Down Time: The God of the Woods

I think books often struggle with alternating points of view (POVs), in terms of keeping readers interested in each one, not being annoyed when it switches, and tying all of them together in the end. In The God of the Woods, Liz Moore executes multiple POVs almost perfectly. There are so many moving parts to this story, and the twist at the end that ties everything together is really painful in terms of its obviousness. She leaves a perfect trail of breadcrumbs throughout the novel, and in her misdirection, she guides us further into the solution of the story, which is really quite simple, but not disappointing

The story is set in August of 1975 at a summer camp in upstate New York on the land of a rich, old-money family. One morning, camp counselor Louise wakes up to one of the campers in her cabin not in her bed. However, this camper is Barbara Van-Laar, daughter of the family who owns the summer camp and employs everyone there. Of course, this would be worrying enough already if Barbara’s older brother, Bear, had not gone missing under mysterious circumstances 14 years before, never to be found. The land was once haunted by a serial killer, who is assumed to have killed Bear, and he has recently escaped prison. When Barbara goes missing, everyone assumes that he has taken her, too. 

While the manhunt for the serial killer and the search for Barbara unravels, the story of Bear’s disappearance is told at the same time, and the story not only switches POVs, but also timelines, piecing together not only the disappearances of the two children, but the Van-Laar family’s secrets and history, and the town’s secrets, while also focusing on people who worked on both cases noticing parallels and patterns. Old evidence comes to light and limitations of the prior investigation come to light as seemingly different stories work together to tell the real stories, those of Barbara and Bear Van-Laar, and how Barbara lives in his shadow, even as he’s gone. 

Considering how many points of view and timelines that Moore weaves in (eight and seven, respectively), it is really impressive how she manages to consider all sides of both cases and explore how the lasting effects of Bear’s disappearance weigh on the Van Laars, the camp, the camp directors, the town, and the investigators. The God of the Woods was published in 2024 at just under 500 pages. I read this in early 2025 and rated it 5 stars on my Goodreads profile.