What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe God of the Woods
Liz Moore · Book · 2024
If you loved The God of the Woods, start with Caddo Lake (Logan George, 2024) — a film on the same thread. Below: 4 films, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to The God of the Woods across media.
What hooked you in The God of the Woods is how the vast, unforgiving wilderness amplifies the haunting secrets of fractured families.
Films on the same thread
Weapons
Zach Cregger · Film · 2025
Explores: Child Disappearance, Small Town Secrets, Community Trauma.
Just as The God of the Woods centers on the trauma of a vanishing child, this story explores how a community fractures when innocence is suddenly lost to mystery.
Deliverance
John Boorman · Film · 1972
Explores: Masculinity, Nature vs. Man, Urban vs. Rural.
If the isolation of the Adirondacks defined your experience with The God of the Woods, you will recognize that same tension in this primal struggle against a dangerous landscape.
Winter's Bone
Debra Granik · Film · 2010
Explores: Poverty, Family Loyalty, Female Protagonist.
Like The God of the Woods, this film captures the grit of rural survival, following a young woman forced to navigate a hostile environment to uncover the truth about family.
Caddo Lake
Logan George · Film · 2024
Explores: Grief and Loss, Family Secrets, Intergenerational Trauma.
The God of the Woods excels at linking past disappearances to current grief, a narrative strategy mirrored here as a missing child unravels layers of long-held generational secrets.
Series on the same thread
Lord of the Flies
Jack Thorne · Series · 2026
Explores: social breakdown, loss of innocence, human nature and morality.
You enjoyed the claustrophobic social dynamics in The God of the Woods, and this story similarly examines how the breakdown of order forces characters to confront their own morality.
Lost
Jeffrey Lieber · Series · 2004
Shares a thread with The God of the Woods: Redemption.
The God of the Woods uses a remote setting to force character introspection, a theme that drives this series as survivors rely on secrets and resilience to stay alive.
The Last of Us
Neil Druckmann · Series · 2023
Explores: Survival, Found Family, Moral Ambiguity.
Much like the search for the Van Laar girl in The God of the Woods, this journey emphasizes the heavy burden of survival and the complexities of found family.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf
Jack Carr · Series · 2025
Shares a thread with The God of the Woods: Redemption.
Fans of the moral ambiguity found in The God of the Woods will appreciate this character study, which focuses on the psychological toll of operating in the shadows.
Podcasts on the same thread
The Deck Investigates
Audiochuck · Podcast
Explores: Missing Persons, Unsolved Mysteries, Small Town Secrets.
The God of the Woods masterfully portrays the lingering trauma of a cold case, a feeling echoed in this investigation into a woman who vanished without a trace.
Search & Rescue NZ
Podcast
Explores: search and rescue operations, wilderness survival, human resilience.
If the wilderness setting of The God of the Woods resonated with you, these accounts of human resilience in the face of nature provide a similarly gripping perspective.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The God of the Woods based on a real disappearance?
The God of the Woods is a 2024 work of fiction written by Liz Moore. While it centers on a teenager vanishing from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, the plot and the Van Laar family are not based on a specific historical event.
What is the primary setting of The God of the Woods?
The God of the Woods is set in the Adirondacks during the summer of 1975. The narrative revolves around a summer camp owned by the wealthy Van Laar family, where a counselor discovers an empty bunk leading to the disappearance of thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar.
Does The God of the Woods involve previous disappearances in the Van Laar family?
Yes, The God of the Woods establishes that the disappearance of Barbara Van Laar is not an isolated incident. The story notes that this is not the first time a child from the Van Laar family has gone missing, linking the current mystery to the family history.
Who is the main character missing in The God of the Woods?
The central missing character in The God of the Woods is thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar. She is the daughter of the family that owns the Adirondack summer camp where the story takes place, making her disappearance a significant event for both the camp and the local residents.