As someone who grew up reading creepypasta stories and Reddit no sleep stories, the “staircase in the woods” idea is no stranger in my life. So, when I saw Chuck Wendig wrote a book all about a mysterious staircase in the woods, I knew I had to get my hands on it!

The book starts out at quite a slow pace. The first half of the book is character building, a few flashbacks since there are dual timelines, and an idea into how the friend group has fallen apart since the ordeal in the woods from their childhood. I didn’t find myself invested in the characters, we see a lot of arguments and ugliness between our friends in the first half of the book, but it does get better later on. The slow start was a drag for me, however when we finally see our friends ascend the staircase that’s when I started getting more invested! The second half of the book held my attention a lot better and I enjoyed the constant feeling of uneasiness it brought. The story revolves around our group of friends- their anger, trauma, resentment, regret. As the story dives deeper, the readers learn more about our little group and what it is that has made them who they are.
Although I enjoyed the second half, the story tends to be quite repetitive and I do feel like it could have been cut down if that wasn’t the case.

All and all, I did enjoy this story and I’m so happy I was able to read it early

The Staircase in the Woods is a tale of 5 teenagers and their bond with each other once one of them goes missing. The story explores each of how they each react to the missing member and how they deal with the consequences as a group. The best part of the story is what they find at the top of the staircase and attempt to figure out what is real and what is not.

I felt the ending could have been explained in more detail. Seems like a cliffhanger for another book or to use your imagination on what happens next. I wanted more.

In June of 1998, five high schoolers enter the woods. One of them ("the popular one") climbs a staircase and disappears, never to be seen again. Twenty years later the friends are reunited. They have all had trouble moving on. They are all a mess. How can they band together to fix what happened back then?

This is such a hard one to review without giving spoilers. The book alternates between present day and back to what happened in 1998. Like many of Wendig's books, while it is at moments very creepy and scary, there are still undercurrents of friendship and hope for humanity with a few jabs at that real-life orange monster that we all love to hate.

I wasn't sure my thoughts when I first started the book. I think it took me awhile to warm up to the characters and to really become invested, but there was also a lot of nostalgia because if these characters were real I would only be 2 or 3 years older than them. As I went along I became very invested, though. Wendig does a great job of creating distinct personalities for all five friends and it is easy to see how they all become so close when they all have important things missing in their lives. There are a lot of creepy, jump-scare moments. A lot of "blech!". A lot of fun.

I will let you know that we do get to see what is at the top of those stairs and it is terrifying. Repeatedly. :)

A lot of people will like this book......I'm just not one of them (largely because I'm not . There's a lot of potential here and it has a great atmosphere, but there's also a lot of plot holes and confusion. I didn't particularly care about the characters and therefore didn't really root for them

I was so excited to read this but felt wholly let down. I knew it would be kind of out there but honestly, I was confused more than I wasn't and didn't connect with any of the characters. The premise was promising but overall, it wasn't enjoyable for me and felt like a slog to get through.

First of all, thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I loved the cover; reminded me of Creepypasta stories which reminded me of Season 2 and 3 of Channel Zero, the Syfy horror series. The reader can expect well drawn characters with fully realized backstories. Plenty of gore and action are present. I sincerely hope this novel reaches a wide audience as it already is in the running for my favorite read of 2025. Highly highly recommended.

When five friends exploring the woods happen upon a mysterious staircase, they jump at the chance to see where it goes.... but only four of them come back down. Years later, the remaining four friends converge on the woods when one of them notices that the staircase is back.

I loved a lot about this book-- the cover is beautiful and creepy, the idea is unique and creepy, and the writing was very good. I enjoyed the characters and didn't mind the occasional political reference (though I think it may date the book badly for people reading in the future). I also really, really loved the 'It' vibes as far as a group of adults reexamining their childhood experiences.

That being said, this book would probably benefit from a different blurb, or a more specific genre call out. It was listed as General Fiction/Horror/Mystery/Thriller, and I don't know that any of them really target the correct audience. I read all of those genres every week and I don't think of them fit. It's darker and more nefarious than 'General Fiction' tends to be and it's definitely a pretty slow burn so I don't think 'thriller' really fits, either. Horror I suppose would be the closest because it does have a decent amount of gross stuff and a couple of potentially scary things but I still don't feel like that really describes it. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but from the moment they head up the staircase in the present-day story the whole thing requires the level of suspension of disbelief commanded by fantasy or sci fi. It's not to say it's not a good story, it's just so much more off the wall than I expected based on the description. I don't think I'm alone in enjoying a more grounded horror story so I think putting something in the description that hints at (for lack of a better word and avoidance of spoilers) unreality of it would help it find the right readers rather than having thriller readers crack it and be disappointed.

