"When Barbara Van Laar is discovered missing from her summer camp bunk one morning in August 1975, it triggers a panicked, terrified search. Losing a camper is a horrific tragedy under any circumstances, but Barbara isn't just any camper, she's the daughter of the wealthy family who owns the camp--as well as the opulent nearby estate, and most of the land in sight. And this isn't the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared in this region: Barbara's older brother also went missing 16 years earlier, never to be found. How could this have happened yet again? Out of this gripping beginning, Liz Moore weaves a richly textured drama, both emotionally nuanced and propelled by a double-barreled mystery. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the community working in its shadow, Moore's multi-threaded drama brings readers into the hearts of characters whose lives are forever changed by this eventful summer: Barbara's wounded, grieving mother; the "townie" whose family makes a living off this land; the 13-year-old camper struggling to find her way; and the outsider tasked with seeing the bigger picture, and uncovering the truth.”--
Praise for The God of the Woods
" The God of the Woods, like The Secret History, transports readers so deeply into its richly peopled, ominous world that, for hours, everything else falls away. . . . Breaking free of the spell Moore casts is close to impossible."
--Washington Post
--The New Yorker
"Hugely satisfying . . . . Moore cleverly guides us through that tangle of trails, to a thrilling and unexpected conclusion."
--Boston Globe
"Liz Moore's extraordinary new literary suspense novel reminds me of Donna Tartt's 1992 debut, The Secret History. . . . [T]he vital connection for me was a reading experience where I was so thoroughly submerged in a rich fictional world, that for hours I barely came up for air. . . . The precision of Moore's writing never flags. . . . Unforgettable."
--Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air, NPR
"Her fictional summer camp felt as vivid to me as my own."
-- The New York Times