The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig completely pulled me in. On the surface, it’s a spooky, slow-burn mystery about a staircase that appears in the middle of a forest for no reason. But underneath that, it’s a powerful story about friendship, duty, and the weight of past trauma.

What really stuck with me were the characters. Their friendships felt so real—complicated, messy, and deep. They’re not just trying to survive some weird supernatural event; they’re also trying to hold each other together through it. I loved how their loyalty and care for each other gave the story real emotional weight.

There’s also this strong sense of duty throughout—characters doing the right thing even when it’s hard or terrifying. It added a sense of purpose to all the creepy stuff, making it more than just horror for horror’s sake.

And the trauma? It’s handled with a lot of care. Each character is carrying something heavy, and Wendig doesn’t shy away from showing how that pain shapes them. But he also shows how connection can help people heal, even if they’re still broken.

It’s eerie, emotional, and full of heart. Definitely one of my favorite reads this year.

Nick Lobell, Owen Zuikas, Lauren Banks, Hamish Moore and Matty Shiffman. The Rebel, The Nerd, The Jock, The Warrior, and The Lost; all just trying to survive high school and absent parents. They seek support from each other, forming a loyalty pact called the "Covenant" to be invoked at any time and obeyed without question. But they criticize, demean, and humiliate each other constantly. It's a small cast, so there's room for development, but they are shockingly two-dimensional. Their traumas are their whole personalities, and I found myself skimming over repetitious, lengthy inner monologues. Even the Covenant cannot make up for the incessant self-loathing, projection and immaturity.

Full transparency, I was initially going to give this one a 2.5/5. After muddling it over, I decided that the quality of the action and menacing, labyrinthian "House" that exists beyond the stairs outweighed my aversion to the characters. When the action gets underway, you can't put it down. I enjoyed the subtle nods to horror fans and the mild attempts to lighten the mood with pop culture references. The visions of violence the group encounters within the House are indescribably horrific, but not unbelievable. As the characters pass through its rooms, the House knows that reality is always more frightening than fiction. The amount of dialogue could've been cut in half to support this. Overall it's like a mix of Insidious, Cabin in the Woods, and As Above, So Below. This is my first Chuck Wendig book, and while it was disappointing, it hasn't deterred me. I'll still be reading The Book of Accidents next year!

📶 BOOK REVIEW (Thanks for the free audiobook @PRHAudio) 📶
THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS by Chuck Wendig
4.25/5 🌟
Pub date 📅 April 29th

THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS was an intense, spooky read. I was worried that the concept was too cool for execution, but Chuck Wendig did an amazing job. I feel like he was able to answer every question I had about the staircase and the characters, while still leaving room for mystery. I'm definitely picking up another one of his books.

The story follows a group of friends who find and mysterious staircase in the 90's. One of the friends goes up the stairs and goes missing, the stairs vanishing into the aether. The story jumps to present day, where the staircasehaa reappeared. Please read if you like the following:


💀 LitRPG meets 1408
💀 Characters that drive you insane, but grow and learn through the story
💀 Flashbaack fo childhood friendship
💀 "Where's the body? It was right here." 😱

Thank you to PRHaudio and Del Rey for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This review will be up on THE FANTASY INN blog shortly.

I was a little excited for this one but I found myself not connecting with the characters nor having the urge to really pick it back up. I struggled to get through the first five chapters. It just wasn’t holding my attention but I hope the author has success with it.

In 1998 five friends walk into the woods and only four walk out. When a random staircase appears in the woods one friend decides he’s going to be bold and climb it, and never comes back down. 20 years later the staircase returns and Nick, Owen, Hamish, and Lore reunite to find their lost friend.

This gave Stephen King vibes. I was hooked from the very beginning. The Staircase in the Woods was creepy and intense. This was not only a horror story, but a horror reality. There was so much deeper topics than what was surface level.

The Staircase in the woods will lead you down a rabbit hole. My first Chuck Wendig book and I will be back for more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray publishing for this ARC. This is an honest review.

Are you a fan of horror and the supernatural, blended with flawed characters? Then The Staircase in the Woods is a must read.

Many years ago, a group of five friends went camping in the woods but only four survived the trip. Years later, the remaining four meet up for the first time in years and unexpectedly embark on a horrific and other-worldly journey. Along the way, we get to discover the origins of their friendship, the breakdown of it and the possibility of the rebuild, all the while experiencing the graphic horror of the staircase in the woods. I am a huge fan of Stephen King and the author’s ability to put ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances is reminiscent of King’s work. I found myself cringing at some of the vivid descriptions of things as ordinary as nail biting. And make sure to read the author’s note at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Del Rey for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

One thing I know for sure- don't walk up a staircase that's alone in the middle of the woods. Twenty years after Matty did that and never came down, his four friends are back there and well, you can guess what happens. This has all the trope-y horror feels (maybe not all but the ones that work under the circumstances.). It would have benefited from another edit but it's a quick read despite its length. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For Wendig's fans.

