Chuck Wendig has a talent for weaving horror with emotional depth, and The Staircase In The Woods is no exception. At first glance, the novel sets up what seems like a classic horror premise; a group of childhood friends, long estranged, come together as adults to fix a mistake they made years ago (One of my absolute favorite tropes) But Wendig takes this familiar setup and transforms it into something far more profound: a haunting meditation on friendship, regret and the inescapable grip of the past.

From the very first page, the atmosphere is thick with unease. The titular staircase (which, I didn't know was a phenomenon, really creepy) is both an eerie mystery, drawing the characters, and the reader, deeper into its secrets. Wendig's writing is immersive and cinematic, painting vivid scenes that feel both nostalgic and menacing. There's a creeping dread that lingers, not just from the supernatural elements, but from the weight of the characters' past choices.

The horror elements are classic yet fresh. Wendig knows how to build suspense, balancing unsettling imagery with psychological depth. The story delivers it scares but more than that, it lingers in the mind, forcing readers to reflect on what truly haunts us: is it the unknown lurking in the woods, or the regrets we carry with us.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping, eerie and deeply introspective story, and I can't wait to see what Chuck Wendig writes next.

Liminal, emotional, raw, and strange. Chuck Wendig tangles us within a strange horror in the woods that puts us betwixt and between the worlds. We are immersed in the human emotional condition and what happens when finally having to confront old buried emotions. A group of friends watch their friend climb a mysterious staircase in the woods and then that friend disappears and moments later the staircase also vanishes. This moment will haunt them all their lives. A second chance appears 20 years later where they might be able to redeem themselves. Do they take it? What happens? A truly eerie and horrifying journey to save a friend where they will also have to save each other as well.

An emotional rollercoaster of love, self-hate, self-harm, self-doubt, personal insecurities, what friendship means, and so much more. Dark and disturbing in all the right places.

This is one of those captivating books that stays in your mind for a while after reading it. I could not put this down and was sucked in until the end.

In The Staircase in the Woods, five high school friends go into the woods, find a staircase, and come out one short. Fast forward twenty years, and another staircase has appeared. Reunited, the four remaining friends strike onwards and upwards to find their missing piece and solve the mysteries beyond the staircase.

I went into this book desperately wanting to love it. And it’s clear that a whole lot of people have enjoyed it. But, alas. It was not meant to be for me and The Staircase in the Woods.

The pacing in this book left me hanging at every possible turn. This book clocks in at 400 pages and it really needed better direction to keep it flowing and interesting. Every time the story seemed to be picking up, we were flung into a different scene entirely. It jumped from the adult timeline, back several decades to high school, to a pages-long recap of how one character found God, to a few political rants, to the history of the characters’ pact that they all insist on calling The Covenant even decades after their last meaningful conversation.

And oh boy, the characters. From the jump, there is no way I bought that these kids would have ever willingly shared oxygen with one another, much less formed such a strong bond that they would literally do anything for one another (except, you know, the whole climb the original staircase thing). Matty is the star athlete, the lead in the school play, the straight A student, Nick seems to just want to get drunk and cause a ruckus, Lauren/Lore and Owen are firmly in the nerd category, and Hamish is there to… get bullied at school and have his weight and size commented on every time he’s on the page. I’m sorry, it’s the 90s, there is no way that this group of teenagers is going into the woods together to have a little weekend vacation. And, to make this group somehow more insufferable, of course half of the male characters wanted to be with the one lone female presenting character (and although we do learn later on that Lauren/Lore uses she/they pronouns, she is only ever referred to as ‘she’). That is exactly what I signed up for in a book that promised me a staircase in the woods. Stop making out and go climb some steps already.

The horror elements in this book are more about gruesome trauma than anything else. As the characters explore what awaits them at the top of the staircase, they wander through seemingly endless rooms that are filled with the seemingly endless and terrible demises of other people. Murder, suicide, disease, on, and on, and on we go. After five or six of these death rooms, I really just wanted them to find the exit door already. Or the exit staircase, whatever.

