3.5 stars. This was quite a dark, bleak, trauma-filled ride. At first, I wasn't sure what to think about this because the story felt a bit disjointed due to the way it jumps back and forth between the present and past timelines. The background could've been established without the time jumps, IMO.

But once the characters go up the staircase in the woods in their adulthood and the time jumps stop, the story feels much more focused and engaging. Check trigger warnings for this because there's a lot of talk about different kinds of trauma, including child sexual abuse, neglectful and hateful parents, gruesome crimes, and more.

Things get strange, gross, a little gorey, and very sad, so keep that in mind as well. For what the story is, which is an exploration of trauma and getting through it, I think that all works well, but the story overall just didn't 100% work for me personally.

First of all, I hate it when authors insert their political views in a heavy-handed way that feels performative because it's meant to lecture the audience, not to drive an actual meaningful point across or provoke thought. Plus, it always feels so unnatural, like it's not coming from the characters, cause it's not. This isn't to say I disagree with the points made, I simply hate when political views are presented that way, so I'll dislike it whether I agree with them or not.

Second of all, all the trauma and pain get old after a while, and it makes the reading experience quite heavy. That's a big part of the point of the story, so I get it, but even if it's the point, there is such a thing as overdoing it, and it was definitely a little overdone. Not a deal-breaker, but some of it could've been trimmed, and it wouldn't have made the overall arc less impactful.

Bottom line: it's a good horror book, and it was a surprising take on the staircase in the woods. I expected it to be more supernatural-leaning, but I like that it was more of an exploration of trauma and that the horror came from the traumatic experiences of the characters, which were used by the staircase (and what's beyond) to make them lose themselves. I also liked the theme of friendship, how the characters all had flaws but you could still empathize with most of them, and how even if they didn't always like everything about each other, they had each other's backs.

Oh wow. This was my first Wendig and it was so unsettling. I now know to for sure never climb random staircases in the woods. Also I think more authors should have short chapters because the just has me clicking on my kindle to find out what was going to happen next.

The Staircase in the Woods
by Chuck Wendig
Pub Date: Apr 29 2025

WOW! This is a very, very creepy story! If you're into terrifying, nostalgic, and creepy, this books for you! The book was full of tension, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time reading it! This story is a captivating, dark fantasy thriller with well-developed characters and a chilling atmosphere. You won't want to read it at night!

Synopsis: A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel. 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 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. . .

Many thanks to #TheStaircaseintheWoods #NetGalley and #RandomHouseWorlds for providing me with an E-ARC of this awesome horror novel.

I think the premise of Chuck Wendig’s latest novel is catchy: four teenage friends find a staircase to nowhere in the woods, one climbs it and disappears, and the rest walk out of the woods and get on with their lives. Years later, they reunite and find the staircase again, and this time they all climb it, determined to find out what happened to their friend.

This story has a lot going for it, and I’m going to say that what’s on the other side of the staircase is a fun take on the haunted house theme. Though there are four friends, the chapters are told in alternating points of view from two: Lore and Owen. They’re both gamers, and Lore has carved out a career in designing video games, so the part that I liked most about the novel was how Wendig started to introduce gaming elements and puzzle solving to the plot. Each time the characters thought this way, I was totally on board.

Also, at the beginning of the horrible house adventure, I was totally taken by the different “rooms” that the friends were exploring and some of the backstories.

However, I personally can’t give the book full marks, because there was a bit too much description for me, too much internal monologue that went over the same issues, so that it became a touch monotonous occasionally. Also, though I appreciate that author's choice to write with short, one line sentences for dramatic intent, it is one style of writing that I don’t love, and it happened enough times that it got on my nerves.

There were some cool plot points in this book, but I would have liked more of the clever puzzle solving and less description of internal character angst to make this truly stellar for me. There’s a good message in these pages: we are stronger together than alone, and cooperation and loyalty are important qualities (especially if you want to get out of a haunted house alive!). I’d still recommend this book for horror/haunted house lovers, even if my response to it was lukewarm.

Thanks to NetGalley and DelRey Books for a gifted copy.

