In summer of 1975 a missing girl causes a frenzy at a camp in upstate New York. Barbara Van Laar, the camper in question, is the teenaged daughter of the family who owns the camp. Barbara’s mother, Alice, sends her to camp, so she won’t have to deal with her angsty daughter all summer. Their relationship is best summarized by this sentiment: “Part of a mother’s duty was to be her daughter’s first, best critic; to fortify her during her childhood, so that in womanhood she could gracefully withstand any assault or insult launched in her direction.” Alice exists in a constant fog sustained by the pills and alcohol she uses to numb the trauma associated with her son’s disappearance in the woods years ago. She also needs it to deal with her husband, a dominating yet aloof man who is part of the dynasty that owns the land the camp sits on. The dynamic of these three is worse than dysfunctional. They seem to be happiest when they are all in separate residences.

A large part of this book centers around the often unspoken grief of everyone who is living with the aftermath of the boy who vanished. When Barbara goes missing as well, the unresolved feelings and the mystery of what happened to the Van Laar boy both resurface. In this there are strong class and power dynamics at play as everyone in the small-town tiptoes around the influential family. This hinders both these investigations. Another part of the book is a much lighter coming of age tale that takes place at camp. Early on Barbara befriends Tracy, a socially awkward camper. Like Barbara, Tracy was sent to camp against her will. It’s fun to see the two of them form a friendship, talk about boys, share secrets and to see Tracy gain confidence through Barbara’s kindness.

Spoiler Alert:

In the end its revealed that Alice accidentally killed her own son 15 years prior. She took him out on a boat in the middle of a storm after having gotten drunk to forget that she had just walked in on her sister sleeping with her husband. In present day, Barbara escapes deep into the woods where she plans to live until she’s 18 and can make her own decisions. I had moments of sympathy for Barbara and Alice and even Alice’s husband. However, I mostly felt like I did at the end of Great Gatsby where I deemed that everybody, Barbara included, kind of sucked. Disappearing felt immature and dramatic. It also felt unlikely she could live in the woods full time for 4 years. For a moment I felt for Alice when she remembered that she was responsible for Bear’s death. But mostly I felt annoyed by her and that no one had stopped her when she took her son out on the lake in a storm. I would have felt for the Van Laar family because no matter how poor their ethics, they didn’t deserve to lose Bear. However, they were hard to like and finding out they covered up Bear’s death to save public embarrassment made it impossible. At times The God of the Woods was reminiscent of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because of the multigenerational murder mystery aspect. It made me wonder if it’s common practice for rich people to murder and cover it up or if it just makes for a good story.

There were a few plotlines whose resolution I wasn’t invest in. The recently escaped mass murderer at large in the woods was too obvious to be Barbara’s abductor as was the old woman who was rumored to roam around the woods screaming. Thankfully the writing was compelling, and I could move through the book quickly rather than getting bogged down in these side plots that were meant to throw you off the scent. It also gave me a certain nostalgia even though I have never been to camp. Overall, this was a fun read and a good palette cleanser after struggling through some denser books.