Nilufer Ozmekik's Reviews > The God of the Woods

I think I want to grade, define, declare, and devour this book beyond terms and genres because no other words can weigh my thoughts and adoration! Ladies and gentlemen who appreciate great literature, this book is for us! It is the cure to my depressed soul, restless every July, searching for a good book and often frustrated, finally finding a fountain in the middle of the Sahara! This book is my Bellagio fountain, and I can drink till I burst!

This is a great combination of historical fiction, mystery, crime thriller, and women's fiction with multiple perspectives taking us on a tour through time zones, wandering around the minds of very different characters, seeing the world from their points of view.

The story focuses on 17-year-old Barbara Van Laar, a rebellious, artsy, punk-styled outcast who vanishes from her family’s camp in the Adirondacks in August 1975. Barbara is the only remaining child of the town’s wealthy Van Laar family and the second missing child of the family after her brother Bear disappeared at the age of 8, before she was born. This left behind a psychologically damaged mother, Alice, who is a pill and alcohol addict, a workaholic authoritarian father, Peter, a harsh, relentless grandfather, and his mostly silent, obedient wife. The entire family maintains appearances, giving their social circle and business connections more importance than showing affection to each other.

But Barbara’s vanishing opens up a can of worms, revealing big secrets connected to Bear’s disappearance a decade ago. Did the family wrongly accuse someone for the crime even though they hadn’t found the body? Did the same person take the second child of the family? Is the perpetrator a runaway inmate accused of being a serial killer of several women? Or a scary woman turned into an urban legend lurking around the woods? Or is someone in the camp involved in the crime with a secret partner?

There are several perspectives in this book you can easily connect with, including:
Tracy: a quirky, meek, outcast girl who suffers from her parents’ abrupt breakup, sent to a youth summer camp belonging to the powerful Van Laar family, admiring Barbara’s straightforward, confident attributes, becoming friends and confidantes with her.
Alice: the mentally disturbed, pill-addict mother of Barbara, still trying to connect with her lost son, cutting away her connection with the real world for her own reasons, her unhappy marriage and related issues.

Louise: a 26-year-old camp counselor, trying to take care of her young brother, dealing with her depressed, irresponsible mother, working hard to put a roof over their heads. She is wrongly framed for Barbara’s disappearance by trusting the wrong people, about to be a victim of financial inequality and injustice.

Limb Jacob: who is faking his limp as a disability, escaping from prison as if he is a convicted serial killer, having quiet wild life skills to survive in the woods, hiding in the cabins without getting noticed.
Carl Stoddard: a gardener of the Preserve, taking the job five years ago to afford the expenses of his sick son who couldn’t make it in the end, suffering from his own health issues, finding himself in inappropriate circumstances during Bear’s disappearance.

Judyta Luptack: born in Schenectady, a former first-class female national trooper of Albany, first female investigator at the state at the age of 26, still cannot tell her crowded, traditional family she has to move to her own place instead of getting up at the crack of dawn to make it to her job on time, driving sleeplessly on her way back home. She’s smart, enthusiastic, observant, knowing mansplaining at the workplace firsthand but still doing her best to piece together the puzzle to merge two missing persons’ cases which point fingers at the Van Laar family!

This book is one of the best inspirational women power books, telling unique stories of different women who use their own ways to survive and protect their loved ones. T.J., the camp director, is a tough, self-sufficient, resilient character who runs the place without taking any nonsense, even from the Van Laar family. Louise is an abuse victim, overachiever raising her own brother like her own son. Judyta is an idealistic crime fighter using her wits and logic to see what others cannot decipher. Alice is trying to find her place in the world of the rich, getting lost each day in her own losses, numbing herself into oblivion.

The stories, the portraits, the travel between timelines are perfectly developed, and the conclusion with several twists and surprises is fairly wrapped up!

I enjoyed this book so, so, so, so much! I advise you to read it, read it, and read it! It’s freaking one of the best books of the year! Whatever category it will compete in at the 카지노싸이트 Choice Awards, I’ll give my vote without thinking!