Spending time chasing ghosts: THE GOD OF THE WOODS.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This book is everywhere, and I'm not sure there's a ton I can add beyond what everyone else is saying, but I will certainly reiterate that it is really darn good. At first, it seemed like it would be a worn out story: wealthy family, lost child, summer camp setting. Don't be fooled. Moore's prose sucks you in from the start, dropping you directly at the camp with the characters.

The story is told across multiple POVs and many time periods, including the 1950s and 1970s. You have to get your bearings straight going in; it seems like all the switches will be confusing, but it's not hard to keep track of the changing narrators and eras. We're at Camp Emerson, owned by the wealthy Van Laar family. It's the mid 1970s and their daughter, Barbara, who has been attending camp, goes missing. Then we flash back to fourteen years earlier, when the Van Laar's first child, their son Bear, went missing--never to be found.

What follows is a fascinating and intriguing story that spans decades, looking into wealthy families and the control they can have over people and situations, as well their own children. The camp setting is atmospheric, steeped in nature exploration, with a focus on small town life. We meet several campers and counselors at the camp, allowing the story to delve into class issues.

Moore has this amazing ability to allow her readers to feel incredibly deep emotions for her characters, ranging from empathy, to pity, to revulsion. She weaves in twisted family ties and dynamics as well as subtly illustrates how women were treated in the 1950s and 1970s. There's an excellent character, a newly minted police officer named Judy, who does a wonderful job at showing so many of these elements as she searches for clues about Barbara's disappearance.

If you're looking for an intricate, character-driven mystery, this is an excellent choice. 4.5 stars.

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Dreams are mostly lost and found on other streets and other towns: LONG BRIGHT RIVER

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was the first book I ever checked out from Libby. I miss my library right now, but I'm glad for that app, even if I can only put six books on hold at one time. (What is that?! Six holds; that's for amateurs.)

Kensington, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, is plagued by drug use, especially heroin. It's where sisters Kacey and Mickey grew up. The girls lost their mother at a young age and were raised by their grandmother, Gee, who provided shelter and not much else. Now, Mickey is determined to raise her son Thomas differently. With love and kindness and a feeling of safety. Mickey is a police officer, so she's more than familiar with the streets of Kensington. At the same time, Kensington is struck with a series of murders, Kacey disappears. Mickey and Kacey haven't had much contact in years, since her sister became stuck in the tangle of addiction, but she's still worried. Even more so since those being murdered are young women, no doubt drug and sex workers. Found strangled on the streets. As Mickey starts looking into the murders, she gets caught up in a twisted web of lies and deceit--some of it related to her missing sister--and soon it may be too late to save either Mickey or Kacey.


The first time I found my sister dead, she was sixteen. It was the summer of 2002. Forty-eight hours earlier, on a Friday afternoon, she’d left school with her friends, telling me she’d be back by evening. She wasn’t.


This isn't a fun book to read, so if you're looking for a feel-good read right now, this isn't it. But it's a well-written, extremely powerful look at addiction. While it focuses on the story of the murdered girls, it's also an in-depth character study, taking us into Mickey's history with her sister and how their past has formed their present. Told in a then and now format, we learn about the sisters, and we get a harrowing and detailed look at the effect of addiction, not just on Kacey, but on an entire town. It's depressing, it's real, and it's wonderfully done.


Kacey told me that time spent in addiction feels looped. Each morning brings with it the possibility of change, each evening the shame of failure.


This is not really a fast-moving book, but it does have twists and turns, many of them surprising. There's plenty to keep you guessing, as we try to figure out what is happening to the women on the streets in Kensington. In turn, we have to figure out Kacey and Mickey's past and how it's brought us to where we are today. Characters are sparse, but incredibly well-created, with my favorite, beyond the sisters, being Mickey's landlord, Mrs. Mahon, a formidable woman in her own right. And Mickey's sweet, wise young son Thomas.

While Kacey is clearly the damaged one on paper, as an addict, often living on the streets, we see Mickey isn't always much better. She's had a tough time, and it's hard for her to trust anyone. Both she and Kacey are astounding characters, who stand out in this powerful novel about addiction, police abuse, and the love of a mother. This isn't always an easy read, but I'm glad I picked it up. It will stick with me for some time.

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