“I brought you here because we [f*ed] up. We broke the Covenant. And now we have the chance to fix it.”

“The house was torturing them with the torment of others. And sometimes, with our own torment, too.”

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is unlike anything I have ever read! When five friends in high school find a random staircase in the woods one weekend, but only four return home to their families, the investigation ensues. They are (were) more than friends, more than a clique, bound together by the bond of The Covenant. Now, years later, after they have drifted apart, Nick brings the remaining four together – with the underlying and unknown reason, of finally trying to figure out what happened to their friend – they find the staircase and get lost in another dimension.

Can we start with – if you see a staircase in the woods (or anywhere!) that actually leads nowhere, let’s be smart and not climb it. While I understand that doesn’t make a good story – I would already be creeped out and go in the opposite direction!

This was my first novel by Wendig and I admit I went in blind, not knowing what to expect. This was equal parts terrifying and nostalgic. There was a moment in the beginning (the after-airport car ride) that I almost DNF’ed this book, and I am so glad I didn’t. Once the descriptive, crazy, mind-play begins, I was absolutely hooked.

The way Wendig plays on your emotions of fear, loyalty, disappointment and guilt, coupled with the underlying basis of friendship, was extremely well done. This ever-shifting mismatched nightmare house” will pull you in and change you. I will be reading more by Wendig! Creative premise, well executed, and a little messed up. This is not my typical genre, but I was here for the ride!

3.9 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this thrilling (horrifying!) ARC! All opinions are my own.

“The staircase was the trap, the bait; once we went in, it was too late.”

A creepy story worth reading. The short chapters can easily be devoured and the never ending twists make this story un-put-downable. A unique take on the haunted house, this story will have you guessing until the very end.

I don't know about you, but I am an absolute sucker for that nostalgic, spooky trope where a group of friends faces something terrifying in their youth, only to be forced to revisit it in adulthood -all traumatized, broken, and barely holding it together. That's what this book is, and in a way it gives "Stephen King's IT" vibes mixed with "Stranger Things".

The setup is solid. Back in 1998, five high school friends - Owen, Hamish, Nick, Lauren, and Matty - are hanging out in the woods when they stumble upon the titular staircase. Matty - after a disagreement with Lauren - climbs it and then vanishes. The staircase disappears right after, leaving the remaining four to carry that trauma into adulthood. Fast-forward twenty years, and guess what's back? Yep. The staircase. And now the group, very reluctantly, must return to confront what really happened - and what still might be waiting for them.

Wendig did a great job at crafting a ragtag group of characters. They felt familiar in a way, but they all worked. Owen is the anxiety-ridden, sensitive one who never really moved past the trauma of what went down in the woods. Hamish, once the bullied fat kid, is now a physically transformed conservative gym bro with a few skeletons in his closet. Nick is the chaotic jester of the group - the kind of guy who cracks a joke at a funeral and somehow gets away with it. Lauren is now a gender-fluid game designer who brings a grounded, emotionally intelligent energy to the mix. And then there's Matty - the golden boy with a bright future who walked up the stairs and never came back. We only get to know him through haunting, bittersweet flashbacks, which adds this beautiful layer of mystery with a side of melancholy to the story.

First off, let me just say that Wendig is really good at creeping you out without throwing gore at your face for the sake of it. The prose is tight, vivid, and super atmospheric. The horror elements are also really spot on. There are scenes that seriously had me squirming, particularly when the veil between reality and… whatever's up those stairs… starts to thin. Wendig knows how to ratchet up the tension and then hit you with something grotesque or unsettling. There were definitely a few moments where my imagination got the best of me, and I had to set the book aside for a bit.

That said, this book is long. Like, pack-a-snack, wear-comfy-pants kind of long. There were definitely chunks - especially in the middle - where I felt like we were circling the same emotional drain without really moving forward. Some of the trauma-processing scenes got a little repetitive, and I did find myself drifting now and then. Not enough to put the book down, but enough to notice that my attention was waning.