Given all of this, I had hoped that maybe the writing would be able to save this book for me. But then one of the full grown, 40-something year old man thought to himself “senpai noticed me” and I wanted to throw myself out the window to get away from my Kindle.

Overall, this was just not for me, but it’s clearly working for other readers so it must be doing something right that didn’t translate for me. Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Definitely a scary read. Who knew there were staircases in the woods?? One friend went up the stairs years ago and never came back. Now it’s back and they all go to try to find out where he went. What happened next is SCARY!

I am not a horror reader but I am a Chuck Wendig reader. I read an arc for Black River Orchard and I was hooked. When I saw this pop up on NetGalley, I couldn’t stop myself!! This was creepy as hell, and was gross at times (but what do you expect from horror?!). The characters were complex and not easily likeable, but I was definitely able to root for them, I wish we got more information on what happened at the end. I was dying to get confirmation one way or another (leaving this intentionally vague so there are no spoilers). The only thing I didn’t like was the explanation of how the house came to be. It just felt too…specific? Like, that situation had to have occurred prior to that one house, so making that the explanation just felt too hand wavey to me. I would’ve preferred something more fantastical, even. Like I’m happy to suspend my disbelief for fantasy, but suspending my disbelief for something trying to be rooted in reality like this was just not working for me. Anyway. The rest of it, it was clear how powerful a writer Wendig is. Even the names of the chapters delighted me!! And who has any right being delighted when reading horror?! He’s just that good.

4/5 stars

Five friends in high school make an oath which later gets put to the test when they go for a camping trip and find a staircase in the middle of the woods. One of them is curious enough to walk up that staircase and never returns, leading to the staircase disappearing. In twenty years, the staircase reappears and the group unites to try to find their lost friend.

This reminded me so much of Stephen King's It. A group of friends make a pact and are tied together for life, a tragedy strikes, and then one of them calls the rest back many years later to finish what was started. Even though The Staircase in the Woods reminded me of It, it still had its own mystery and unique twists.

I loved the diversity in each character's personality and how we got to see each of their struggles. This book really emphasized their internal struggles and forced the friends to face them head on. That being said, this book does contain mental illnesses and the struggles that arise within those illnesses. Please check the trigger warnings, as always, if that type of thing bothers you. There is some sensitive content.

The atmosphere in this book was great. It was creepy and mysterious. I enjoyed the writing too. The ending was maybe a little bit too rushed but besides that, it was a pretty good read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc. All thoughts are my own.

TW: self harm, suicide, blood, murder, violence, child abuse, body horror, gore, suicidal thoughts, physical abuse, suicide attempt, child death, injury detail, mental illness, rape, death

I have never read a Chuck Wendig book before. THE staircase in the Woods was very good. It had a few twists and turns. Chuck Wendig keeps you guessing. He could continue this book into a series. I would continue reading his books.

The atmospheric writing immediately pulls you into a world where the lines between reality and folklore blur in unsettling ways. The characters are compelling, and the eerie mystery surrounding the staircase keeps the tension high throughout.

I'm obsessed with mysteries, especially when it comes to weird things like random staircases in the woods. I watched a video about it by Stephanie Harlow a couple of years ago on YouTube and I think that's what initially drew me to this novel and request it - that and also loving most novels Chuck Wendig writes.

This story is told from the different perspectives of four friends who's other friend disappeared up one of these staircases years ago, when they were just teenagers. When they all come together to find the staircase and find their friend, they do so because of their "covenant", a kind of vow they made to each other years ago which bound them together as teenagers. What I liked about these perspectives, is that none of the characters were particularly likeable; they are all flawed and all full of their own traumas and history.

Everything which unfolds once they ascend the stairs and enter "the House" is eerie, creepy and completely addictive to read. There's a kind of House of Leaves unease and a cosmic unrealness which just kept me hooked. But more than the horrors, it was about getting lost and finding yourself, about unhealed and healing trauma, about family and connections and what connects and sometimes disconnects people in the first place.

