I’ve been looking for a satisfying combination of historical fiction, mystery, crime thriller, and literary fiction (something along the lines of Homecoming) for some time now. This is really my favorite genre. And The God of the Woods, with its multiple perspectives that take us on a tour through time zones, wandering through the minds of very different characters, and seeing the world through their eyes, really hit this sweet spot for me.
About The God of the Woods
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
The mystery is pretty good and well-layered. By that, I mean there isn’t one big twist, but lots of little puzzles to solve to reveal the bigger picture of what actually happened, both in the present of the novel (1975) and years earlier, when a young boy disappeared (1961). You can suspect everyone and yet still not figure out the whole story. So, that’s good.
I especially loved how Liz Moore explored the situations of women during that time – women of all classes, mostly reacting to the shitty men around them. I got really invested in all the female characters in this story. Louise, who’s willing to do whatever it takes to bring her family out of poverty, until she realizes how ruthlessly she will be sacrificed by her rich fiancé. Alice – the good girl who marries according to her family’s wishes, but pays a massive price for her obedience.
Funnily, it’s the women who don’t abide by the rules of the time who seem to do better – Judyta, the female police detective investigating the disappearances, TJ, the mannish director of the camp, and even the schoolgirls in the camp who are coming of age in a more egalitarian era.
The writing is lush and descriptive, placing you firmly amidst mountains and trees. The mystery builds slowly up to what should be a crescendo. And yet, the ending leaves much to be desired. Based on the title and a couple of lines in the book about Scary Mary and references to Pan, I expected a lot more mystery and maybe even a touch of the supernatural.
[The word “panic”] came from the Greek god Pan: the god of the woods. He liked to trick people, to confuse and disorient them until they lost their bearings, and their minds.
To panic… was to make an enemy of the forest. To stay calm was to be its friend.
I think this book is better enjoyed if you go into it with the expectation of a dysfunctional family story with elements of mystery, rather than with the mystery itself as the focus.
While I enjoyed the mystery and did not guess the ending, it’s not really the core part of the story, which remains all the dysfunction and the inter-personal relationships and generational trauma that lead up to the tragedy.
