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I’m not really sure if I’m going to put together a proper Best Reads list for 2024. I always mean to, and sometimes I manage something over on Bookstagram, but ever since they got rid of Guides (a little-used but beloved-by-some-especially-me feature that allowed you to create a pretty handy list), I have been less & less inspired. Making Reels can feel like a draining process at times & I am Extremely Tired. So yeah, we’ll see. 

But if I were to make some type of a list at the end of the year, one thing I would always try to avoid would be having two books by the same author in that list. 

Liz Moore has messed this all up for me. 

Because there’s no way I could, in good conscience, come up with a best-of list for my 2024 reads that didn’t include both LONG BRIGHT RIVER and THE GOD OF THE WOODS. 

I don’t want to get too in the weeds comparing & contrasting the two books, because they are very different. I think on a pure story level, LONG BRIGHT RIVER spoke to me a little bit more, but I’d also say that THE GOD OF THE WOODS feels like a giant leap forward in terms of the quality/intricacy of the writing, which I wouldn’t have thought possible.

What I’m saying is that I think Liz Moore is a monstrously gifted writer & while I’ve only read two of her books, I could not be more impressed.

This is also (probably) the only time I’ve ever had a book in common with Barack Obama for our Best Of list (actually this was on his Summer Reading List, but the point stands), so that is certainly a thing that happened. 

ANYWAY.

THE GOD IN THE WOODS is a lot of things all at once. There are several different interconnected mysteries happening here, and a sprawling cast of characters. There’s a lot of dark family secrets/drama, a lot to do with who does & doesn’t have power in this world, and oh yeah, an escaped serial killer prowling the woods. Oof.

The book also bounces around in time quite a lot, which can occasionally be a bit dizzying, but is never hard to follow. The level of detail given to each character, regardless of how big a role they play, is astonishing. 

At the center of things is the extremely wealthy Van Laar family, owners of a large chunk of land in the Adirondacks, and  founders of the prestigious summer camp, Camp Emerson. In 1975, Barbara Van Laar is attending camp for the first time. She’s thirteen, she dresses in kind of a punk/goth style, and she’s been having disciplinary problems at her private school. 

Before she was born, Barbara had a brother, known as Bear, who went missing from the camp. Bear’s disappearance is kind of the catalyst for all the events in this book, although we do explore a lot of time before he was born as well. But for sure, Bear’s disappearance has had a catastrophic effect on the Van Laar family, which has ultimately left Barbara feeling a bit…ignored & misunderstood by her own family. Barbara’s mother, Alice, is just kind of sleepwalking through life. She is profoundly traumatized, and has been emotionally abused & manipulated over the years. 

As the book opens, we learn that Barbara (after a relatively successful & eventful first couple months at camp) slips out of her cabin one night and, like her brother before her, vanishes without a trace. 

I’ve already spent more time getting into plot details than I wanted to here, and I feel like I’ve just barely scratched the surface of what’s going on in this book. As I mentioned, the cast of characters is extensive, but I did want to highlight a couple of favorites. 

T. J. Hewitt is the camp director, like her father before her. T. J. fucking rules, takes no shit, and is a hardcore survivalist. Her & her father are like the blue collar contrast to the Van Laars: hardworking, straightforward, determined, serious. I don’t know, just something about T. J. that I loved from the beginning, and she plays a pivotal role in the story. She is deeply connected to the Van Laar family & to both of the kids that disappeared. She comes off as rigid and really particular about, well, everything. But underneath the sort of stony exterior, 

T. J. cares deeply for the kids at the camp, in particular Barbara.

Judyta Luptak, better known as Judy, is the first woman to be hired as a state investigator. Judy’s chapters are what keeps this book rooted in the mystery/crime space, as she doggedly questions anyone and everyone at the camp about Barbara’s disappearance. Judy faces a ton of misogyny in her role, and her home life is…complex. She’s in her mid-twenties and lives with her parents & brothers, but her family is kind of toxic in terms of just…letting Judy go be her own person. She’s really smart & intuitive, but she has to navigate this world very carefully. 

THE GOD OF THE WOODS is just so fucking good, oof. A sprawling, masterfully plotted epic with twists I never saw coming. It’s a big book with relatively short chapters, which made the whole thing feel that much more compelling. Just that rare book that is so hard to put down, and one I couldn’t wait to get lost in every night. I think Liz Moore is as good as it gets when it comes to writing riveting, character focused mysteries. This is such a special story. For certain one of my favorite books of the year!