Bottom line I think this book hits BIG with fans of Stephen King's "It", highly recommend for those readers!

In 1998, five friends walk in to the woods and only four walk out. After a mysterious staircase appears, young Matty walks up it and never comes back down. Now, 20 years later, the friends have been tricked in to gathering around the staircase, giving them an opportunity to right their wrongs.

Crossing between reality and unreality, it can be hard to tell what’s up and what’s down in this new horror from Wendig. I was utterly hooked in the beginning but by about 40%, I was losing steam. Even though we were finally getting to the meat of the story, it dragged and felt repetitive and the characters constant bickering between each other grew tiring. It’s also difficult to read Wendig without feeling like he’s trying to push some political agenda on you; it’s a common thread through his books. However, while many people despise it, I don’t find that it bothers me, per se, but it is definitely noticeable.

Out of all of his books that I have read—Book of Accidents, Wanderers, Black River Orchard—I think this one is my least favorite. Still, The Staircase in the Woods is a really interesting take on a classic horror trope and written well in typical Wendig fashion, I think that many readers will absolutely love it.

Thank you Random House for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Available Apr 29 2025

Five friends go into the woods. When they see something unexpected. Not all of them come back out. Now they are determined to find the one still in the woods.

A staircase in the woods. What a novel idea . . . that is, until Chuck Wendig relayed to me in his afterword that staircases in the woods are a thing. Seriously. Google it. But unlike the real staircases one might find remaining from an abandoned home in the woods, you probably won’t jump (or step) off into a supernatural hell. I assume. But maybe you don’t want to take that chance.

This is a horrifying book about getting lost—getting lost on multiple levels. And while there is nothing wrong with getting a little lost (I did it numerous times while through-hiking the Appalachian Trail causing me to have to back track), it can be life threatening if you get really lost. It helps, though, to get lost with others. Then you can work together to help rectify the situation.

And that’s the other thing this book is about—friendship and working together. And hopefully growing in the process. But, in this case, it was really, really, horrifying—monsters personal and otherworldly to battle.

Also, the characters in this novel were very real as were the personal problems they faced, which made you root for them even when you occasionally wanted to shake some sense into them.

The plot was so unexpected! I absolutely loved it! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this before. I need more!

✨ This book hooked me right away with its Pittsburgh and Bucks County references, as I’ve lived in eastern and western Pennsylvania my whole life—so, familiar territory for me.

✨The story alternates between the present day and the late 1990s, capturing teenage nostalgia through flashbacks. The references to PBR, Yuengling, Boone’s Farm, camping in the woods, and bonfire parties transported me straight back to high school.

✨ The premise—a group of estranged high school friends reuniting decades after the mysterious death of their friend Matty—is a gripping setup. Brought together by Nick, who has terminal cancer, the group must confront unresolved trauma tied to eerie legends of staircases in the woods.

✨The characters feel authentic. They’re flawed, often unlikable, and carry the weight of personal growth—or lack thereof. (The former stoner-turned-Trumper was a particularly sharp detail.) Their dynamic adds layers of tension and drama to the already suspenseful plot.

✨I loved how the story balanced past and present timelines to build mystery and unease. And wow, it gets creepy. Fans of supernatural thrillers and otherworldly horror will appreciate the unsettling direction the book takes. Gamers, in particular, might find some exciting connections—but I won’t spoil why.

✨ This is a compelling, hard-to-put-down read, but be warned: the horror elements are intense. Trigger warnings include gore, violence, self-harm, suicide, child abuse, and graphic content. If you enjoy dark, supernatural mysteries with strong horror themes, this one delivers.

Read this if you like:
✨Creepy, otherworldly horror
✨Supernatural mysteries
✨Friend group drama
✨Nostalgic flashbacks to the late ’90s
✨Video or RPG games

From the beginning, I was hooked. What is this staircase? Where does it lead? Soon enough we find out and I couldn't stop reading until the end. Staircase in the Woods is reminiscent of peak Stephen King - thrilling, creepy, and page turning.

Chuck Wendig never disappoints! I devoured this book within days and couldn’t get enough. This one was a mix of House of Leaves & House at the bottom of a Lake. It felt like one long, continuous fever dream and while all of the characters were so unlikable you felt yourself rooting for them anyway!

