Chuck does it again. Another phenomenal book. This one has some House of Leaves in its DNA. Some FNAF. Lots of Chuck -- and everything you'd expect from him. The characters are so good. The plot is awesome, full of twists and turns. And the emotional core of friendships lost after time + tragedy ties it all together. Love it. You should read it.

Advice to all: don't mess with the woods.

This is slightly terrifying, dark and creepy. If you're into a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, look no further!

The setting of this book was eerie and intriguing, and I was initially hooked by the mystery of the staircase itself. There were moments that really captured that unsettling, "something’s not quite right" feeling. As the story went on, I found it harder to stay connected. The back-and-forth structure made the plot feel disjointed, and I had trouble getting a grip on what was really happening at times. I also found I didn’t connect with any of the characters, which made it tough to stay emotionally invested. Their motivations felt murky, and while that might’ve been intentional (to keep things mysterious) it made it hard for me to care what happened to them in the end. And speaking of the end... it felt more like a fade-out than a conclusion. I’m okay with ambiguity, but this one felt more unresolved than open-ended. After all that build-up, I was hoping for more clarity or closure.

Overall, it had moments I enjoyed, but it didn’t fully pull me in and keep me wanting more.

Title: The Staircase in the Woods
Author: Chuck Wendig
Pages: 400
Rating: 5/5
Spice/Romance level: 🩷 (talks of crushes and dating)


In my childhood, I used to love horror books. Point horror, fear street.. R.L Stine was a staple name on my bookshelf. As I got older, my brain got more imaginatice and I became a bit of a scaredy cat. I think it's a psychological thing that as adults we receive risk, fear and look out for what makes us safe.

If you've followed any of my mental health ramblings, you'll know that I've been looking at making my inner child happy. So lately, I've been dipping my toes back into the horror genre. This book reminded me of those late nights binging those stories. I cried (here's looking at chapter 36), I was scared, I laughed. It was epic and I couldn't put it down. The 90s nostalgia bought me back to my childhood and it was just pure perfection. With typical horror tropes like camping in the woods, we all stick together, haunted house, lost friends, etc. It delivers a creepy tale of friendship, abandonment, grief, secrets, love and loss and all the things that haunt us or that we keep behind closed doors. The descriptions were horrific but did the job, the emotions were intense. I was absolutely invested in this story from the first page!

I really wish I could read this for the first time again. It was outstanding!!


You'll love this book if you like
- horror
- gore and trauma
- 90s nostalgia
- nerding out
- trauma
- we all stick together
- supernatural horror
- haunted house
- movies like the Goonies and stand by me as a child

*3.5 stars. "On Friday, June 5th, 1998, five teenagers went into the woods surrounding Highchair Rocks in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Only four of them came out." Some 20 years later, those four reunite to try to figure out what happened to their friend.

The plot is quite intriguing and suspenseful and at times gory, horrifying, and disgusting. The characters are very flawed people, haunted and damaged by what happened to their friend, how they failed him that night so long ago. I have to admit that when I started this book, I did not like these characters one bit and sort of felt this book wasn't for me. But Wendig does some terrific character development so I came to understand these people much better and by the end of the story I was routing for them to succeed and find a way out of their predicament.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of his new horror novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

I really was excited about this book. I received it as an ARC from NetGalley. I made it to 13% before the political fighting and just got annoyed. When I read a book I don’t want to have to live more in our world, I want to be taken out of it. A huge turn off.

Then-20 years ago five high school friends went into the woods and found a mysterious staircase leading to the unknown. One of them climbed up and disappeared along with the staircase. The remaining four dealt with the aftermath, suffered the trauma that came with losing a friend they swore to protect, and went their own separate ways. Now- One of them calls the group together once again. The staircase is back and they will have another chance to try and save a friend or walk away for good…little do they know the staircase has been waiting for them.

