A staircase appears in the woods. One friend climbs it and vanishes. Thirty years later, it returns—and the survivors are ready to follow.

This is small town horror meets grief horror meets a reluctant reunion story, with a clever twist of game design thrown in. Dual timelines and multiple POVs build real emotional weight, and the RPG-style structure will delight nerdy readers (I say this lovingly).

There’s a lot of trauma packed in here—sometimes to a fault—and the messaging gets a bit heavy-handed. Still, it’s a smart, character-driven horror story with a twisty haunted house feel.

Final verdict: For fans of Stephen King, Hendrix’s Horrorstor, and Kraus’s The Ghost That Ate Us. Scary and sad, with a good dose of 90s nostalgia for all the elder millennials.

Following a group of friends in alternating timelines, Chuck Wendig’s THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS focuses upon, you guessed it, a staircase in the woods. When the gang were only teenagers, they happened upon the aforementioned staircase with one of them traversing to the top and promptly disappearing. Although a body was never found, public opinion saddled the surviving members with the blame for the death of their friend. Years would pass, and although the group would grow apart, they all remained together haunted by what happened that day.

Now in their forties, they’re brought together once again as one of the group has received a terminal cancer diagnosis; or so they’re led to believe. When they arrive in New Hampshire to meet their supposedly doomed friend, they’re once again greeted by an unwelcome sight: another staircase in the woods.

If you think the above takes a lot from the plot of King’s IT, you’re not alone. I’ve seen folks draw that comparison across many of the early reviews posted online. However, I think that’s about as fair as saying that an author who wrote a story about a detective finding a dead body had ripped off Dashiell Hammett.

Wendig spends a good amount of time building up these characters as complicated individuals with complex relationships that when the stakes are raised and the true horror of the novel begins to take shape, it becomes an increasingly difficult book to put down. I hope I’m not spoiling too much by saying that the characters ultimately decide to follow this second staircase to its destination. When that happens, it’s easy to see just how much fun Wendig had playing with the terror and dread of it all.

The psychological horror at work here is exceptional. The story pounces on the trauma experienced by each individual character therefore making the novel go in some more than dark directions. I found myself rooting for them to make their way back to our world, even in the face of what often felt like unbeatable odds. Wendig seems to play with the fact that none of us is perfect, even those of us who have made some egregious errors in our lives deserve the ability to atone, or at the very least learn, from our actions.

This book is classic “bad thing happens to a group of teenagers, and years later they get back together to have a reckoning”. The vibe of this felt like Stephen King’s Stand by Me mixed with Kiersten White, Joe Hill, and a smidge of Simone St. James with some Stranger Things thrown in for good measure. That is to say it is weird, messed up, clever, mind-bending, and more than a little disturbing. Whether this is a positive or a negative thing depends completely on what kind of reader you are.

The concept is fascinating – a staircase appears in the woods. A boy ascends it and disappears. Decades later, another staircase appears in a new location. As Chuck Wendig wrote in his author’s note, random staircases in nature are a real thing. He said to Google it, and I did. It is kind of cool. Also creepy. Definitely a great concept for a book. At times this book was too much for me – the language, the visceral body horror, the difficult family situations. At times I was completely engrossed in the rawness of the friendship and all its nuances. I was not a 90s teen – I was an 80s – but the gritty emotional messy friendship felt very familiar, as did the freedom of running wild, hanging out, and living life without the complexities and uncertainties that social media brought to later generations.

The five friends in this book are the misfits, the misanthropes, who found each other in middle school. They initiated “The Covenant” – a code of honor to always be there for each other. Then Matty disappears on the mysterious staircase in the woods the summer before their Senior year, a tragedy with far reaching emotional impact that shapes all of their lives, and forever changes the dynamic of their relationships. When Nick finds another staircase decades later, the question becomes how far reaching is The Covenant and what is their obligation towards Matty. Although this book is wrapped heavily in horror, this is ultimately about friendship, family, loss, loyalty, and a late coming of age. Chuck Wendig has a voicy, authentic, unpolished writing style that made it feel like he, personally, was telling me this tale which enhanced both the emotional and horror tones of the story.

I had a very difficult time with this book. The characters are hyperbolic and have little substance. They are tropey caricatures matched with shallow dialogue that felt loud and intentionally obnoxious.

Any of the excitement or interest I had in the plot was quickly lost everytime we had an expositional or character backstory scene.

Thankful to have been given the opportunity to check it out but sad to say it didn't work.

Imagine going on a camping trip with your besties… one of them walks up a random staircase in the forest and NEVER comes back. Now it’s twenty years later—and the stairs are back. Like... nope.

Here are Reasons to Read the Horror Book


📚 Reasons to Read Staircase in the Woods
A creepy, can't-look-away mystery. One friend vanished without a trace—and now the group is facing what they left behind.


Supernatural horror. It’s eerie and emotional, with deep ties between the friends that make it hit harder.


“Stranger Things” meets folk horror. If you like weird woods, missing people, and secrets that won’t stay buried, you’re in for a ride.


If you are a fan of the book House of Leaves, this one might be for you. It is quite gory and the things this group sees in this house are definitely horrifying. Also if you are not a fan of endings that explain things, this might not be the book for you. This author is definitely an immersive story teller, but this book is kind of unsettling.

The book out of 5 stars I'd give a 2. Some reveals were way too long with the chapter and could have been shortened a lot. Very wordy at times when it didn't need to be. I liked the damage of all the characters and helped for me to care for them a bit more as we began to find out how fucked up they really were. The ending left a bit to be desired, would have liked more concreate closure. I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably check out other works by the author.

Yes, this will remind you of Stephen King’s classic “It” — now a horror/thriller trope where a group of friends reunites and revisits an unsolved mystery from when they were teenagers. This time it was during a camping trip when the mysterious object in the title appears, only to go “poof” when Matty climbs to the top. Twenty plus years later, Owen, Lore, Hamish, and Nick remember their “covenant” to always protect each other and go to find the staircase again to solve the mystery of Matty.

Based on the trigger warnings alone (suicide, sexual abuse, racism, drugs, collective madness, and mental health issues), you’ll know you’re in the middle of a horror novel even without the supernatural elements. Wendig’s characters are well-developed but sad, confused people, and I realized this just wasn’t for me. The ending wasn’t satisfying (it felt forced). However, the acknowledgments were highlights — the author’s own visit to a staircase in the woods is epic. 3 stars — although I suspect other horror fans will like it more than I did.

Thank you to Del Ray Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

'The Staircase in the Woods' by Chuck Wendig. Thanks to Netgalley for an early copy to review. This was my first Wendig book, and I really, really loved this. Folklore, internet legends, and psychological horror intermingle in this novel about old friends who reunite to face a shared trauma. The complex characters and their personal journeys really surprised me. I loved the aspects of the horror that reminded me of movies like 'Cube'. A really imaginative story inspired by the very real-world phenomenon of staircases appearing in the woods.

Creepy staircase just randomly appears in the woods? I’m here for it!! 🙌

A little slow to start as we got to know the characters, but then it took off and I was hooked!!! Highly recommend, my book peeps! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley, Del Rey Books, and Chuck Wendig for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

“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.