Summary of The God of the Woods

Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods is a haunting, richly layered literary thriller that grips from its first page and doesn’t let go. Set against the wild, atmospheric backdrop of the Adirondacks, the novel opens in August 1975 when thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from her family’s prestigious summer camp. Her disappearance sends shockwaves through the privileged Van Laar family and the tight-knit working-class community that depends on them. But Barbara’s absence isn’t the first to haunt the camp—fourteen years earlier, her older brother also disappeared without a trace. Two siblings gone, one family forever changed. As the search for Barbara intensifies, Moore weaves a masterful tapestry of voices and timelines, exploring not only the mystery of what happened that night but also the intricate tensions between wealth and class, privilege and survival. The Van Laars—powerful, secretive, and fractured—stand at the center of it all, their legacy intertwined with the lives of those who serve them. Beneath the surface of the idyllic lakes and dense forests lies a history of betrayal, grief, and unspoken truths waiting to resurface. What begins as a missing-persons case evolves into something far deeper: an excavation of buried pain, generational trauma, and the invisible lines that divide families and communities. Moore’s writing pulses with suspense and emotion, her characters drawn with a complexity that makes every revelation both shocking and inevitable. Evocative and propulsive, The God of the Woods is part mystery, part family saga, and part elegy for innocence lost. Through it, Liz Moore examines how secrets can echo across generations and how, even in the darkest places, the human spirit strains toward redemption. It’s a mesmerizing novel of disappearance, survival, and the fragile threads that bind us together—and tear us apart.