A solid read to add to the Chuck Wendig library. Mr. Wendig is one of my favorite authors, I've read nearly all of his books and enjoyed all that I have read. This book finds it's self in the same vein as some of his latest works like, The Book of Accidents and Black River Orchard. This book is about 100 pages shorter than those two reads, but I felt like the story was a bit too long. My main complaint with this read was I felt that at times the book seemed to be repetitive and drawn out. I do love the voice that Chuck uses in his writings, it very much is familiar and easy for me to fall into and feel like I'm actually in his worlds where he is writing and existing. This book takes place with the premise of, what if "when a house becomes a home, it becomes imbued with life. Alive in an almost literal way- and certainly aware. If a house becomes haunted, it is not haunted by ghosts of its inhabitants but rather by the memories of those inhabitants."
In this story four friends encounter a staircase that transports them to a haunted house where they have to work together to find their way out and save one another or work apart and never escape the endless nightmare of the house and it's evil. At first I loved the way the story built on it's self and evolved and we watched the characters grow. But at a certain point in the book we seemed to stall out and repeat the previous events and the character's certain standing within the house and what needed to happen to escape over and over and over again. This became rather tiresome and boring and I felt with a little extra trimming he could have made a snappier story, with fast and exciting energy.
Still a good book, Chuck Wendig on a bad day is better than most on their finest day.

“THIS PLACE HATES YOU.”

Five troubled high school friends find an abandoned staircase in the woods. One of them runs up the stairs and never returns. What happened to Matty? When Nick lures the remaining friends Hamish, Lore, and Owen to the staircase in the woods twenty years later in the hopes of finding Matty, they must choose between friendship and the unknown.

The Staircase in the Woods can best be described as The Breakfast Club meets The Matrix and is littered with so many deal breakers for me.

1. Political agenda
2. Several plot holes
3. Confusing and not in a good way
4. Very slow pacing
5. Open ending

The book includes very dark issues (see trigger warnings) and centers around themes of friendship, abandonment, fear, and PTSD. It also confirms for me that nail biting is an absolutely disgusting habit. Owen’s nail biting bothered me more than the parts that were supposed to be nauseating.

The very clever chapter titles made me chuckle and I enjoyed a nostalgic nod to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress (whether or not it was intentional). And…I did make it to the end.

I will leave you with a quote from the book that explains how I felt about these characters:

“God, for a bunch of smart people you’re a little fucking stupid.”

Unfortunately, The Staircase in the Woods did not work for me. Many others have really enjoyed it, so please check out their reviews as well.

Trigger warnings: suicide, cutting, sexual abuse, and racism

2.5/5 stars rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey publishing for the ARC of The Staircase in the Woods in exchange for an honest review.

The captivating cover pulled me into selecting this book & the concept of the plot from the description, a looming staircase in the woods, sure lets do it. Not what I expected at all. It's a trauma horror book of friends in the past to gathering them in present day. Yes, there's a staircase in the woods but it has a then & now. The now, the staircase takes them to a horror house that's essentially an escape room, which pulls from pain and individual trauma. It was slow to start, so much of the back story I glazed over, as I was more interested in the where does the staircase lead & how do these people escape. There isn't any kind of trigger warning from the author but there's definitely some dark traumatic themes woven throughout. It was different so refreshing but I didn't love it. Maybe would recommend to those who enjoy reading 'light horror' if that's a subgenre? After the book's done, there was an authors note about the house and perspective it gives. That was probably the most interesting part to me.

This story pulled me in from the very first sentence and kept me until the last. The author writing style is extremely engaging as well as descriptive. I felt like I was watching a movie. Also the character development was top-notch. One of my favorite quotes is "but only if you tear it all down and start again."

Loved "It" and wondering what it would look like if it was happening today?

Loved "Stranger Things" and its Stephen King atmosphere, teen friendship, messed-up human psyche... and looking for something in that vibe?

Then pick up The Staircase in the Woods, I couldn't help being thrown back in history feeling that same sense of creepiness and horror and disgust as it unfurled the nasty reality of what happens behind some closed doors - that same sense of grown-up evils and all the way they can destroy the next generation.

This was my first Chuck Wendig book but it won't be my last. I loved this scary, dark, chilling and all around creepy story. It had Stephen King vibes and perfectly captured the group of old friends reunite as adults to right a childhood wrong trope. All of the characters were interested, had depth and I felt invested in. Just the idea of a staircase in woods evokes all sorts of chilling imagery and I just had to know what mysterious events would unfold for our group as they climbed. There was a good mixture of suspense, horror, drama and mystery and some twists and turns that kept me turning pages well into the night. I plan to read The Book of Accidents next by this author as I've heard great things about it. Certainly an author to keep an eye out for if you love the horror genre.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book. Review is posted on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon on release day.