The bed is empty. That’s the first of sentence of Liz Moore’s novel, “The God of the Woods.” Louise Donnadieu, a summer camp counselor, sneaks back into the cabin after a night of partying to find one bed empty. Barbara is gone.

From here, the Adirondack-based story takes off like a killer on the run and never slows down. Moore, who has family ties to the Adirondack region and still visits with her children in the summer, sets the story in Camp Emerson, an expensive summer camp located in the Adirondack forest.

The plot revolves around the 1973 disappearance of Barbara Van Laar, the 13-year-old daughter of the camp owner. The sub-plot is the unsolved disappearance of her brother, Bear, 14 years earlier. Complicating the intense search for Barbara, a murderer has escaped from Fishkill Correctional Facility and is on the loose near the camp. Jacob Sluiter (a.k.a. Slitter) is based on Robert Garrow Jr., the real-life serial killer who terrorized the Adirondacks in the early 1970s.

The legend of Slitter’s horrific crimes haunts the campers, but there are also potential enemies within the Van Laar family who threaten Barbara’s welfare.

For six days, Judy Luptack, one of the first female state troopers in New York and newly promoted to New York State Bureau of Criminal Investigation, interviews reluctant witnesses and potential suspects who seem to hide many long-held secrets. Once Slitter is apprehended, he asks to speak to Luptack and unexpectedly provides important information that results in solving another family mystery but not that of Barbara’s disappearance. The Van Laars are not above letting innocent people take the blame for their misdeeds and so far they have avoided punishment, but the tide changes for them when the camp director steps up. T.J. Hewitt, friend and protector of Bear and of Barbara, is willing to sacrifice her well-being in order to do the right thing. Readers may disagree with the actions T.J. takes, but her motivation is sincere.

In “The God of the Woods,” the author explores the themes of the “found family” which she says “offer the possibility of starting anew.” T.J. and Barbara fit the description of a found family. In a refreshing change to typical portraits of girls, especially popular ones, Barbara is kind and resilient despite her neglectful, wealthy parents. She takes care of her painfully shy bunkmate, Tracy, and looks after younger campers who are homesick and ill-prepared for the conditions.

At almost 500 pages long, published in July of 2024, “The God of the Woods” is a good read. Liz Moore is also the author of the New York Times best-selling “Long Bright River,” one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020. Check out Liz Moore’s other novels: “The Words of Every Song, Heft,” and “The Unseen World.”