Is there an audiobook of The God of the Woods?

Yes. The God of the Woods has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld.

How long is the The God of the Woods audiobook?

The The God of the Woods audiobook runs 14 hr 35 min.

Our review

The God of the Woods

Name: The God of the Woods
Author: Liz Moore

Liz Moore

4.4/ 5 · Excellent

Liz Moore's The God of the Woods is a slow-burn Adirondack mystery that opens in August 1975, when thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the summer camp her family owns, fourteen years after her older brother disappeared. Layered, long and absorbing, with a big cast to keep straight.

Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld

Audiobook · 14 hr 35 min

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The Review

Our take

This is a big book that asks for your attention and mostly pays it back. It also wants patience, and it is fair to check your supply first.

The hook is clean. August 1975, Camp Emerson, in the Adirondacks. A counselor finds an empty bunk. Its occupant is Barbara Van Laar, thirteen, daughter of the family that owns the camp and employs much of the surrounding region. This is not the first Van Laar child to vanish. Her older brother, Bear, disappeared fourteen years earlier while hiking with his grandfather, and he was never found. Two children, one family, one set of woods. Suspicion arrives before the search party does.

Moore does not hurry. The book moves between timelines and viewpoints, shifting from the camp to the Van Laar household to the people working beneath that family's roof, and the effect is cumulative. Each thread adds a piece. A young investigator, Judy Luptack, supplies the grit that keeps the search moving when the family itself seems withdrawn. Readers like the friendship between Barbara and TJ, and the sense of a camp with its own legends and rules. The rich and the people who serve them are written with unusual care. The adults who should know better behave like overgrown teenagers.

Here is the price. The cast is large and the structure is busy, and readers admit they spend the first stretch asking who is who. Some listened and found they had to rewind. A few feel the book runs long and could lose some pages without losing any menace. The book is not a twist-every-chapter thriller. It is a mystery that lays pieces side by side and waits for you to notice they fit. The more closely you track names and dates, the more the book gives back.

The ending is where opinion divides, and it should be named. Most readers close the book satisfied, some calling the finish perfect. A smaller group wanted a few more answers than they got. The central question gets its answer, and the setup is honored, though a handful of threads stay looser than a tidy mystery would allow. For a novel this wide, that reads as ambition more than cheating.

Why you should read

Slow-burn mysteries with a big cast and several timelines
Family-secrets stories set in an isolated place
Summer-camp and woods atmosphere
Long novels that reward close attention

What to expect

Jumps between past and present timelines
A large cast that takes time to sort out
Slow-burn pacing, not constant twists
Nearly 500 pages

The atmosphere is the steady pleasure. The camp feels isolated, a little eerie, and lived in. By the halfway point most readers report being fully hooked, and plenty read the last third in one sitting. Stay with it and the woods start to feel like a witness.

Reviewed by Quinn · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.4/ 5

Excellent

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Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of The God of the Woods?: Yes. The God of the Woods has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld.
Listen free with Audible
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the The God of the Woods audiobook?: The The God of the Woods audiobook runs 14 hr 35 min.

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Common questions

What is The God of the Woods about?: This is a big book that asks for your attention and mostly pays it back. It also wants patience, and it is fair to check your supply first. The hook is clean. August 1975, Camp Emerson, in the Adirondacks. A counselor finds an empty bunk. Its occupant is Barbara Van Laar, thirteen, daughter of the…
Is The God of the Woods worth reading?: We scored The God of the Woods 4.4 out of 5. Liz Moore's The God of the Woods is a slow-burn Adirondack mystery that opens in August 1975, when thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the summer camp her family owns, fourteen years after her older brother disappeared. Layered, long and absorbing, with a big cast…

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