We at Crime Fiction Lover have the pleasure of reading so many brand new crime, mystery and thriller novels each year that we rarely have time to go back and catch up on a book we may have wanted to read, but missed. The God of the Woods, the 2024 slow-burn police procedural and family saga by Liz Moore, was worth that backward trek.

The main story takes place in summer 1975 at the property of the wealthy Van Laar family in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. Their elaborate lakeside home is located in a vast land preserve that includes a summer camp.

The Camp Emerson kids have no contact with the Van Laars, but they do share stories with each other – especially scary ones. There’s the ghost of Old Jones, there’s Scary Mary, a woman who haunts the surrounding woods, there’s Slitter, a serial killer captured nearby and now – probably, maybe – in prison and, most frightening of all, the disappearance of eight-year-old Bear Van Larr 14 years earlier.

Bear was a much-loved only child, and his body has never been found. A massive investigation ended up pointing at a gardener for the Van Laars, but the case was closed when the man died of a heart attack before he could be prosecuted.

Now, in August 1975, another Van Laar child has gone missing, 13-year-old Barbara , a first-time camper. One morning she’s not in her bunk; she’s nowhere to be found. Once again, the family and the authorities pull out all the stops as they search for her in the woods, dive the lake, question every motive and expose every secret.

What makes this book so enjoyable to read is the fascinating cast of characters Moore has developed. Because the story is told from multiple points of view, you get to know these characters and their suspicions, strengths and weaknesses. The story gradually unfolds, doubles back on itself and allows for several interpretations of events.

One of the principal characters is Alice, mother of Bear and Barbara. She married into the Van Laar family when too young and malleable and has been easily dominated by the family’s strong men. Her son Bear was the only person she connected with and his loss has about broken her. She simply hasn’t been able to recreate such a bond with prickly and stubborn Barbara.

Judyta Luptak, first female investigator in the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, is part of the team investigating Barbara’s disappearance. She is dogged in her rather open-ended assignments, pursuing leads her male colleagues don’t even consider. She learns the family has little affection for Barbara and her heavy makeup, eccentric clothing and black-dyed hair.

TJ Hewitt, the camp director and daughter of its first director, knows more about survival in the woods than she can impress upon the campers in one summer, but she is determined to teach them as much as she can about how to be safe, in preparation for the camp’s unannounced Survival Trips. Laura, the counsellor for Barbara’s cabin, fears for her job, and Tracy, a generally friendless girl whom Barbara had entrusted with her secrets, fears for her friend.

The Van Laar men are preoccupied with their family banking business and surround themselves with business partners, potential clients and high-profile celebrities, who descend on the mansion, named ‘Self-Reliance’ – why this name is ironic comes out in the story – for their annual debauched summer weekend.

It’s in the midst of camp season and it is during this weekend that Barbara disappears. Family members are always a starting point in a child’s disappearance, and the Van Laars don’t disappoint in terms of deserving scrutiny. Both Barbara’s father and her grandfather, who had been with Bear when he disappeared, receive a close look, as does the irresponsible son of the Van Laar’s lawyer, who may have been Barbara’s mysterious boyfriend and Louise’s fiancé. The fact that a killer has escaped from prison adds to desperate tenor of the search.

Though the tension is high, the story unwinds at a deliberate pace. Steadily accumulating information reveals relationships and consequences, some buried deep in the past. The head of the investigation, who made his mark in closing the Bear Van Laar case, doesn’t want to revisit those earlier events, but inevitably, possible connections between the two disappearances must be considered, and the story builds on the ever-popular elements of a cold case investigation.

Both the point of view character and the chronology are clearly indicated at the head of each chapter, and it is not difficult to keep track of when and where in the story you are. Readers who prefer an action-packed thriller may not warm to this pace, but I found it very realistic in mimicking the painstaking assembly of evidence in a complicated investigation. Still, overwhelmingly, it is the characters and their complexities that make this story shine.

Moore is the author of the crime novel Long Bright River, among others.

Like the Adirondack setting? Try Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell or You Can Tell Me by Melinda Leigh.

The Borough Press
Print
£9.49

CFL Rating: 5 Stars