Update: Posted to TikTok April 27, GoodReads April 29
This was my first book from Chuck Wendig. It good things about him and the cover and description grabbed me. I love the staircase and the exploration, inner and outer that the characters go through because of it.
It's an intense, dark book.
I found the characters and their dynamics engaging. The hard, defensive edges rang true.
The imagery, characterizing details, settings, conflicts, and loyalties worked beautifully.
For me, there was too much explanation and exposition in the final 40%. I was intrigued enough to keep reading but it lost the wonderful immersive magic of the earlier chapters.
The novel has strong echoes of Stephen King. I was glad to read the note at the end for insights on the author's inspiration. I took a look at his blog, too.
Although there's a lot of horror imagery, to me the book reads as speculative fiction. I liked the ending. The story powered through and overcame the excessive explanations by about 94% and went where it needed to go. I'm okay with resting in that open space and the journey the characters took to make their choices. It was worthwhile and satisfying.
I'll post a full review on GoodReads and TikTok closer to the release date.
Thank you for the eARC for consideration. I recommend The Staircase in the Woods highly for readers who appreciate speculative fiction and unusual horror.

The Staircase in the Woods was an absolutely terrifying and tense, but amazing read. From the first page to the last, this book had my full attention. Lauren, Owen, Hamish, Nick, and Matty, had an extremly strong friendship. Twenty years ago they were camping, but when they left they had one less member of their friend group.

"And beyond him, she could feel it as much as she could see it—
The staircase. Black and made of night’s own bones."

A group of childhood best friends call themselves The Covenant. Nick, the wildcard. Lauren, the fearless creative. Owen, the quiet introvert. Hamish, the hippie. And Matty, the golden boy. In so many ways they are an unlikely group, but they stick together through thick and thin. Until the night they find a staircase in the woods. They swear they've never seen it there before, and somehow, it feels like it's calling out to them. After a disagreement, Matty climbs the stairs... and vanishes.

The Convenant grows apart under the pressure of Matty's disappearance. But when some unexpected news pulls them back together again, they are forced to reckon with their past. Not just the way they abandoned Matty, but the ways they all abandoned one another. And themselves.
This time, they all climb the stairs.

I was stoked to get approved for the ARC of The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig. I have long been obsessed with the creepypasta stories (when they were vague... the eventual interdimensional stuff lost me) of random, unexplained staircases appearing places. And of the strange disappearances and spooky occurances that accompany their sightings. As Wendig points out though, staircases sans buildings are actually more common than you might think. But I digress...

I found the first half or so of the book a little hard to get through. The story was setting up something interesting, but I found almost all of the characters SO unlikable. I'm glad I pressed on though because they started to grow on me. But more than that even... I loved the concept of where this phantom staircase leads The Convenant. It's a strange, horrific place. Think Abbattoir (2016) meets Cabin in the Woods (2011). The imagery was truly haunting and the journey through the house of horrors kept me glued to the page. I had to know where it would lead.

Thanks @netgalley and @delreybooks for the ARC!

#thestaircaseinthewoods #netgalley #bookstagram #bookreview #bookstagramreview #arcreview #chuckwendig #delreybooks

This is the first book I have read from this author even though I own a few others. I was immediately drawn into the story. I loved the plot and the characters each with their own unique idiosyncrasies. About halfway through, I felt that there was more repetition in the story than I would have liked. I really enjoyed the book and will definitely be reading more from this author soon.

This is a horror story about friendship, guilt, grief, and the effects of trauma on who we are and who we become.

The basic synopsis is that a group of five teenage friends go on a camping trip in the middle of the woods, where they encounter a strange staircase that leads to seemingly nowhere. One friend walks up and the staircase disappears. The remaining four friends reunite to face the reappearing staircase twenty years later as adults. The story alternates between the two timelines, as we slowly learn what happened.

This is a hard one to talk about without spoilers. There is a sense of mystery and foreboding throughout the book and there are some pretty scary moments as the characters encounter this kind of haunted house built of their own childhood memories and traumas.

I overall enjoyed this story, however, there were a few sections of the book that seemed to lag and were a push to get through. The chapters are short, which does help with the pacing. Ultimately this is an emotional and sad story that will leave you unnerved and at times genuinely spooked.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
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Twenty years ago a group of friends found a staircase in the woods. One of them went up it and they never saw him again. Now the rest of the group are again in the woods and they come upon a staircase.
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This was my first Chuck Wendig and I am definitely going to be reading his backlist. I love a good sci-fi, but this book was like a sci-fi, mystery, with horror elements all wrapped up into one story.

I loved the idea of these staircases just appearing and disappearing. So mysterious and haunting. And then the mystery of what happened to Matty after he went up the staircase? Where did he go? Is he dead? Is he alive and trapped?