I can't recommend this novel enough. I just loved where it went and loved the unloveable characters and found it unexpectedly moving in the end. One of my faves so far of the year.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Chuck Wendig put together a story that examines the heights of friendship and the seemingly eternal depths of grief.

Imagine finding a way out only to get locked in....

I enjoyed it very much. There's creep, there's heart.....sometimes there's a creeping heart.

You should read it

A whole lot of horror and darkness with a few glimpses of hope and humor mixed in. A stairway found in the middle of the woods, once when they were teenagers and found again as adults. It leads them to a house of horrors, in which every room is a new memory of something bad that happened, and it tries to take them over. I love the short chapters that for me made it easy to read despite the dark tone of the book.
The book does start out a bit slow, and I also wish we had seen more of the multiple POVs (although I know that can become a bit much. But I would have loved even a few chapters focused on Nick since he found the staircase first, was taken over, and led them all back there because of the house.)
This book has a lot of triggers, although many aren't graphic and just mentioned in passing. But this is definitely not going to be a book for everyone because of them. Like all of my tags probably aren't even all the things that are mentioned in the book.

"Heart is where the home is."


After their friend Matty goes missing as teenagers, four now adult friends meet back up to remember and celebrate their friendship. Unfortunately, one of them has planned more than a reunion. The staircase is more than meets the eye - will they find their friend or be trapped forever.

Man, this book was a trip. Part spooky, part heartbreaking, this book has lot going for it! There were parts that made me gasp in fear, and parts that made me cringe. The first half of the book is slow, and none of the characters are exactly loveable, but the book is an engrossing and quick read.

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for an ARC. This will be published 4/29/25!

Overall, I really enjoyed The Staircase In The Woods. I enjoyed the pacing and the imagery used by the author as he described certain parts of the book. The depth of the characters and the emotions they felt is probably what resonated most with me and the author did an incredible job of telling their stories. My only critique is that there were some civic overtones that didn't resonate with me personally. It was only a minor part of the story however and as a whole I really enjoyed it. I will read more books from this author and would recommend this to my friends.

Wendig’s newest title follows a group of childhood friends up a staircase in the woods and it’s a wild ride. Along the way, each character has things to confront within themselves and with each other.

I hesitated picking this one up because I expected it to be Bible-length. It was actually normal length and I wound up hating that it ended. It was kind of the coolest haunted house story I’ve read.

It's an easy five stars for me. I'm somewhat of a slow reader - a week or two generally for a book - but I was glued to my couch with this one. It is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and loved every moment of it. It kind of reminded me a lot of vintage Stephen King. It's totally original, and equally plot driven as it is character driven. Each person you will root for one moment, and then hate them the next - they're all conflicted in compelling ways. But the story... it's not like anything I'd ever read - and the whole time I'm wondering, where is this going? How is he going to tie all this together? It's a hell of a ride, and I think the majority of readers are going to love every moment of it.

Thank you to @netgalley and Chuck Wendig for this ARC!
"The Staircase In The Woods" is the latest horror novel from Chuck Wendig.
It is about a group of friends who discover a mysterious staircase while camping.
Quick pacing and multiple POVs make this a fast and interesting read.
Are you one who likes camping?

A poor imitation of Stephen King’s IT. It unnecessary long and confusing. And worst offense, boring. Only character that was somewhat tolerable was Marty.

Thank you to the publisher and author for a ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This book left me a bit confused.

There were many parts of it I enjoyed and also kept me reading, and I found the entire story line very interesting. I found that the story got better half way through.

The beginning of the book was difficult to get through at times, I found a lot of information I was getting in the first half was not needed. I also didn’t really enjoy any of the characters. It took me some time to get through this book, as I had to push myself through some sections to get to more intriguing parts I wanted to read about.

Three stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. While I've definitely read books with similar premises - I don't really want to say more as I don't want to spoil anything - I found this one to be very well done. It was suspenseful & creepy without feeling repetitive or over the top.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of The Staircase in the Woods in exchange for my honest review.