The Disappearance – 14 Years Apart – of Two Siblings
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In 2020, Liz Moore’s book, Long Bright River, was named by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year. Fast forward to 2024 for a repeat performance. Liz Moore’s new book, The God of the Woods, made Barack Obama’s 2024 summer reading list. Both books are police procedurals, a genre I don’t ordinarily read, but I trusted the past president’s taste, and both books had great premises, so I read them.
The first book is about two sisters, one a cop and one a drug addict who supports her habit through prostitution. When the addicted sister’s disappearance coincides with a series of murders of young women in town, the sister who is a police woman sets out to find both the murderer and her sister. You can read more about it here.
The second book is also a double mystery. It follows the disappearances, 14 years apart of two siblings. Peter Van Laar IV, also known as Bear, disappeared in 1961 at eight years of age. His body and his presumed killer have never been found. After his disappearance, a sister was born, Barbara, and she goes missing in 1975 at age thirteen.
The Van Laars are very wealthy and have a large estate in the Adirondack Mountains. When Peter Van Laar I established the “Van Laar Preserve,” he also created a wilderness camp on the grounds as a way to expose children in the area to the great outdoors. It is from this camp that Barbara disappears, two months into the camping session.
There is a huge cast of characters in the book and at one time or another, they are likely suspects for one or the other of the disappearances. This includes the mother, Alice, and the father and grandfather, Peter Van Laar II and III. It includes the family’s long-time business associate, John Paul McLellan Sr. And think of this, the Van Laars may no longer have a male heir, but McLellan does, John Paul Junior.
Suspects also include the camp’s forever groundskeeper Vic Hewitt and his adult daughter, Tessie Jo (T.J.). And let’s not forget Barbara’s counselor and counselor-in-training, Louise Donnadieu and Annabel Southworth respectively. Did I mention that Louise got her job at the camp because she dates John Paul Junior? Even the “characters” in the ghost stories that campers tell in the night are suspects – Scary Mary and Slitter.
Into this array of suspects comes Judyta “Judy” Luptack. She is a 26-year old woman who was newly promoted to “junior investigator” in the otherwise all-male police team that is searching for Barbara. In that the search takes place in the mid 1970’s, her participation is ground breaking. And actually, it is because of her gender that Bear’s body is ultimately found. Simply put, an informant is willing to talk to a female officer, but not a male. Having Bear’s body leads quickly to an explanation of how he died.
With the older case solved, Judy goes on to figure out the second disappearance too. She does so in a way that only a woman could. Let me just say that the resolution of Barbara’s disappearance was my favorite part of the book. And though I am not a big fan of police procedurals, it made me like this one very much. I recommend it!
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Click here to learn more about The God of the Woods on Amazon.
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