Into the Woods 

Liz Moore’s “The God of The Woods” is an atmospheric literary thriller.

September 13, 2024
3 min read

Liz Moore’s “The God of The Woods” is an atmospheric literary thriller about a 13-year-old girl who goes missing from an Adirondack woods summer camp in 1975. The girl is the daughter of the powerful Van Laars family, the camp’s privileged owners and employer of many of the town’s blue-collar residents. 

This is not the first time a child of the family has disappeared. Fourteen years earlier, the girl’s older brother vanished under strangely similar circumstances, and this new investigation dredges up the uncomfortable history of that tragic disappearance. Moore’s intercuts between past and present raise questions about prior mistakes and overlooked suspects. As the story unfolds, easy-to-spot villains emerge revealing how power and class link crime and guilt. “The God of The Woods” is a page-turning mystery and family drama that explores the best and worst of wealth, love, and family legacy, and finishes with an unexpected close. 

Summer may have ended, but bestselling author Ruth Ware’s “One Perfect Couple” offers one more beach read that has been described as “Love Island” meets “Lord of the Flies.” From the start, Lyla and Nico’s relationship seems questionable: she’s a focused medical researcher, he’s a “gym-toned” struggling actor. Desperate for a career boost, he convinces her to join a new reality streaming series with a vague show premise: “five couples go in and one comes out.”  

Once shuttled off to a deserted Indonesian island, nothing is as it seems. A devastating storm isolates the contestants, cutting off electricity and dwindling their food and water supply. Mysterious events and violent deaths occur, and a despotic cast member emerges. What starts like a romcom, transitions into a thriller that explores deception, trust, and female empowerment, with Ware’s signature high-tension style. 

PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Joseph O’Neill’s latest book, “Godwin,” takes us on a different kind of journey with two brothers on a desperate mission to track down an African soccer prodigy. Armed with only a grainy video of a young teenager, Geoff, an aspiring soccer agent, lures his half-brother, Mark, on a secret international quest to locate a valuable prospect he believes could be the next Messi. 

The book alternates between Mark’s perspective — a half-hearted employee — and that of Lakesha, his idealistic supervisor and co-founder of a collective of freelance writers. While Mark navigates dysfunctional family dynamics, Lakesha struggles to maintain her leadership in a fractured workplace that provides a sharp critique of contemporary office politics. O’Neill adroitly weaves the narratives together using humor and unexpected twists, and unveils a common undercurrent of capitalism and colonialism. “Godwin” is a smart and entertaining read that surprises with a final intersection of its dual storylines. 

In “Bear,” Julia Phillips, crafts a modern fairy tale with a dark psychological edge. Set on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State, the novel follows two sisters, Sam and Elena, who are struggling to care for their dying mother while drowning in debt. Sam works the concession stand on the island’s ferry, resentfully serving coffee and chowder to affluent tourists, while Elena waitresses at the local country club. Sam endures her drudgery only by knowing that when their mother dies, they will sell their house and escape for new lives off the island. 

Their world is upended when a massive grizzly bear emerges from the woods and appears on their doorstep. Phillips opens the novel with a Brothers Grimm excerpt, setting a tone that hovers between enchantment and dread. Sam is terrified and alarmed by the intruder, while Elena is thrilled by an almost magical experience that elevates her existence. As Elena becomes increasingly captivated by the bear, Sam’s fears grow as the intruder threatens their plans and sisterly bond. Past childhood memories — both wonderous and dark — begin to influence Sam’s actions. “Bear” is a tightly woven tale of sisterhood and the fear and the allure of the unknown, culminating in a shattering “fairy tale” ending. 

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