Once the friends went up the staircase the mystery unspooled in a slightly sinister way that kept me turning pages to figure out what in the world was going on.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I am already itching for another read like this so I’ll be low key browsing Pango today for some Wendig backlist.

When the book you have read inspires you to explore the author's entire catalogue of works you can be certain of two things– you have discovered a new author and you now have a tbr update to do–it was a great read.
Five friends are bound together, sworn to protect each other , one has disappeared up a staircase into nowhere. Now, they are back.
A twisted take of atmospheric, eerie echoes from the past where teenage happenstance catches up to adulthood. It is nostalgic and equal parts creepy –the book leans heavily on the classic trope of children having unleashed unknown horrors and now the sinister is closing in.
Hard to describe much without spilling the tea , but Chuck Wending has done a phenomenal job at warning me to not climb a staircase to nothing in the middle of nowhere.

In our house, we are Chuck Wendig fans. We've talked about several of his books on our podcast Strong Sense of Place. Like Stephen King, Chuck Wendig has a gift for writing absolutely bat-shit stories populated with characters that feel like real people. He creates people you want to hang out with and then completely mucks up their lives with nasty villains or traumatic events, often with an uncanny slant.

He's written a duology about an apocalyptic disease, a supernatural family drama, an urban fantasy about a girl who can see the death of anyone she touches,a techno-thriller about killer ants, and my current favorite, 'Black River Orchard,' a horror novel about apples that are so delicious they destroy people's lives.

His new one is 'The Staircase in the Woods.' The setup is irresistible to me: It's 1998 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A group of five ride-or-die friends are out camping when they discover a staircase In The Woods. Matty, their charismatic and impulsive de facto leader climbs the stairs and... disappears. As you might expect, the friends drift apart. Until 20 years later — when a new tragedy compels the friends to reunite. They go back to the woods and find another staircase. This time... they all climb.

What lies at the top of the staircase is... pretty scary and overwhelming and awesome and you should definitely read this to find out what happens.

Even though this is clearly a horror novel, it's also an examination of friendship — specifically, the bonds that can form among friends when we're young and inseparable, brought together by the big and small traumas of being a kid. That's all kind of laid out in the preface:

"Friendship is like a house... You move into this place together. You find your own room there, and they find theirs, but there's all this common space... and you each put into it all the things you love, all the things you are... You put your hearts on the coffee table, next to the remote control, vulnerable and beautiful and bloody. And this friendship, this house, it's a place of laughter and fun and togetherness. But there's frustration sometimes. Agitation... Frienship, like a house, can go bad, too... Gets bad enough, one or all of you have ot move out. And then the place just sits there, abandoned. Empty and gutted. Another ruin left to that force in the world that wants everything to fall apart. You can move back into a place like that, sometimes. But only if you tear is all down and start again."

If you like a group of tight-knit friends whose outsider status brings them together — like the Goonies or It or Stranger Things — and you're up for the delicious thrill of being scared, this sounds like a good one.

I recommended this book in the May 2 episode of my podcast The Library of Lost Time - https://strongsenseofplace.com/lolts/lolt-2025-05-02/

I first heard about the famous Reddit story about a staircase in the middle of the woods from the Jenna and Julien podcast (RIP 😭). This story HAUNTED me. I was captivated and so creeped out by it, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

When I saw the title of this book, I knew immediately it had to be a horror novel inspired by the Reddit story. I’ve heard great things about Chuck Wendig, and so I was so excited to read this! I can safely say, it did not disappoint!!

This story is about a group of teenagers who discover a staircase in the middle of the woods. Their friend, Matty, climbs it and disappears. Many years later, the group reunites as adults back to the staircase. They climb it, and what awaits them is truly horrifying.

This is now one of my favorite horror books! I highly recommend it, and if you haven’t read the Reddit story then I highly recommend that as well!

This story was right up my alley. Fantastic pacing and true horror, with a mix of sadness thrown in. Even when I didn't like certain characters, I never felt like I was struggling to keep reading. There were definitely some phrases and descriptions that will live in my head from now on, in like, a gross way. But that's what I want when I read these kind of stories. Bonus points for short chapters that make me feel smarter than I am. This is the kind of story that starts and finishes strong. It scared me, which is great.

I had the privilege of reading along as I listened to The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig, narrated by Jay Myers, Amber Benson, and Xe Sands. Never ever climb a staircase you find in the woods. Seriously. Don’t do it! Don’t believe me? Grab the book or audiobook and travel with four friends as they climb those stairs in search of their lost friend.

