Hello, beautiful people! Welcome to a new review! For this review, I am getting into The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. A very popular book at the time of its release and, I believe, still trending on Goodreads, The God of the Woods captured a lot of people’s interest. A dynamic mystery thriller revolving around a family’s secrets, it’s definitely an interesting read to pick up from the shelves.
Main Characters:
Barbra Van Laar: A teen who goes missing from her family’s popular summer camp while staying there, her disappearance is strange and suspicious
Bear Van Laar: Barbra’s older brother, who also disappeared, but long before Barbra, when she was just a baby, Barbra never really got to meet him
Judy Luptack: A newly appointed detective who is determined to crack the cold and new cases of the Van Laar children
Alice Van Laar: Barbara and Bear’s mother, who becomes very unstable after Bear goes missing and is unable to be emotionally stable enough to raise Barbara
Peter Van Laar III: Bear and Barbara’s father, who comes from wealth and power
Peter Van Laar II: Barbara and Bear’s paternal grandfather, who was with Bear when he went missing on their hike
T.J. Hewitt: Long-time staff member at Camp Emerson, and was around when Barbara went missing, knows a lot about the Van Laar family
My Review
As mentioned before, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was and still is a super popular read that lots have been checking out. I am always a little on the fence with super popular reads, not because they are bad, because they rarely are, but just how maybe over hype can actually ruin the story a little bit. This might be very much a me thing, but when I pick up a really popular read, I am definitely expecting it to be really enjoyable, and when it doesn’t always live up to the hype, it’s a bit of a downfall. Now, in saying all of that, I have to say that The God of the Woods fell a bit in the middle for me. I think it’s a great read, don’t get me wrong, but I also just left the book thinking to myself that I didn’t totally get why it was this popular. Again, it’s a really good book that I genuinely enjoyed, landing it an 8/10 rating from me, but it just didn’t feel super unique or very exciting as I went through the book.
The God of the Woods follows the story of the Van Laar family. In 1961, the son of Alice and Peter Van Laar went missing after going on a hike with his grandpa. This becomes big news because the Van Laar family is not a normal family. In their area, they are well known, well loved, and well off from their many economic endeavours. The most well-known is a popular summer camp that they run in the summer, Camp Emerson, which has many children come through its doors. Things get worse for the family when their second child, Barbara, a young teen in 1975, goes missing from the camp. With so much drama and darkness surrounding the family, those around question what’s going on inside the Van Laar walls, but the family’s influence causes others to turn heads. Newly appointed detective Judy Luptack is assigned to investigate Barbara’s disappearance, and as she tries to find out what happened to the girl, she also learns of the many secrets hidden in the history of the Laar family. Determined to now figure out what happened to both Barbra and her older brother Bear, will Judy be able to get around all the loyalty and long-standing relationships to find out what happened to these kids?
I went into The God of the Woods with really high hopes, it’s been all over the bestseller lists and getting a lot of hype. And while I definitely think it’s a strong book with a lot of depth, it wasn’t quite the gripping, twisty mystery I was expecting. The plot is undeniably good, a missing teen from a wealthy family with a long, secretive history, but the execution felt slower than I wanted, especially given how intense the setup is. I mean, we’re talking about a girl disappearing from summer camp, and her brother also went missing in the same area fourteen years earlier. That should’ve brought tension and urgency, but instead, things unfolded with a kind of quiet, simmering pace that didn’t always match the stakes. I get that part of this is intentional; the Van Laar family is powerful, wealthy, and obsessed with control and appearances. In many ways, the investigation happens at their speed, not the world’s. But still, I was hoping for a bit more bite. A little more fire. I didn’t need nonstop action, but I did need something more propulsive to match the weight of what’s being uncovered.
What worked really well for me was Barbara. I felt a deep connection to her, to her quiet resistance, her deep sense of being unseen in her own family, and her desperation to be acknowledged for who she is, not just the role she plays as another Van Laar. Her whole life is shaped by what’s left unsaid: a mother who’s emotionally distant, a father who only values obedience, and a family culture that hides anything remotely human or messy behind a glossy, cold exterior.
Alice, her mother, is such a complicated figure. On one hand, it’s easy to sympathize with her; losing a child, especially under such murky circumstances, would break almost anyone. But on the other hand, Alice is still a Van Laar, which means she’s more committed to keeping up appearances than getting real help. Her grief turns inward, and instead of healing, she checks out. She’s not a villain, but she’s not much of a mother either. Her fragility becomes another burden Barbara has to carry. Peter, the father, is controlling and domineering in that very specific old-money way, the kind of man who thinks emotions are beneath him and sees his children more as extensions of his image than as individuals. His rigidity is exactly what drives Barbara to be seen as difficult or rebellious when really she just wants to be seen, period.
And then there’s Judy, who was one of my favourite parts of the novel. It’s so refreshing to see a detective character who leads with empathy and emotional intelligence rather than force. She doesn’t storm in and demand answers; she listens, she observes, and she knows how to navigate power without losing her principles. She’s the kind of investigator who understands that sometimes justice isn’t about taking someone down, it’s about protecting the right person, even if that means playing the long game.
In the end, I liked this book a lot more for its characters than for its plot. It’s thoughtful, sad, and layered in really smart ways, but if you’re expecting a fast-paced thriller, this isn’t it. It’s a quiet, slow unravelling of a family that’s been rotting from the inside for years. And in that way, it delivers, not with fireworks, but with a steady, haunting burn.
*** Don’t go any further if you don’t want to read any spoilers ***
Through her investigation, Judy discovers many things about the Van Laar family. I guess arguably the biggest being what happened to Bear.
Judy finds out that in 1961, Bear was on the family boat with his mother and died in an accident. Instead of calling the authorities, the Van Laar family works to cover it up. They create the back story of him going on a hike with his grandfather and then hide the body in a cave in the area to make it look like he got lost and died.
From this, Judy finds out that Barbara’s life has been nothing but torture. After Bear’s death, to keep her calm and not expose the secret, they essentially drugged Alice to keep her subdued. So I mean to a degree, how she treats and acts around Barbra isn’t totally her fault, but I also feel like she can’t just get off completely free. From talking with staff at the camp, Judy can start to piece together what Barbara’s life is like and the issues she was having in her family. Through talking with one of the counsellors, Judy learns that Barbara’s case is nothing like Bears and she wasn’t hurt by her family. She ran from them.
Judy is able to find where Barbara is hiding out and ultimately decides to leave her be. She worked hard to get away from the people who are causing her harm, and she shouldn’t have to go back to their world if it’s not what she wants. Judy wants to protect this young girls desire to be her own person and to not be sucked into the secrets and the lies.
It wasn’t a bad ending, but I don’t know, it didn’t feel like the greatest either. I am glad Barbra was safe from her family, but still, it just felt like something was missing.
I hope you enjoyed this review. Thank you for checking it out! Feel free to subscribe to the blog to be one of the first to know when I release a new review!
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