Eerie, beautiful, and utterly gripping, The Staircase in the Woods is Chuck Wendig at his best. A haunting mystery wrapped in folklore and fear, it draws you in with lyrical prose and leaves you breathless with its emotional depth. Strange, dark, and unforgettable.

Chuck Wendig has worked his magic again with The Staircase in the Woods. Many years after losing one of their closest friends after climbing a staircase in the woods, they get together to hopefully find their lost friend and find out more about each other in the process. Where the staircase leads, will take them on a journey of pain, discovery, and unimaginable horror. Highly recommended for lovers of House of Leaves and The Handyman Method. Chuck Wendig is an automatic purchase for me, and this is no exception!

Chuck Wendig is one of my favorite authors I have read a few books by him and really enjoyed them. I am looking at you Wanderers! So, I was excited to jump into this beefy boy. I will start by saying this gave me Stranger Things vibes and angst. I loved the story line of four kids suffering a tragedy (no not the kids suffering I am not a monster) and how it impacted their adulthood and trying to make things right. I enjoyed how these kids got along in their younger years and how that evolved over time. And how they interacted in their older, not wiser, adult years. I do love me a dual timeline, see what makes them do the things they do and how their past did define them. Now, the vibe of the story is creepy, surreal, and just overall unsettling. I can’t give it away, but it will keep you hooked and guessing. The ending…A+. The characters were so unlikeable in their own way that sometimes I was rooting for the staircase (IYKYK). However this is a great goosebump thriller that is scary. I do recommend it!

And my thanks for the ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley my wonderful views, are my own!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was my first foray into Chuck Wendig and all I can say is WOW! I will for sure be reading anything and everything he has written and continues to write. Creepy, chilling, suspenseful, and yes, vaguely reminiscent of Stephen King's "It", this book is going to be a smash hit for 2025. There are truly so many things I loved about this book, even as I sat in disgust at some of the depicted violence and gore. Worth it? Absolutely! Horror readers, get ready to read your next favorite book!

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 🌲🌲🌲
ʎq: Chuck Wendig

⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙧𝙗: (from amaz0n) Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚: “He told her it was fine. He said it would be over soon. Lauren wasn't sure what that meant, not exactly, but somehow in those words she found the deepest lake of darkest comfort and she stopped struggling, instead choosing to sink into the waters of his words.”

“You're being foolish, his brain screamed at him, which was a helluva thing, that your brain can basically scream at you, the you which is also your brain
-your mind going to war against itself. (But that, he supposed, was what it meant to be human. To exist in constant opposition to yourself, you as your very best friend at the exact same time you were your own worst enemy. Oh, how stupid it was to be a person.)”

“In the deepest dark of a house, of a home, hate and pain and suffering can fester.
All that effervescent rage. All that crushing despair.
Flourishing. Festering.
Dreams curdling fast into nightmares.
It's where home stops being where the heart is.
Home is where the hurt is.
Where the horror lives.
Home becomes another name for that place where monsters go to hide and do their terrible work.”

𝙁𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧: It was hard to choose, but I’m gonna go with Owen. The trauma that all of these characters endure is truthfully terrifying in itself, but I think I could relate to Owen a little more than the others. The way he is honest with himself and I feel tries to keep everyone “together” in a sense. I could relate to his outlook on things and feel as though I would act similar in these horrific conditions.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙: I never want to give much away but WOW! This book really got to me. I’ve had dreams similar to this “situation” and reading someone else put it into words!! Just makes it seem a little more real/close to home, even though most people would probably think you were crazy if you said you thought this stuff could possibly be real 🤷🏼‍♀️. Again this horror did not disappoint! The deep psyche of trauma is so interesting to me and I have fallen in love with this genre because of it. If you enjoy the psychological and “far out there”, then this book is definitely for you!

This book was the most terrifying, exciting, heart racing book I have read in a while. I found myself tensed for what was to come around every corner and didn’t know where the book would lead to next. I loved all of our characters and how we slowly unravel their stories throughout. They are complex, they have their trauma, and this is definitely a heavy book that everyone should check trigger warnings for. The writing style is so eerie and adds to the atmosphere of the book, which is very dark. I felt like I was there with the characters and was experiencing everything they were. I found myself rooting for characters, and also rooting against them at the same time during certain sections.
Overall, this book was an amazing read and I am so glad I was able to experience it.

