well well well. after starting the year with a dnf reading this book felt like a fresh air.

Since the book was thick and I am not much of a mystery thriller reader, I was a bit hesitant before starting it. But after hearing in a few places that this book, in addition to being a mystery thriller, is also considered literary fiction, its appeal increased a notch, and I’m glad I didn’t shy away from the change and dove into these waters.

The book is told from six different perspectives, with jumps across different timelines. Some readers found this style very confusing, but I loved it. For me, it was like trying to piece together a puzzle. Forming a theory about something I read in one chapter, only to find out in the next chapter that my theory was completely impossible, was a lot of fun for me. Around the 80% mark of the book, I had an idea about one of the main topics—the disappearance of Bear Van Laar—and I turned out to be right. However, having guessed it in advance didn’t bother me at all. On the contrary, seeing how things unfolded, being proven right, broke my heart, because Alice became the character I sympathized with the most in the story. As a mother, there were parts of the book where I felt seriously triggered, and even though it was fictional, imagining a character going through all of that was very difficult. The night I read that part, I completely lost my mood.

My favorite character was probably Judyta. Even though I didn’t read a lot about her, I felt a connection to her, sensed her struggles, and wanted her to succeed. It was very enjoyable to read about her way of handling things, her thought process, and her courage.

Another character I want to mention is Tracy. Reading about girlhood in a mystery thriller… Her relationships with the people around her (thinking she wants to be away from her parents but then, the first moment she realizes she’s lost in the forest, calling out “Mom” and “Dad” 😞), her relationship with her own body, her attempts to deal with romantic feelings, the importance she placed on Barbara’s friendship (fearlessly going into the forest to look for her)… It was wonderful to read all of this.

The part about Barbara really caught me off guard. Was the ending of her story perhaps a bit underwhelming? Maybe. But that still didn’t stop me from giving this book five stars. I finished the book in almost a week, but if Ece hadn’t been sick, I probably would have finished it much faster. It was a book I wanted to pick up and read at every opportunity, constantly curious about what would happen next. I felt both the rainy August days during Bear’s disappearance and the summer camp atmosphere in the modern-day story so deeply that, if I were to recommend this book to someone, I’d suggest reading it toward the end of summer to enhance the experience even more.

With its writing style, characters, atmosphere, and the way it completely captivated me, The God of the Wood became my first 5⭐️ read of 2025. Congratulations to everyone!