BUT - the final chapter? Absolutely killer. I kind of wish the pacing had been flipped: tighten the middle and stretch out the ending. The final scene was so captivating and opened up a new door so to speak. I would've loved to spend more time with what was finally revealed. It felt like things got fresh right when the book was wrapping up. A little frustrating, but also kind of impressive how Wendig left me wanting more.

Still, this book is undeniably inventive. It's eerie, nostalgic, and emotionally resonant in a way that sticks with you - even if it tends to drag and repeat itself a bit in the middle. If you love stories where childhood trauma meets supernatural horror, and you're down to follow a group of flawed, deeply human characters into the belly of something otherworldly, this one is absolutely worth the trip. Just maybe don't go climbing any random staircases in the forest afterward. You know, just in case.

I know Architectural Digest would be frothing at the mouth if they knew about Chuck's eye for interior design.

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Though I wasn't left feeling scared, I did end up a little distraught (poor Nick). At its core, it's a story about outcasts, bonded by trauma, who eventually found their way back to each other. Well, mostly. Great for fans of character-driven stories--though they do feel a bit superficial, there's enough of them to sink your teeth into.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC! All opinions are my own.)

✧ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʀᴇᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ, @Netgalley @ChuckWendig @DelRey

➤ 𝚂𝚈𝙽𝙾𝙿𝚂𝙸𝚂

A group of high school friends discovers a mysterious staircase in the woods during a camping trip, one of them climbs it and vanishes. The staircase disappears too. Twenty years later, it returns, and so do the friends, determined to uncover what happened and face what waits beyond.

➤ 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝚂

Chuck Wendig’s The Staircase in the Woods takes a bizarre premise, a staircase in the middle of nowhere that makes people vanish, and turns it into one of the darkest horror novels I’ve read in a while. The scares here are no joke: graphic, psychological, and relentless. Wendig knows how to crank the tension, especially with the short, rapid-fire chapters that make it hard to put down. The story digs deep into trauma and friendship, with a layered backstory that unfolds through sharp flashbacks and dialogue. It drags a bit in the middle with some repeated beats, but the atmosphere and intensity more than make up for it.

Character-wise, the group is well-written, you can tell them apart and follow their personalities, but I didn’t feel much for most of them. Owen stood out as the most entertaining, but the rest didn’t land for me. Wendig clearly cares about building complex people, but the emotional connection just wasn’t there. On top of that, the book slips into some forced identity politics that felt like an unnecessary detour from the horror. If it had stayed focused on the terror and mystery, this would’ve been a five-star read. As it stands, it’s still worth picking up if you like your horror brutal, weird, and unshakable.

The Staircase in the Woods is an amazing horror story. It's creepy and suspenseful with interesting and different characters that add to the story. It's a real page-turner with twists and turns that once you start reading, you won't be able to put down. I highly recommend this book to all horror fans!

Whoa. I’m definitely experiencing a book hangover from this one. I had to give it about 24 hours before I could switch my brain over to review brain.

First, I have to say that I loathe politics (of any kind) in the books that I read with every fiber of my being. However, Chuck Wendig is one of the very few exceptions to that rule. I go into his books already knowing there will be something political, and when those parts come, I just skip them. The reason I’m saying that is to give you an idea of what an incredible writer Wendig is. I LOVE his stories. And with this one, he managed to harness one of my favorite horror tropes perfected by Stephen King, the kids-on-bikes trope. There are two types of kids-on-bikes stories: the kids-on-bikes-who-get-into-supernatural-s**t stories and the adults-who-used-to-be-kids-on-bikes-who-are-going-back-home-to-get-into-supernatural-s**t stories. This one, in true It fashion, was a bit of both. It’s Cube meets The Stairs with the kids-on-bikes feel of It. I. Could. Not. Get. Enough. Of. It!

The characterization was on point for such a dysfunctional group of adults. They were all unlikable in their own way, which is what made them work so well. I hated Lore the most. She was the quintessential rude friend who was completely unwilling to entertain opinions, ideas, or beliefs that were even a little different from hers. I later suspected she might be high functioning autistic based on some of the things that were said, but that’s no excuse for being such an awful human being. The rest of them were equally unlikeable for various reasons, but out of all of them, I think Owen was the most tolerable. The thing is, these characters had to be written as absolute s**t heels so that their character arcs could change. The story wasn’t just a page turner. It was the type of story that gave me anxiety as I got closer to the end. I needed to see what was going to happen, but I was so bummed that it was ending. The last book that had me this up in arms was Keith Rosson’s Fever House. Truly a work of art. I genuinely wish there were something more to continue this story because I would love for it to keep going!