The Staircase in the Woods is a unique horror novel that takes a very real occurrence and builds on the lore surrounding these unusual structures. I enjoy reading Wendig’s novels because they usually offer something different than what’s typically offered in the horror genre so I was pretty excited for this one as the premise intrigued me.
This novel also provided a really fun topic of conversation with DD as she was very familiar with the lore, and indie games like Station 5 that are referenced in the story. This was all very interesting but the characters were so unlikeable for me. Thankfully, as the story continued, I began to appreciate some of them a little more. That being said I might just be a little too old to really appreciate this novel as much as someone else might. I will still reach for his novels as soon as they release but this one didn’t provide as strong of a connection for me as some of his other stories.

Thank you to the publisher for a free Netgalley!

After really loving Wendig’s last two, I found this one enjoyable as well. I loved the horror house aspect. and the "house" as a personality itself.

It was a little slow in the middle, but the ending was really great!

Staircase In The Woods by Chuck Wendig tells the story of five teenage friends who find a staircase in the woods during a camping trip, when one of them climbs the stairs and disappears mysteriously.
Matty’s disappearance haunts these friends for 20 years until one of them, Nick, reunites everyone as the staircase has reappeared in the forrest.
This is told as a fast paced, dual timeline story, detailing the night of Matty’s disappearance and the present day reunion, and everything in between.
In the present day, their friendship has faded, and their life paths have drifted apart. They all are scarred from personal trauma and shared trauma of Matty’s disappearance, all in unique ways.
The reunion of this friend group created an interesting dynamic for this creative story that goes to dark disturbing places when the group goes back to the staircase.
I won’t say what happens next because it isn’t in its synopsis, and I think this is a good book to go in without knowing where the staircase will lead.
But I will say that the dynamic between these friends really drove this novel and made it a really enjoyable tale of friendship, grief, and guilt. Each character is given a lot of backstory and inner struggles which added depth to the complex relationships between them, and elevated the book as a whole
The characters, though not always likable, are fleshed out and feel real. They are easy to empathize with, as you are given a lot to understand each character individually.
The book had a vivid and creepy atmosphere, and was terrifying and full of twists.
It’s horror scenes were written with gruesome detail, which I do appreciate. There were some pretty disturbing moments in this. It had a good blend of surreal imagery and body horror, some that lingered with me after reading.
It’s supernatural horror with a lot of heart in how it addresses themes of friendship and confronting trauma.
As it is a book concerning trauma, I will say you should check your trigger warnings, because all different types of traumas are in here.
Like I said, I thought this was a pretty fast paced book, but it’s ending did feel a bit abrupt and unresolved to me
But all in all, this book had a lot of cool horror and thematic concepts. I gave Staircase in The Woods, 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Worlds and Del Reg for providing me with the e-Arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

”That was the funny thing about a fear of the dark: you weren’t really afraid of it, but rather what lurked within in. A perfect emblem of the fear of the unknown.”

“The staircase in the woods” has an excellent plot: a group of friends find a shaircase in the woods. One of them climb the staircase. He disappears.
Such an intriguing blurb. You think you knows what’s going to happen, but you don’t. I had no idea what I’ll be reading. And it was so good.

I haven’t read a lot from this author. Last year, one of the best books I’ve read was “The book of accidents” by Chuck Wendig and he immediately became one of my favourites horror authors. I love reading about creepy houses, rooms, forests. About ghosts and hauntings. I think that a good horror book makes you feel things. It gives you goosebumps and jumpscares and makes you gag because the scene described in the book is very weird, but in a good way. While reading “The staircase in the woods” I had these feelings and more. It was creepy. But not in a “there’s something following me” creepy, but in a “I’m all alone and I need help and the voices in my head are getting louder” creepy.

I won’t give a lot details about the action or about the characters, because you have to meet them in your own. You have to see where the staircase will take you and to imagine if you could resist it.
Besides the staircase, the book is about friendship. About how much people suck and how hard childhood can become. It’s about redemption, grief, forgiveness and second chances. Because some of use deserve a second chance.
I can’t say that I loved the characters, they are not good people. Actually, they are awful, but they try their hardest in order to discover what happened with their friend. In the end, I cared about them and I was happy to see how they handled the situation.

