A Book I had Mix Feelings About From Start To Finish

But still gave it 4 stars.

Everyone has been talking about God Of The Woods by Liz Moore, and there seems to be a wide debate on this book. Many reviews have been okay, while others said they loved the book or hated it. With all of this, I wasn't rushing to read it and didn't know much about it.

When it was chosen for the monthly book at book club, I wasn't even sure I wanted to read it, with all the mixed reviews still coming in. But with a push, I decided to give it a try.

I will say that this procedural, whodunnit, dark mystery was out of my comfort zone, but I was surprised at how much I liked it. With a lot of reviews saying they liked the first half of the book, then it fell apart, or that the ending wasn't that great, I was a little skeptical. When I finished, I realized I didn't feel this way, and I actually liked the book, even though there was a lot going on and multiple plot lines.

The Van Laar Family is very wealthy and has hundreds of acres in the Adirondacks, including their estate where they summer and host their annual Black Fly Party and Camp Emerson is an outdoor summer camp for kids also on the property. The family also has a cast of characters working and staying at camp, while the rumor mill is always moving in the small town where the estate is located.

Bear Van Laar, Peter and Alice's oldest child, went missing on the grounds of the camp and estates and was never found. 14 years ago, their daughter Barbara has now gone missing from Camp Emerson.

The story takes you through multiple perspectives and both timelines of Bear and Barbara's disappearance, which is a lot of back and forth to keep track of, and had me rewinding and scratching my head to make sure I was keeping it all straight.

I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried not to let the reviews impact me too much, and I actually liked this dark twisty mystery more than I thought.