And if you’re a fellow writer and haven’t discovered his website, terribleminds, I highly recommend you do! There’s some really good stuff in there! At least three of my MFA professors used his blog in their classes, so that should tell you something! Plus, he’s HILARIOUS!

Huge thanks to Random House Worlds | Del Rey and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

Chuck is an auto buy author for me since Wanderers. The staircase in the woods will be no exception. Creepy, suspenseful, tense and page turning.

I think this was an interesting read about growing up, dealing with trauma, and the horrors of real life evil.
The story was well crafted but it did get a little boring as it progressed. There really isn’t much that happens in this book, and all of the characters tended to mesh together and became indistinguishable.

Not my fave from Wendig, but still a decent spooky read.

I've been a reader of Chuck Wendig's books for some time now and am never disappointed. This book was no different than the others. Books that start with a group of friends that are bonded by an often traumatic incident that then propels into the friend groups lives as adults is a weakness of mine and they always make for great stories. This is definitely one of the greats and is one that will stay with me.

This was a creepy read and not something I would truly ally read but I have to say it was interesting and the premise was crazy. I mean a staircase that just appears? What happens to Marty and what will happen when they go up the staircase to find him. It was different but I am so glad I read it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

A suspenseful look into what makes a house and home and what happens when a home becomes a horror from Chuck Wendig. Suspenseful and epic in scope.

"and it is in all this that a house becomes a home: you imprint yourself upon it, and it imprints itself upon you in return"

in the past, five friends go into the woods and encounter a mysterious staircase that goes nowhere... and only four friends come back out. In the present, twenty years later, they encounter another staircase and have to reckon with their past. Can they save their friend? Can they even save themselves?

Many of us know of the nosleep stories about the staircase in the woods, and this book explores the concept in what I've found to be a new light. I loved what it did with it, how it played with what makes a house a home, and how a home can be a true nightmare (literlally and figuratively). It clearly was for the main characters, who suffered through difficult childhoods and are still plagued by their traumas. Because of it, they are deeply flawed and unlikeable characters, truly sometimes I wanted someone to slap some sense into them, but they are also realistic and somewhat relatable for those who went through similar ordeals. For some readers, though, they could be too unlikeable to truly care about their fate.

While the first half of the book dragged (and is heavily character-focused), the second half was intense: the pieces of the puzzle came together and the plot intensified. Overall, I would have liked this book more if the first part had been shorter, but I see how it was necessary to build up the story.

If you like creepy atmospheres, sentient houses and character-driven stories, and don't mind some gore, swearing and a few political rants that seem out of place (but probably aren't), then I would suggest this book! It was fun but also heart-wrenching at times.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is a fantastically creepy book that I could not put down! Wendig is a master of disturbing tales with complex characters and plots, and this book is no exception. It features a cast of flawed and not always likable but intriguing characters, and it kept me rooting for them. The book deals with friendships and how they change as you grow older, as well as trauma and how it is handled. I won't go into the plot because of spoilers, but the story kept me on the edge of my seat, needing to know what would happen next. If you are in the mood for a creepy and emotional ride, walk up the staircase in the woods to see what you will find!

Where do I even begin? This story got better for me as I continued further into the story. Our cast of characters was interesting, and by the end, I felt at least some form of attachment to each of them. What stood out to me was the writing and how Wendig portrayed the friendship between our characters with the backdrop of this staircase and the horrors that unfold. The last 10% of the story is what got me. Seeing the struggles of our characters and the bond that forms as a result was an experience, and I would recommend this to anyone who has even heard of "The Staircase in the Woods" phenomenon. A very compelling story full of flawed characters as they try to solve the mystery of their missing friend. 4 stars! I will be thinking about Lore's monologue in Chapter 66 for the foreseeable future.