The action was amazing! So well-done, so creepy, I had to take a break from reading because it actually scared the heck out of me. The horror is so intriguing and the scenes are terrifying, with a lot of gore and bad scenes. You should check the trigger warnings before reading the book, because there are a lot of them!
It’s a very traumatic read and the characters went through a lot! Like a lot lot.
I loved how the novel was structured, short with easy to read chapters, they helped a lot with binging the book. I just couldn’t let go of it.

The author alternates between past and present and I loved to see how the friendship between these children collapsed and how they became the people that they are now.

”Sometimes friendships didn’t break in some big dramatic way. Sometimes they just dried out, curled up like a leaf in the ground, and turned to dirt. Like all things inevitably did.”

I highly recommend you to add “The staircase in the woods” on your to-be-read list. I know that people don’t usually read horror, because they are scared to not be too.. scary. But, while it’s a horror book, it’s one about grief, pain, friendship and love as well. You won’t be disappointed by it.

”If a house becomes haunted, it is not haunted by the ghosts of its inhabitants, but rather by the memories of those inhabitants-it is the house that remembers, and the house that records the lives loved there.
Houses, in this way, are like vessels. Waiting to be filled up. And what fills them can spill out - be it love, be it pain, be it hate.”

This was a brilliant, twisty horror that kept me on my toes all the way from start to finish. It was really powerful and emotional, the story tackling lots of dark but important topics. The OCD rep was also really great to see in this novel.

I feel sad but I have to DNF this book at 44%. I would say at this point I was pushing myself to like the plot and characters but this book didn't work for me. The staircase seems more like a forced element to bring out the emotions of a friend group who are reuniting after a long time. There is a good cause - they want to undo a mistake which makes them seem good but there's too much trauma involved that it takes away from the genre it falls in.

I wanted to like this more than I did - it had such a good premise and setup! The story feels reminiscent of IT by Stephen King, which was a nice nod to the writer. However, upon execution, it fell very flat for me. The time the characters spend in the mystery was quite boring and didn't deliver on the scares it promised. The time jumps also make the writing feel lazy when we were told 'its been weeks' when we didn't see any action to reflect that time. I also did not like the way the story concluded with introducing random new characters that had no connection to the main protagonists.

What a wild ride! I have not read horror in quite some time but this book seems to make me interested again. The story is about 5 friends who find a staircase in the woods. One of them climbs it and vanishes. The remaining friends try to move on until one of them finds a staircase again.
From there the horror starts as the House begins to haunt them.
Years ago, I read story on reddit which talked about staircases in the woods. I was fascinated and when this book came around I pounced on the chance to read and review. I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Staircase in the Woodsby Chuck Wendig is a haunting descent into atmospheric terror that masterfully blends psychological horror with folk mythology. Wendig crafts a chilling narrative around a mysterious staircase deep in an ancient forest—a structure that seems out of place, out of time, and dangerously sentient. With richly developed characters and an escalating sense of dread, the book pulls readers into a world where reality frays at the edges, and nature becomes something to fear. Wendig's prose is lyrical yet unnerving, capturing both the eerie beauty and looming menace of the woods that seem to breathe with secrets.

What makes this novel truly stand out is Wendig’s ability to explore horror not just through the supernatural, but through the emotional trauma of his characters. As the story unfolds, the staircase becomes a metaphor for buried grief and forgotten truths, and the journey down it mirrors a terrifying confrontation with the past. The pacing is deliberate, drawing readers deeper into the forest with each chapter, where the line between myth and madness blurs. *The Staircase in the Woods* is a gripping, thought-provoking horror tale that lingers long after the final page—perfect for fans of slow-burn suspense and eerie, mind-bending mysteries.

<u><b>The Staircase in the Woods</b></u>
Chuck Wendig
Release Date: April 29, 2025

ARC courtesy of Random House Worlds | Del Rey and NetGalley.

Twenty years ago, during a camping trip in the woods, five high school friends had encountered a staircase in the woods, and one of them had gone up the stairs and had disappeared.