Friday June 28, 1998, five friends go on a camping trip in the woods, but only four returned. Now twenty years later, one of them is dying and requests the other three return home. The story that unfolds revisits the events of the first time when a staircase appeared in those woods and what happens when it appears again as the four ascend the stairs in search of the friend they left behind.

Twisted, dark, and on point, Wendig delivered a nostalgically dark tale that kept me listening into the wee hours. The friends’ relationships haven’t evolved past their childhood ones and they have a lot to work out, including guilt over the events of 1998. They all have baggage and not just from what happened to their friend. This follows the classic friends returning to right a wrong trope and had some terrifying moments and flashbacks. I found myself invested, particularly once they found out what was at the top of those stairs. Be prepared to turn off your phone and snuggle down, since you won’t be able to set this one down.

The story hits on relevant political points. Both Wendig and Stephen King are apt to do this and since I lean into those views, it made me laugh or nod my head. At its heart, this is a horror story, but it’s also a story of friendship and grief. Wendig has a twisted imagination and once again delivered the creep factor.

The narration by Jay Myers, Amber Benson, and Xe Sands elevated the story from the horror to the emotional struggles and fear of the characters. I highly recommend grabbing this one on audio.

Perfect for fans of Stephen King & Joe Hill, The Staircase in the Woods delivered an addictive, dark tale that will have you sleeping with a night light or second guessing that camping trip.

The Staircase in the Woods is Chuck Wendig's new novel.

Have any of you heard about stairs in forests? Stairs that aren’t meant to be there? I have read some, but I went digging a little bit further this time. And then I opened Wendig’s book. Take a second to just stop and have a look at the cover….

Five high school kids go to party out in the forest. 5 went in and four came out. One minute he was there and next he was gone….. and so were the stairs. They’re adults now and reluctantly gather for this 20th anniversary of his disappearance - back where it started. In the forest…

The five personalities are quite different from each other. Wendig has done a great job creating each of them. He portrays the good, the bad and the ugly of each one of them. Wendig’s imagining of what’s behind the door is downright scary. Very.

Summary? Lean on Me meets Stranger Things.

Lauren, Owen, Hamish, Nick and Matty were known as the ’The Covenant’ a friendship so strong that it stood against all. However, 20 years ago they were camping, when all four went into the woods, but only three came out.

The premise of this book hooked me immediately, I didn’t need to know anymore and had no idea where it was going. This book definitely takes you for a ride!

Twenty years after their friend disappeared, the Covenant is reunited for one more go that will either bring the crew back together, or rip them apart for good.

There were parts I couldn’t look away even though I very much wanted too!
There is a lot of trauma scenes, so if you are sensitive to that, be sure to look up warnings! **

Overall I definitely enjoyed this crazy ride and I am really glad I tackled another book by Chuck Wendig.
With that being said, I will say I personally needed more of an ending! As someone who is usualIy ok with open endings, I was not satisfied with this one. I feel like it was too crazy of a ride to not give us one more perspective, even a little bit of it! The ending took it down a little for me and honestly the whiny political parts could have definitely been cut out and it would have brought it back up to a 4.5 for me.

As always, a special thank you to NetGalley and Random House Worlds publishing for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review, it was an honor!

This book is 400 pages but didn’t feel like a long book. It was a fast read and held my attention throughout. This is one of those stories that goes back and forth from the present and the past. It’s pretty much told from the point of view of two of the characters. A lot of gaming references (a lot) and a lots of descriptions of horrific acts. I didn’t find any of the characters likable and there was a lot of repetition. I liked the mystery and didn’t know how it would end.

I really REALLY loved The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig! One of my favorite books of the year! Basically it’s about a group of friends that, in their teens, were in the woods partying when a staircase appears. One of the friends disappears and things are never the same. Five stars, I highly recommend!

Thanks netgalley for this book.
I pretty much enjoyed reading this book, but i didn't quite love it. Liked the multiple pov's, kind of expected that as well tbh. Also like the whole idea of the different rooms and kind of seeing it as a game. But towards the middle it eventually just got repetitive, they were just doing the same thing for a while basically. There were definitely some gorey scenes, which i like in horrors. But i did miss that creepy/scary feeling a bit. At first i was kind of put off by the many amount of chapters, but luckily they were all pretty short. Making it feel fast to read. Not too sure what i think of the characters tbh, they were okay. There were also certainly a few things i did not expect. Didn't really like that open ending tho.