For readers drawn to the literary crime tradition — where setting, character psychology, and class dynamics matter as much as the mystery itself — The God of the Woods represents exactly the kind of work the genre produces at its most accomplished. The New York Times named it both a best thriller and a best crime novel of the year, People Magazine named it its number-one book of the year, and Rebecca Makkai called it a novel that "will stick with me for a very long time." The key caveat is scope: at nearly 450 pages with multiple timelines and a large ensemble, the novel rewards patient readers rather than those seeking lean, propulsive crime fiction.

Liz Moore

About This Author

Reviewed

March 22, 2026

Updated

October 30, 2026

Read Time

9 min read

Age & reading levelAdult

Reader rating

4.4 · 132,794 Amazon ratings

reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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The God Of The Woods

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore Review: A Gripping Literary Thriller with Real Depth

by Liz Moore

Liz Moore's The God of the Woods is a New York Times bestseller and one of the best books of the year — a multi-threaded literary thriller set in the Adirondacks that weaves a decades-spanning mystery of two disappearing children into a sharply observed portrait of class, family abuse, and inherited power. Published in 2024 by The Borough Press, the novel spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List as of April 2025 and earned starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist, cementing Moore's standing as one of contemporary fiction's most ambitious voices.

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Adultsustained domestic abuse (spousal physical and psychological violence) · parental psychological and physical cruelty toward a child

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who want their crime fiction to carry the weight of a family saga and social novel — particularly those drawn to multi-timeline, ensemble-cast stories where class dynamics, parental failure, and community trauma matter as much as the mystery itself.

Worth it if

You appreciate literary crime fiction in the tradition of Donna Tartt — where richly realised characters, a vividly rendered historical setting, and slow-burn structural intrigue reward patient, immersive reading over propulsive plot mechanics.

Skip if

You prefer lean, fast-paced thrillers with a single timeline and minimal cast, or are sensitive to sustained depictions of domestic abuse, parental cruelty, and the long aftermath of child loss.

What readers & critics say

Kirkus Reviews selected the novel for its Best Books of 2024 list, praising Moore's structural control — calling it "ever-expansive, intricate, emotionally engaging" yet never overplotted — and awarded it a "GET IT" verdict. Barnes & Noble's product page surfaces starred reviews from both reviewers ("This astonishes") and reviewers ("a compulsively readable novel that will appeal to fans of mysteries and historical fiction alike"), and confirms its status as a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year; Wikipedia records the novel spending 38 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List as of April 2025.

“Moore's blend of domestic drama and crime novel — 'Don't go into the woods' takes on unsettling new meaning.”

— Kirkus Reviews

Sources: Kirkus Reviews, Barnes & Noble, Wikipedia

4.4from 132,794 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

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The God of the Woods is Liz Moore's fourth novel — a multi-threaded literary thriller set in the Adirondack Mountains that follows the disappearance of thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar from Camp Emerson in 1975, a vanishing that dredges up the decades-old unsolved case of her brother Bear and exposes the Van Laar family's long-buried secrets. Named a New York Times best thriller and best crime novel of the year, with starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and 38 weeks on the bestseller list, it is one of the most acclaimed works of literary crime fiction of 2024. The ideal reader is one who wants crime fiction that carries the weight of a family saga and the density of a social novel; those seeking a lean, fast-paced thriller may find its nearly 450-page scope demanding.

