3.5 stars rounded down because, for a book called The God of the Woods, the woods sure weren't a main feature of any real consequence until the literal last page and I am petty about it.

Also because there was next to no diversity, and the diversity that was present was only coded and used as a plot device

and once, a red herring,

which made me feel deeply uncomfy.

There also is, especially with T.J., a bit of conflation of pedophilia and homosexuality and consistent othering by other characters that isn't adequately addressed to the point of making the handling of her entire character feel deeply homophobic from a narration standpoint. Sure we have coded-queer characters, but they sure don't get to be happy and better be dead or single at the end of the book.(There could be an argument that T.J. is ace, but we'll never know because, ALSO, she isn't a POV character).

The characterization also at times felt weirdly misogynistic (especially through the portrayal of one of our MCs). It's wild the lengths WASP-y white female authors will go to make sure everyone knows that all 1950s housewives were deeply oppressed people (like seriously, if I could talk to all of them I would say, "You DO realize that the 1950s housewife was the same generation as Rosie the Riveter?) The lack of nuance is exhausting.

Also also because, sorry not sorry, just throwing a bunch of deeply unhappy characters together and using a non-linear narrative structure to force tension does not equate to literature.

If I'm petty I'd call this Colleen Hoover lit-fic, but that seems a bit mean given that the writing was solid (just not for me) and at least the problematic relationships were actually portrayed as problematic.

And listen, I get it. When I did force myself to pick this book up I couldn't put it down. It was, dare I say, "unputdownable." And as a non-mystery/thriller reader I was completely on the twist-and-turn ride and NEEDED to find out what happened. Which is why the true rating is 3.5 stars because good Lord I could not stop.