth, power, marginalization, and societal expectations during the 1960s and 70s that still has relevance today.
Couldn’t put this one down!