The God of the Woods

The disappearances of two children from the same summer camp, fourteen years apart, highlight the divide between the “Haves” and the “Have-Nots” and the trouble that arises when they collide.

This book is a fascinating puzzle of secrets, lies, and mystery. Everyone is suspicious, everyone is hiding something, and as I pieced together what was happening in all the timelines I found myself genuinely surprised by some of the twists. The pacing was great. The camp setting really anchors the different chapters so it never feels choppy when you jump back and forth. Every detail feels intentional. Clues are subtle until the moment they click into place. I never got bored and I loved trying to figure everything out.

It absolutely nails the expectant, nervous, newly-independent feeling of excitement of a kid away at summer camp. The kind of feeling where you have infinite possibilities ahead of you.

There are a lot of really interesting parallels between the different characters and timelines. The newfound independence of a kid going to summer camp for the first time vs a new bride thrust into a higher social class. The responsibility of taking care of someone else and the sacrifices you make to do so. The family you choose vs the family that is chosen for you. And particularly, the deep instinct of self-preservation that exists in every person regardless of their wealth and circumstances.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking for some summer camp nostalgia with a multi-layered mystery that plays out piece by piece. This book will appeal to a lot of different people, but I do think I had a different experience reading this as a mother than I would have before I had a child and it's the parts of the book around motherhood and the innocence of children that are going to stick with me long after.