The God of the Woods
The God of the Woods ~ Liz Moore
Barbara Van Laar is a 13 year old girl at a summer camp owned by her wealthy parents. One morning in 1975, her bunk is empty, and she is discovered to be missing. Her camp counselor is worried that she will be blamed, and for just reason.
The mystery behind The God of The Woods is what happened to Barbara. Her older brother, Bear, went missing at the age of 8, a year before Barbara was born, and was never found. Are their fates entwined? There are plenty of suspects. There is her camp counselor. There is the son of the family lawyer, who has been dating the camp counselor. There is the escaped inmate, who was imprisoned years ago for a series of murders. And what’s up with Barbara’s parents, Peter and Alice? Peter is controlling and domineering, Alice is fragile and alcoholic. Both are distant and distracted when it comes to Barbara.
I liked this book OK, I didn’t mind the twists and turns that it took. I liked the characters (though when the camp counselor finds Barbara missing, and her first instinct is CYA and not ‘Find the GIRL’ I was pissed off and decided I was going to hate her, but I came around.) Recommended, but I didn’t LOVE it.
What’s with all the book reviews? NaBloPoMo is over and we thought we were finished with these. Apparently not. I had thought to double up some reviews but ran out of time and steam near the end. So there will be a few more book reviews, maybe daily this week, maybe not. We’ll see. These are not pre-written, which will slow me down. For more NaBloPoMo participants, check out San’s list.
27 Comments
Alexandra
So so many books to read and so little time in which to read them all. Maybe give this one a miss.
J
So.Many.Books.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Huh… now that is interesting since everyone just loves this book.
I will read it and get my own opinion but still interesting.
So will you continue the review until all books are covered you red or is this the odd one out?
J
I’m cleaning out my inbox, as it were. Meaning, I have a few more I’m going to review before I’m done for the year.
Tierney
I am not into thrillers but I feel like this book has been everywhere. It’s good to end on a popular book for a month of really stellar reviews. Thank you so much!
J
I would be hesitant to call this a thriller. It’s a slow meandering story (which I like) with plenty of twists and turns.
Margaret
I do like twists and turns as long as they’re not too contrived. Perhaps that’s my problem with thrillers in general?
J
I also am not into the genre in general, and yes, they can feel contrived (as do romantic books a lot for me as well.)
Nicole MacPherson
I just wrote about this on my blog! I liked it fine, it’s not my usual genre but it was pretty entertaining. As I put in my review, there is a line about Thoreau which completely elevated the whole thing for me and made me think that the author and I are one about the topic!
Maya
I was just about to say the same thing…
Nicole, when I saw the book on your post, I thought that pink string was a quirky bookmark. HAHAHA
J
You also are a Thoreau basher? I just asked my Maya if she thought he was more of a ‘dick or a douche’, and she said he’s a ‘Thoruche’. HA!
Maya
That’s some seriously impressive wordplay… now I feel I’m not worthy of my name 😀
J
LOL, she was an English major in college, and is pretty clever too. <3
J
Thoreau was such a douche, right?
Jenny
I also liked this book but didn’t LOVE it. I’m not a huge fan of books told from the perspective of different characters, and switching timelines. But it was good enough- it held my attention and I definitely wanted to find out what happened in the end.
J
Yes, I was definitely invested and wanted to know what happened to Barbara and to Bear as well.
Suzanne
I was a little more lukewarm on this book than a lot of people, so I’m kind of pleased that it wasn’t your favorite either. It was fine! I found it very readable! Not quite sure what my problem was, but it just didn’t wow me.
J
It is quite popular, isn’t it? Maybe I’m missing something. I mean, it was good and kept me engaged, I just didn’t LOVE it.
Ernie
Dang. I could have sworn I commented. I sometimes read blogs while on the stationary bike. Then I comment from my laptop because it’s easier, but I must have failed to follow thru. This book sounds good, but I agree. The counselor’s initial reaction would have irritated me too. Looking forward to more book reviews. These have been great.
J
Ernie, I have the same situation. Mine is mostly Blogger blogs, where I can’t comment using my iPad, but I will sometimes read them and then come back later and comment on my laptop. Or THINK I have commented…
Sandy Sheins
This book sounds interesting. my mom said that if I did some household chores, like carpet cleaning, dusting, and unloading the dishes, she would buy me this book as a gift. I know she would buy it for me regardless, but I am happy to serve for an hour or two to feel like I deserve the book.
Allison McCaskill
I’m not going to read this too carefully because I’m just about to start the book. I’m really interested to see where on the spectrum of opinions I end up.
J
I’m trying to be careful with my reviews, to not give too much away. I hate when a good story is ruined by knowing too much too soon!
NGS
I think I liked this one more than most people. I found it to be a real page turner and I didn’t guess any of the twists. I don’t really read a lot of thrillers, though, so maybe that’s why it was so surprising to me.
J
I also did not expect the twists that came along!
Karen Meg
I’ll have to review your posts for some good reading inspiration- it’s a lot of work writing these book reviews – so thank you for the round up!
J
Thanks Karen! I kept mine pretty brief, so not too much work. But I have a whole month’s worth for you to look over!