Jul 17

Jul 17 The God of the Woods

About the book

Author: Liz Moore
Publisher: Riverhead

More info:
The Story G raph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

Buy and support indie bookstores (+ I earn a small commission):
Bookshop.org (print) | Libro.fm (audio)

My Review

The God of the Woods is the latest literary mystery from Liz Moore, and it delivers! People have been calling this the book of the summer for a reason, and I liked it a lot.

Bonus, for me: It’s set in the Adirondack Mountains, which is one of my favorite places on the planet. They’re not far from me, and every time I go, I’m itching to go back before I’ve even left. Moore nails the setting.

I call this a “literary” mystery for a reason: It’s fast-paced enough to hook your attention but also long enough to feel rich and rewarding (possibly a TOUCH too long, but not enough to elicit any major complaints from me). Moore spends more time with the characters and their relationships than a genre mystery novel would in order to widen the lens beyond the whodunnit, and I think she’s successful. In particular, I was a big fan of the focus on the women of this story — from the awkwardness of adolescence, to relationship abuse, to misogyny in traditionally male career fields, to the trappings of (men’s) generational wealth.

Also, the audiobook was great — just pay close attention to the time stamps at the start of each chapter, because it bounces around in time a lot.

If you like character-driven mysteries and atmospheric writing, pick this one up for sure!