Is it worth reading?: For readers drawn to the literary crime tradition — where setting, character psychology, and class dynamics matter as much as the mystery itself — The God of the Woods represents exactly the kind of work the genre produces at its most accomplished. The New York Times named it both a best thriller and a best crime novel of the year, People Magazine named it its number-one book of the year, and Rebecca Makkai called it a novel that "will stick with me for a very long time." The key caveat is scope: at nearly 450 pages with multiple timelines and a large ensemble, the novel rewards patient readers rather than those seeking lean, propulsive crime fiction.
Similar books: Readers who love The God of the Woods tend to gravitate toward richly atmospheric literary mysteries and family sagas with strong social undercurrents. Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing shares the novel's sense of a lush, isolated natural setting, a missing-person mystery, and a deeply felt portrait of class and outsider status. William Kent Krueger's Ordinary Grace offers a comparable mix of small-town tragedy, family grief, and moral reckoning told through a multi-character lens. Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch — like The God of the Woods — is a long, densely peopled novel that follows the long shadow of a single traumatic event across years and lives. For readers drawn to the historical legal and social texture Moore deploys, Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River and Claire Lombardo's The Most Fun We Ever Had both deliver the kind of multi-generational family architecture and patient, reward-heavy storytelling that characterizes Moore's work.
Who should read this?: The God of the Woods is designed for adult readers who want their crime fiction to carry the weight of a family saga and the density of a social novel. It is ideal for fans of literary crime fiction who appreciate slow-burn revelations, richly drawn ensemble casts, and novels that probe class dynamics, parental failure, and institutional power as deeply as they pursue a mystery. Readers who enjoyed Long Bright River, or who are drawn to comparisons with Donna Tartt's The Secret History, are particularly well-positioned for this book.
About Liz Moore: Liz Moore is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer.
Tell me about the adaptation: Netflix has greenlighted a series adaptation of The God of the Woods, to be written and produced by Liz Moore alongside Liz Hannah. Maya Hawke has been cast as Judy Luptack — the young assistant investigator at the center of the mystery — and Kerry Condon is set to play Alice Van Laar, the grief-shattered mother of the missing Barbara. The high-profile cast signals the story's wide crossover appeal beyond the page, and Moore's direct involvement as writer and producer suggests the adaptation will stay close to her original vision.
What are the main themes?: The God of the Woods operates on several interlocking thematic levels simultaneously. At its core, it examines parental failure and the long aftermath of child loss — one character's grief is described by critics as "acutely, painfully real" — alongside sustained depictions of domestic abuse and psychological cruelty within the Van Laar family. The novel is equally a social novel: critics called it "chillingly astute about the invisible boundaries demarcating social class," tracing the power the Van Laars hold over the working-class community left adrift after their paper mill closed. Gender and institutional power run through the investigation strand, as Judy Luptack navigates a bullying father and male colleagues who openly question whether women are suited for investigative work.
Where should I start with Liz Moore?: The God of the Woods is Liz Moore's most acclaimed novel to date and works as a standalone, making it a natural starting point for new readers. For those who want to begin with her earlier work, Long Bright River — which explores families fractured by trauma, addiction, and systemic failure — is the most direct predecessor in terms of theme and approach, and reading it illuminates how Moore has expanded those concerns into the larger historical and social canvas of The God of the Woods. Moore's publisher has described The God of the Woods as her most ambitious novel, so readers can move in either direction.

Summarize this book

Is it worth reading?

Who should read this?

About Liz Moore

Tell me about the adaptation

What are the main themes?

Where should I start with Liz Moore?

Summarize this book

The God of the Woods opens on a summer morning in 1975 at Camp Emerson, a sleepaway camp in the Adirondack Mountains owned by the wealthy Van Laar family, when thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar is discovered missing from her bunk — an event that immediately recalls the unsolved disappearance of her older brother Bear from the same property years before. Young assistant investigator Judy Luptack presses the case despite institutional resistance, while the novel peels back the Van Laars' secrets: a husband who cruelly abuses his wife, a mother shattered by grief over Bear, and a community of working-class locals whose livelihoods depend entirely on the Van Laars' goodwill after the closure of their paper mill. Moving across multiple timelines and a large ensemble cast, the novel is — as Kirkus Reviews described it — "ever-expansive, intricate, emotionally engaging" yet never overplotted, with critics and The New Yorker and Washington Post both highlighting its dexterous handling of class tension and its richly realized social world.

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What are the main themes?

Where and when is it set?

Does the mystery get resolved?

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A New York Times bestseller, a named best crime novel of the year, and a Netflix adaptation in development — Liz Moore's fourth novel arrived in 2024 as one of the most acclaimed works of literary crime fiction in recent memory.

What the Novel Is and What Happens in It

The God of the Woods opens on a summer morning in 1975 at Camp Emerson, a sleepaway camp in the Adirondack Mountains owned by the wealthy Van Laar family. Thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar — a self-described "problem case" whose unhappily married parents openly disdain her goth appearance and what they call her "stormy" temperament — is discovered missing from her bunk.

The disappearance immediately recalls a decades-old wound: Barbara's older brother, Bear, vanished from the same property years earlier, and a local gardener was convicted for it. Now, with escaped serial killer Jacob Sluiter — convicted of eleven murders in the 1960s — loose in the region, speculation runs wild.

Into this charged situation steps Judy Luptack, a young and unproven assistant investigator who presses forward despite a bullying father and male colleagues who openly question whether women are suited for investigative work. As Judy digs deeper, the Van Laar family's secrets unspool: a father who cruelly abuses his wife, a mother so shattered by the loss of Bear that she has no love left for her surviving daughter, and a community of working-class locals whose livelihoods depend entirely on the Van Laars' goodwill after the closure of the local paper mill collapsed the regional job market.

Place in the Genre and Its Cultural Significance

The novel arrived with a reception that placed it at the intersection of literary fiction and crime writing. The New York Times named it both a best thriller and a best crime novel of the year, and also included it among its Notable Books of the Year.

People Magazine named it its number-one book of the year. Publishers Weekly awarded it a starred review, calling it astonishing, and one review described it as "a compulsively readable novel that will appeal to fans of mysteries and historical fiction alike."

The book spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List as of April 2025, a figure that places it among the more enduring commercial successes of recent literary fiction. Netflix has greenlighted a series adaptation, to be written and produced by Moore alongside Liz Hannah, with Maya Hawke cast as Judy Luptack and Kerry Condon set to play Alice Van Laar — a development that underscores the story's broad cultural traction.

