Book Club August 2025- The Good of the Woods
By: Liz Moore
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Pages: 490
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.
What I thought
This book was on all of the lists last year for best thriller. I knew a coworker who had read it who thought it was overhyped, and I haven’t been as into thriller as I as a few years ago. I was excited but hesitant when one of the girls picked this for book club.
Set in the summer of 1975, a camper at the overnight camp goes missing. The camper is also the daughter of the family that owns the camp and their second child to go missing. Told across timelines, the past tries to solve the mystery of what happened to the Van Laar’s first child, Bear, while the present (1970s) tries to find their second daughter, Barbara.
I loved the setting of this mystery. The 1970s summer camp in the Adirondacks was so well written. I went to summer camp growing up and it definitely brought me back to those vibes. The first part of the book focuses on the present day mystery of Barbara, but then it jumps back and forth across a variety of timelines. I liked the way that the years were marked at the top of the chapters since it showed all possibilities and helped me keep track of where we were in the story.
I think I slightly preferred the mystery of Bear to the mystery of Barbara. But I did like the storyline of Louise, Barbara’s camp counselor, and I loved the female investigator Judyta. It was cool that she was a female investigator in the 70s and while she did meet some adversity for being a woman, it never felt over the top or like it was taking away from the central story.
I definitely semi-figured out the mystery, but not super early and not 100%. The ending was slightly underwhelming but it was satisfying. I wasn’t left a million questions and I also didn’t feel like it got thrown together at the last minute. I also appreciated that it didn’t make me feel like I was dragged in a bunch of different directions just for the sake of giving me as the reader a big twist. I’m excited to discuss this one with book club!
What Book Club Thought
Everyone really loved this one. We all got sucked in and felt like we couldn’t put it down. It was a lot of fun to talk about the theories we had along the way and what surprised us versus what didn’t. It also was nice to discuss because there were a couple of things that each of us interpreted a little differently. I think it would’ve been fun to be able to discuss it as we read as opposed to afterwards, but it was till enjoyable. We talked about how it would be a good mini-series as well as how we would all enjoy a spinoff series following Judyta solving different mysteries.