Chuck Wendig’s latest novel, <i>The Staircase in the Woods</i>, starts out with a mysterious email sent out by one of five high school friends, now twenty years later, the only one of them who had remained in their hometown, invoking a covenant they had made, and calling the friends together. Very Stephen King <i>It</i>-like. But it is not Pennywise, but the staircase, that is back.

The story is told across the two timelines, mainly by friends Owen and Lore. The writing is very engaging, and sets its hook early on, drawing you into the story with perfectly timed progression. The main part of the story, set in the “house,” feels a bit repetitive and bloated, however. I know that repetition is part of what grinds the characters down, but the book probably could have been at least fifty pages shorter.

The novel is about friendship and about fear. It is about “getting lost” from your everyday life and your coping mechanisms, and facing your fears, your trauma that you have been running away from – whether that be insecurity and feelings of inadequacy, drugs, infidelity or what have you, and learning to conquer them. It is about friendship, and how you need your friends to face these, often insurmountable fears.

<i>”We should stick together. Horror movie rules.”</i> Love the quote, and it is used twice!

Non-linear timeline, multiple narrators, nostalgic 90s era

As a Chuck Wendig fan, what I expect from his books are: holds my attention, well written prose, flawed characters, layered levels of internal character disfunction and a subtle creeping horror and that's what I got from The Staircase in the Woods. It was good. I'm glad I read it. It lived up to expectations but didn't exceed them. This is not one I feel I would need to read again. I won’t be thinking about it afterward. It didn't emotionally manipulate me in any way (which btw is the quickest way to get a 5 star review from me) but it was a good solid read. I liked it but it falls somewhere in the middle when compared to Wendig's previous books. If you're an escape room enthusiast you might enjoy this one more than I did.

Similar Vibe: The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan

Overall:
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Prose: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pacing: mid-slow
Scary: not very
Gore: Some
Character Development:
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Atmosphere:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book is wild —dark, chilling, and guaranteed to mess with your head. It kicks off with five high school friends Nick, Hamish, Lauren, Matty and Owen, heading into the woods for what should be a normal camping trip. Suddenly, their adventure turns into something far more sinister when they stumble upon a mysterious staircase standing alone in a clearing.

What follows is an absolute nightmare. The friendships are pushed to the brink as they endure relentless psychological torment in a warped reality. If you’re into eerie, mind-warping psychological horror that sinks into your bones, this book delivers. It’ll have you questioning everything, right up until the last page.

The Staircase in the Woods is a compelling horror novel about five friends who discover a mysterious staircase in the middle of the woods, one of whom goes up the stairs and disappears. Years later, another staircase pops up in the woods and the four remaining friends go in to search for their lost friend.

It’s difficult to discuss this one without getting into spoiler territory, since a good portion of the first act maintains the mystery as to what is on the other side of the staircase.

What I will say, is that this book is very dark and it’s sad. Heartbreaking really. A novel about how friendships change and fracture and how we are meant to go through this life with others rather than alone. But also how humans infect places with their evil. Wendig writes great characters here. A minor gripe is that the middle third does get a tad repetitive, but this is minor in the grand scheme of things. I really enjoyed this one and it has some genuinely creepy moments throughout.

Thank you to Del Rey for providing me with an ARC (and approving me on NetGalley, as well!).

The book felt like an uncertain and dark dream. A dream that has a mysterious end and you keep thinking about it for days. The book is unputdownable, mysterious, creepy, and nostalgic. This story has a blend of two genres; mystery and horror. And the book has dual timelines. The ending was unpredictable.

Five school friends reunite when they receive a poignant mail from their friend. But things are not how they appear to be. As soon as they reach there, they find a staircase in the middle of the forest. One of them climbs up and then the stairs vanishes. Twenty years later, it reappears but would Owen, Lor, Hamish, & Nick be able to find answers they are looking for?

The book is nostalgic and full of secrets & mystery. From forming a bond to grief, secrets, mystery and truth, all the characters go through innumerable emotions. The character development is good. Author has also shown each characters weaknesses as well. Like fear of flying, OCD and there are more.

Thanks to the Publisher and Author