I was first introduced to Liz Moore a few years ago when I devoured The Unseen World, which I noted in my goodreads review from 2017 as “quietly spectacular.” I remember it being a technologically-driven mystery for super smart people, and I often think about the book even today. This novel, The God of the Woods, is an incredibly different type of book. There’s still a mystery involved, but it’s a much more standard type of mystery. Their commonality exists in the fact that both books are extremely well executed by Moore, a human who is obviously very adept at her craft.
Synopsis
The year is 1975, and the head camp counselor at a summer camp located on the Van Laar Preserve wakes to find an empty bunk. To make matters worse, that empty bunk belongs to the daughter of the camp owners and operators, the wealthy Peter and Alice Van Laar, the current rulers of a long-lasting dynasty dripping with wealth and privilege. As investigators, including the green but enthusiastic Judyta Luptack, work tirelessly to find the 17-year-old before the worst can happen, they find themselves uncovering clues to a fourteen-year-old case involving the disappearance of Barbara’s older brother, Bear, only 8 at the time of his disappearance. While the higher-ups believe the case to be wrapped and the culprit identified and long dead, Judyta starts to uncover decades of secrets, lies, and buried injustices that throw everything into question.
Review
This is an ambitious story with so many layers. Under less competent hands, it could easily have become convoluted or too messy to hold the reader’s interest. Moore, however, seems to have found a way for every character to have his or her place in a tapestry that becomes something really beautiful, though profoundly sad in so many ways, which makes for a very satisfying conclusion. Thematically, class and gender play a huge role in the narrative. Alice, the matriarch of the Van Laar family, seeming on the outside to be a trophy wife of privilege, quietly grows smaller under the crushing weight of her powerlessness in her marriage. It’s devastating to see how Alice’s slow erosion of self has affected her relationship with her own daughter, Alice seemingly being incapable of developing any kind of a lasting bond to the person who depends on her the most.
There are far too many vital characters in this book to analyze fully enough to emphasize their importance, and Moore did every one of them justice. There are a couple of characters who deserve no sympathy whatsoever, save for maybe the fact that their upbringing gave them no opportunity for the development of empathy. This is an important aspect of the book, as it speaks to the harm that can come to civilized society when power and wealth is concentrated so wholly with so few.
I’m not sure what else I could say about this book without giving too much away, because it’s a gift that’s worth unwrapping slowly to savor the flood of emotions it inspires. While I don’t think I was as blown away by it as I was with The Unseen World, I still feel the need to rate it five stars for Moore’s unique ability to craft such a powerful story involving so many complex and intriguing characters.
Published July 2, 2024 by Penguin Audio. ISBN 9780008663827. Runtime 14hrs 35mins. Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld.
Karen Marie Moning has a pretty big fan base, but I’m admittedly a newbie to her work. Simply from the title, I thought I was picking up a haunted house tale, but that’s not what this is. It is a tale in which a woman inherits a creepy old house from a relative she didn’t know existed, but that’s where the similarities with other novels in the Gothic house trope end. From there, this one becomes a tale of centuries old covens and magical beings. Oh, and it’s the first of a new trilogy. If I’m being completely realistic, I can see this one being one that falls off my radar and I never finish the trilogy. Let’s get into why… 
Any time Liane Moriarty releases a new title, it’s highly anticipated. While I can’t say any of her more recent books have quite blown me away like Big Little Lies which sparked a near obsession in me, I haven’t read any I didn’t like. This particular book has a slightly different tone. The mystery is a bit more understated. 
In February, 1959, a group of hikers, all but one college-aged, but all highly experienced hikers who were quite adequately prepared for their hike into the North Ural Mountains in Russia, perished on their journey under highly mysterious circumstances. Over the past more than 60 years following the incident, numerous theories have abounded, from the natural (avalanche) to the supernatural (aliens) to the human (government conspiracy). Not one of these theories can completely explain every detail of the circumstances surrounding their deaths. What on Earth could cause 9 intelligent, skilled, and experienced young hikers to flee the safety and warmth of their tent in dangerously frigid temperatures without even the protection of shoes? 
Troubled teen, Cindra, having been convicted in an armed robbery scheme along with her boyfriend, arrives at Camp Challenge, a reform camp for girls located in Montana. A former city girl, she will have to navigate her new world in the American west, a world of cowboys and vast wilderness. While at camp, she meets Lucky Turtle, a native man who works at the camp as a driver. Lucky tells her his Aunt told him they were destined to be together. From that moment on, they are thrown into a love story that will span decades and miles and include unbearable hardships. 
I’ll start this review by saying that it was a terrible choice. I’m not saying it’s a terrible book, but it wasn’t a great choice to begin. I’ve never read any of this author’s work before now, and from what I’ve read about the author, this is something that was a little different for him. Le Carré, born David John Moore Cornwell, was a former intelligence officer and British author of numerous beloved novels of espionage. His George Smiley spy novels have amassed a cult following and his work has inspired numerous adaptations for film and television, including 2005’s The Constant Gardener and 2011’s Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. Following his death in 2020, his son, Nick Cornwell, a writer who publishes under the pen name Nick Harkaway, decided to continue the George Smiley series. In addition, he released his dad’s last manuscript, one which the author had chosen not to publish. According to Harkaway in the afterward for the novel, he believes his father didn’t publish Silverview because it “does something that no other le Carré novel ever has. It shows a service fragmented: filled with its own political factions, not always kind to those it should cherish … and ultimately not sure, any more, that it can justify itself.”
This is quite possibly the most difficult review I’ll write for 2024. Yes, please ignore the fact that I’m posting my last 3 reviews (3!!!) for 2024 finished books in 2025. Forgive me, I’m not really on my game, as one would say. No… let me change that. That was absolutely on purpose because I’m doing my reviews in a non-linear flashback-laden fashion in honor of this book. You’re buying that, right? Would you instead believe I’ve been stuck in a well for the whole of 2025 having intense life-changing metaphysical experiences? 
Alas, for my shame. This is my choice for my Bad Reader category in 2024- the book I have seen an adaptation of but never picked up. I know, I know!!! How could I have gone through 40 years of life without ever having read A Christmas Carol??? Honestly, maybe I did at some point but the actual book is buried in my brain beneath the various recreations by film, play, muppet and anything else that dared to take on the most quintessential Christmas tale of all time. Trust me… I KNOW A Christmas Carol. Just this year I saw another hour-long dramatized version at Silver Dollar City complete with a very silly version of The Ghost of Christmas present. I’m telling you, she was something else. I don’t really understand why so many dramatized versions choose to do such odd versions of the ghosts unless it’s just to entertain the children, but some of them can be quite annoying. In the novel, Dickens gave all the ghosts the gravity befitting their station. 
A Librarian and Her Books 