Book of the Month is a monthly book subscription box. Each month, five curators pick out their favorite new hardcover books, and you can choose which one you want to receive on the first of the month for $17.99/month. You can also add up to two additional books for only $9.99 each. (This box was named one of the best subscriptions for avid readers in the 2024 Subscription Box Awards.)
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My BOTM Pick for July: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore; Retail Value $19.42
Back of Book Summary:
When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide.
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.
My Summary
The summer of 1975 is the first time Barbara Van Laar has ever been a camper at her family's Adirondacks summer camp. By season's end, the 13-year-old will become the second Van Laar child to go missing on the wooded property.
Opening the morning of Barbara's disappearance in late August of 1975, Liz Moore's haunting novel shuttles the reader back and forth between time periods to relate the story of 8-year-old Bear Van Laar, who disappeared in 1961 and that of Barbara, the younger sister he never met, the younger sister born to fill a hole left by his sudden vanishing.
Viewpoints shift too as Moore recreates the hours, days and even weeks before the discovery of Barbara's empty bed, revealing a teenager largely ignored by her parents. Mother Alice is still in the throes of grief over the loss of her beloved son and passes her days wrapped in a protective bubble of pills and booze. Father Peter, the third in a line of Peter Van Laars, is cold and unavailable — both to his daughter and his much younger wife. An Albany banker with extensive business connections, his priorities lie in enhancing his family's reputation, a focus that comes to trouble the investigators who descend upon Camp Emerson to search for the second missing Van Laar.
To round out the cast of characters, Moore gives us Camp Director T.J. Hewitt and a young State Police detective, Judyta Luptack, as well as raft of local townspeople — including Louise Donnadieu, who grew up in nearby Shattuck, New York and now works at Camp Emerson as a camp counselor.
With its intertwining mysteries, The God of the Woods is at once a can't-put-it-down thriller and a study of what it means to be family.
The Verdict
My July BOTM Club selection was an easy one for me as someone who grew up amidst the summer camps of upstate New York. I'm all too familiar with the bold lines that separate these camps and the towns that surround them, and Moore paints this tenuous relationship perfectly.
If you're wont to pick up a book before it's turned into a TV series, you might want to put a fast track on devouring this tale. Along with Moore's The Unseen World, The God of the Woods has already been optioned by Sony TV for a series treatment.
Value — Was This Box Worth It?
The July BOTM Club list of book picks was solid, but if you're looking for a great value, this one was hard to beat. Not only is Moore a New York Times best-selling author, but at nearly 500 pages, The God of the Woods was like two books in one.
As for the overall dollar value, you save a few dollars with this choice. The BOTM Club starts at $17.99, depending on your chosen subscription, and this book is listed at $19.42 on Amazon.
Of course, the first month of a subscription is $9.99 with free shipping, so if this is your entree to a Book of the Month subscription, you come way out ahead.
The Cost: $9.99 + free shipping (This price is only for your first month).
Value Breakdown: This box costs $9.99, but the book I chose will retail as hardcover for $19.42, which means a discount of more than $10. (Remember...this is first month only). Even if you are looking at the $17.99 cost for one of the later months of your overall subscription, you're still saving!
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To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this book if you sign up today? Yes! But you will need to order it as an add-on.
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