What the Novel Does Exceptionally Well

Kirkus Reviews, in selecting the book for its Best Books of 2024 list, praised Moore's structural control directly: the novel is "ever-expansive, intricate, emotionally engaging" yet "never seems overplotted," with every piece falling "skillfully into place" and every character, major and minor, leaving an imprint. That is a meaningful compliment for a novel of this scope, one that moves between multiple timelines and a large ensemble cast.

Critics called it an "expertly paced thriller" that "plays dexterously with the tension between the wealthy and the working class they employ" — pointing to the novel's social architecture as one of its genuine strengths. Critics characterized it as "intricate" and "chillingly astute about the invisible boundaries demarcating social class," while a critic's own review argued the book is "more than just a mystery about children lost in the woods" — that it concerns "the relationships between parents and children and haves and have-nots," describing one character's grief over a lost child as "acutely, painfully real."

The California Review of Books credited Moore's "inventiveness of the multiple stories and the effective structuring of past and present" as the engine of the novel's commercial and artistic success.

How It Connects to Moore's Wider Work

Moore built her reputation with Long Bright River, a novel that also explored families fractured by trauma, addiction, and systemic failure. The God of the Woods extends those thematic concerns — abuse, parental failure, communities hollowed out by economic forces beyond their control — into a larger, more historically grounded canvas.

Rebecca Makkai, the New York Times bestselling author of I Have Some Questions For You, described it as "about the many ways we find and lose both ourselves and others," adding that it "will stick with me for a very long time." The novel has been compared to Donna Tartt's The Secret History for the way it, as critics noted, transports readers "so deeply into its richly peopled, ominous world that, for hours, everything else falls away."

Moore's publisher has described it as her most ambitious and wide-reaching novel to date.

Who This Novel Is For — and Where It Demands Patience

The God of the Woods is designed for readers who want their crime fiction to carry the weight of a family saga and the density of a social novel. Its multi-threaded structure, multiple timelines, and large ensemble reward patient readers who appreciate slow-burn revelations over propulsive plotting.

The California Review of Books noted that readers found themselves "anxiously turning pages" to discover what happens next, but the novel's breadth — nearly 450 pages, with extensive secondary mysteries and background detail — means readers seeking a lean, stripped-down thriller may find the scope demanding. The book contains depictions of domestic abuse, spousal and parental psychological and physical violence, and the long aftermath of child loss; readers who are sensitive to those subjects should approach with that knowledge.

For those drawn to the literary crime tradition — where setting, character psychology, and class dynamics matter as much as the mystery itself — the novel represents exactly the kind of work the genre produces at its most accomplished.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

Cited in this review
1
The God of the Woods - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
2
The God of the Woods: A Novel by Liz Moore, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®
barnesandnoble.com
3
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: 9780593418925 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
penguinrandomhouse.com
Further reading
4
Liz Moore — author profile
Liz Moore, LuvemBooks
5
THE GOD OF THE WOODS | Kirkus Reviews
kirkusreviews.com
6
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
bookofthemonth.com
7
The God Of The Woods — Liz Moore
lizmoore.net
8
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: Summary and Reviews
bookbrowse.com
9
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: Review and Analysis - Jen Ryland Reviews
jenryland.com
10
My Fab Fifties Life - Book Review The God of the Woods by Liz Moore - My Fab Fifties Life
myfabfiftieslife.com
11
Book Review: God of the Woods by Liz Moore
magpiebyjenshoop.com

Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Adult

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4 content notes · who it suits

Content to know about

sustained domestic abuse (spousal physical and psychological violence)

parental psychological and physical cruelty toward a child

child disappearance and child loss

wrongful conviction

Best for: Adults — sustained depictions of domestic abuse, parental cruelty, and child loss make this best suited to mature adult readers

Skip if you want a lean, fast-paced crime thriller rather than a dense, multi-timeline literary family saga

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Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia Owens

Same wild-landscape setting — a young woman abandoned by family becomes the center of a decades-spanning murder case.

Kya Clark grows up unseen in the North Carolina marshes, just as Barbara Van Laar disappears into the Adirondack woods — both novels use remote, elemental nature as a force that shapes and conceals its characters. Readers drawn to literary crime fiction rooted in a specific landscape will move between these two books effortlessly.

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Ordinary Grace

William Kent Krueger

A boy narrates a summer murder in 1960s small-town Minnesota — same period atmosphere, same collision of innocence with a family's buried violence.

In our catalogue

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

A traumatic childhood loss drives a decades-long story of guilt and class — literary depth, a propulsive plot, and a deeply unreliable sense of belonging.

In our catalogue

The Frozen River

Ariel Lawhon

Historical crime, a woman investigator defying a closed male community, and a trial hinging on buried secrets — shares the same period-set feminist suspense energy.

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The Most Fun We Ever Had

Claire Lombardo

If the dark abuse themes felt relentless, this multigenerational family saga offers the same complexity and literary ambition with warmth and dark comedy instead.