The God of the Woods starts out at a summer camp in the summer of 1975 when Barbara Van Laar, the daughter of the wealthy family who owns the camp and the surrounding estate, goes missing. Through three decades and eight different perspectives, Liz Moore unfurls a masterful, multi-layered mystery that explores the impact of class and privilege. 

When I started out, I had a hard time keeping track of the cast of characters and how everything and everyone intersects. On the face of it, there is a lot going on, but I quickly eased into the flow and the world of Camp Emerson and the Van Laar Preserve. The character development throughout the story was very well done - I enjoyed seeing through Judyta and her struggles as she comes into her own as an investigator. Delving into Louise's background and how her story ended was particularly satisfying. Although TJ wasn't a perspective character, she was one that I found myself thinking about the most and how integral she was overall to the Van Laar children. 

While I enjoyed how the mystery played out, some of the false directions felt off right away. In particular, the threads on TJ and Vic being involved nefariously, which made it less believable for me and took me out of the story a bit. I also didn't fully understand where the fear with Bear and his grandfather was meant to go and it felt slightly unresolved. However, the final turns were well built up and the ending was incredible satisfying. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a layered mystery and is willing to dive into a full cast of characters. Thank you very much to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the advanced copy.