This is the story of four childhood friends. Nick emails all of the others (Lor, Owen and Hamish) that he wants them all to get together to celebrate his funeral (or soon to be funeral) since he has cancer. He has purchased all the plane tickets, so that no one has an excuse to come. Turns out that Nick has found a staircase that is exactly like the one the group found on an earlier camping trip in which a fifth member of their covenant disappeared. This is one creepy, scary haunted house tale. The house feeds off the weakness of each character.

Five high school kids - generally outcasts among their peers - are bonded by their oath to protect one another no matter what. This has served them well and helped each of them survive high school.

When they chose to go on a camping trip they couldn't have anticipated the strange sight before them. A massive staircase is there, in the middle of the woods. One friend, Matty, runs up the staircase and leaps off, only to disappear. No amount of searching yields the whereabouts of Matty and before they know it, the staircase disappears.

The four remaining friends have to suffer the glares of the townsfolk who are sure they are responsible for Matty's disappearance, and after intense scrutiny from the police, friend Nick chooses to admit to giving Matty drugs in order to get the heat off his friends.

Twenty years later and Nick, out of prison, asks for a reunion of the four friends. He knows of another staircase in another forest and takes them there. On climbing and then leaping from this new staircase, the friends enter a house of horrors with no escape.

Ahhh. It's so nice to read a solid Chuck Wendig horror novel!

Wendig's characters are so easily identifiable. If you weren't one of these kids in high school, you know them (but if you're a nerdy reader, chances are good that you were one of them).

We really almost have two different stories here. The first part of the book is being introduced to the friends and then the strange disappearance of one of them, followed by the way they chose to leave the past behind. The second story is the exploration of their fears in the house of horrors.

The first part is a great set-up. It doesn't 'feel' long, though it's easily half the book. There are mysterious elements here (particularly the staircase in the woods), but nothing seems particularly like horror. No, that waits until we enter the house and then all the gloves are off!

I'm not generally a fan of splatterpunk, and I wouldn't necessarily put Wendig in that category, but I will say that Wendig gets explicit (and gross) with his descriptions. The faint of heart beware! Seriously.

There's plenty of twist and turns, plenty of things to go bump in the night, and plenty of good horror storytelling.

Looking for a good book? The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is classic horror in all the right ways.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey Books for this ARC.

WOW! This, this, this book... This was the horror book I have been looking for.

Just wow!

It's wild, it's weird, it's horrifying, it's traumatic. It's literally everything I love in horror.

I'm not a monsters or a demons or a gore kind of horror girl. I love haunting stories. I love weird. This was exactly that!

I was hooked for the moment this started and I couldn't put it down. I breezed through it! I even loved the ending and that rarely happens in horror. The journey was absolutely fantastic.

This book is traumatic and it's raw. It's beautiful too, a book on getting lost, finding yourself again, and finding love and friendship again.

I really can't say much about this book without spoiling anything. But if you are looking for a refreshing horror book, check this out. Home is where the heart is, home is where the hurt is.

The Staircase in the Woods is a labyrinthine hellscape.

This is one of those books you could definitely read in one sitting - it’s a page turning, creepy read that makes you need to know what’s next.

A group of teens go camping and find a staircase in the woods leading nowhere, or does it? When Matty ascends he disappears, never to be seen again… until years have passed and another staircase appears.

This is gritty, gory, and totally bingeable. It’s a book that plays out like a movie. Although a few turns of phrase made me cringe, it was a great read.

i didn't necessarily LOVE this, but i don't read a ton of horror for a reason so take my review with that grain of salt. the premise of this book really grabbed me - the mystery of what happened when the group was teens paired with the mystery of how they survive what's happening to them now. and a lot of that was still interesting. this is very much a book about the things we survive, and the ways in which we survive them. it's also about the harm we do to ourselves in having survived, and the power of reaching out to our community to get through all of those things.
while i read this book i thought a lot about House of Leaves, a book i read over a decade ago, and some of the things in this book scratched the tonal itch that HoL left in my brain. i am still too baby i think for both of these books, though, as there were passages of this i had to race through because they made me queasy or anxious or made my skin feel too tight. and i think if those aren't your general experience while reading horror - or maybe you read horror because you're searching for the skin tight feeling this will absolutely be a book for you. there's a lot to love in this for horror fans. for me, who is still dipping my toe into the genre when i find something that appeals, it was a great read but not quite a home run for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Worlds | Del Rey for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I did enjoy this book, but boy was it a horror. I did like the characters and the storyline. It did kinda freak me out in parts. I would definitely recommend this book.

“Home is where the hurt is.”

This is a suspenseful book that will give you chills. Part mystery, part horror, part thriller. In the past, five friends went into the woods. Four came out. In the present, four friends go into the woods. Will they all come out this time? Will they be four or five?

Filled with imagery both disgusting and fascinating, this book keeps you guessing. Is the house possessed? Is it possessing them? What happens when you face your worst demons and its all you can hear?