This was my first Chuck Wendig book and it didn’t disappoint - as a horror reader I absolutely devoured this one. Many creepy and disturbing elements and the storyline kept me wanting to read more. Initially took me a little while to get in the swing while the characters were being introduced and I was learning about each of them and their shared histories but didn’t take too long and the story took over. Can’t wait to read more by Wendig!

This was an intriguing story and my first by this author. Most of it read kind of like a horrifying fever dream and I can guarantee I won’t ever forget it.

High school friends, Lore, Owen, Hamish, Nick and Matty, are on another camping trip in the woods of New Hampshire. Shockingly, a staircase appears out of nowhere and Marty is the one who goes up to investigate. But Matty never comes back down and the staircase vanishes.

Now, twenty years later, Nick calls his friends home for a reunion because the staircase has reappeared. Can they go up and find Matty after all these years and fix what they couldn’t when they were kids?

This book has short, addictive chapters that compelled me to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. There was a lot of suspense built around the mystery of Matty’s disappearance. I enjoyed the interaction between the longtime friends and watching them grow, work through old resentments, and get reacquainted as adults. I did think the ending was pretty abrupt and left me with more questions than answers, but maybe the author wanted that for the reader. I think people involved in gaming culture are really going to love this one.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Worlds, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on April 29, 2025

Chuck Wendig is an auto-read author for me. I have loved almost everything I’ve read of his, and this was no exception. Staircase in the Woods was simply fantastic. Not too long, paced well, great characters, and truly scary but not in a gory way. I really enjoyed every minute of this book!

First off, a thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the eARC.

Five high school best friends find a staircase in the woods, but only four of them leave the woods. Years later, the group is called to gather again as one member is on his death bed. However, it is all a sham. There is another staircase in the woods, and the chance to find out what happened to their friend those many years ago is presented to the group -- a chance to recover from the event that tore their group apart.

Wendig has created a story that is one part coming-of-age story, one part psychological horror, and one part supernatural horror. The story is engrossing, drawing you in to repeatedly stomp on your heart. The characters are compelling, and Wendig develops them incredibly. While the characters initially look like shallow stereotypes, Wendig fleshes each character out into something much more than what you thought they were going to be. The story is filled with twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing and off balance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Worlds | Del Rey for the digital advance reader copy.

Lore, Owen, Hamish, and Nick have been friends since high school. Except there used to be one more member of the Covenant: Matty. Something happened to Matty, and they don't talk about it.

They don't talk about a lot of things.

But now Nick has invoked the Covenant, and they are together again years later. Perhaps they'll find Matty, if he's still able to be found.

But first they'll need to face the truth about their friendship and themselves and the horror that is the staircase in the woods.

This is my second Wendig book (<i>The Book of Accidents</i>), and he does a great job with character and dialogue. The damaged friendship between the four feels genuine, with all of its complications and pettiness and joys and secrets.

He also can create horrifying tableaus, and this book is no exception. The house's depiction of hate and fear and utter despair is terrifying. It is a hopeless place, made to break your humanity and have you destroy any humanity around you.

I did struggle with this one a tiny bit because it started to feel more like a parable than an actual horror tale. I'm not sure how to explain that better. Of course, we all know that there is no staircase, no hateful house made so by hateful humans. That's part of fiction. We know it's not real. However, in this case, it felt for me like the novel turned a corner at some point and became less about its story and characters and more about the lesson it was trying to teach: <spoiler>Hate and fear breeds more hate and fear, ad infinitum. The only thing that can break it is having someone to see you, including all of the wounds you have, and to remind you of the small joys and kindnesses and laughter and love that life can bring too. If you focus only on the darkness, it will destroy you. Generational trauma is very real and truly terrifying.</spoiler>

It's still a horrifying story, and I'll still read Wendig in the future because I've enjoyed his characters and creative storytelling, but it did lessen the horror for me when I started to feel like it was trying to teach me something.

If you like friendship-focused horror, I'd pick this one up.

*language, sex, graphic violence, suicidal ideation, abuse