The tension was amazing in this book. I was thoroughly creeped out, which luckily was the point! Excellent atmosphere and pacing. I could not put this one down.

Here’s the thing: I love coming across unusual, unexpected things when hiking in the woods. Abandoned, overgrown family cemeteries, the crumbling foundation of a ruined building being swallowed by the forest, a child’s rusted tricycle miles from civilization. Once, when hiking off trail in the Beartooth Mountains of Wyoming, I found an elk skull with a red lacquered chopstick poking out of one eye socket.

What’s that have to do with Chuck Wendig’s forthcoming new novel, The Staircase In the Woods? Nothing, and everything. A forest is the perfect place to find mysteries if you’re open to the possibilities. Sometimes those mysteries are harmless fun, oddities to ponder. Sometimes they’re decidedly not.

This is a tricky review to write, because one of the many pleasures of reading this immersive, unsettling novel is discovering its secrets for yourself, and I don’t want to give anything away.

I can give you the basics:

Five teenage friends, a close knit group that call themselves the Covenant, venture into the forest on a camping trip, when a mysterious staircase appears among the trees. One of the group dares to climb that staircase. He disappears, along with the staircase, sending his friends into a spiral of loss and confusion.

Twenty years later the staircase reappears, and the remaining members of the Covenant reunite to search for their long-lost friend.

And…that’s all you get. I will tell you that this is a story about friendship, and what that word means when the stakes escalate to unimaginable heights, how far you’re willing to go to have your friend’s back, even when they might be pushing you away.

Because this is Chuck Wendig, I can promise you that the characters are all complex, fully-realized people that you’ll find yourself rooting for. The plot is as tightly wound as a watch spring, ratcheting up tension with each chapter. The horrors, and they are many and varied, are visceral, even gut wrenching. Chuck Wendig does not fuck around.

Wendig has become one of my favorite writers. Wanderers and Wayward were masterpieces of apocalyptic science fiction, and his recent forays into horror—The Book of Accidents and Black River Orchard—are fresh and exciting additions to the genre. The Staircase In the Woods is a more than worthy addition to his impressive collection of work.

The Staircase In the Woods will be released on April 29, 1925, and is available for pre-order now. Don’t miss this one.

3.5/5

This story has a very interesting concept at the heart of it, where do the stairs go? It’s such a cool idea for a mystery, and the way it expands on this is also quite interesting.

However, the beginning felt rather rough, and I have no idea why there was a mini-rant about real world politics stuck in there. It was bizarre and had nothing to do with the story. It was rather off putting considering I was reading the book to learn about a creepy staircase and not the current political state. I nearly DNF’d there.

I did enjoy the mystery of the staircase though past that and learning what was “beyond”. The concepts were great and presented well at the start and the descent into the maze was well done. There were certainly lots of creepy and horror events in there, and the slow reveals of what the beyond was was very interesting, though slightly undercut by the constant comparison to video games. (And I love video games but it really made it feel fake in a weird way when it constantly compared the two)

The ending was rather bland though. It very much felt like, was that it? After all that chaos and weirdness and craziness it did not live up to the potential it had. I think we could have done without the explanation of the origins is the staircase as well, it once again kind of ruined the magic there. I just did not like the ending.

Overall though, if you remove the rough beginning and the bland ending the middle was actually very fun. I really enjoyed it and was really into the whole mystery and creepiness.

What's at the end of the staircase?
Something worse

Twenty years ago, five friends went on a camping trip in the woods where they found a staircase.
One friend went up, and was never seen again.
Now those friends are back together...and there is a new staircase, and the mystery that could never be solved.

What happened to Matty?

This was a supremely creepy story that is as much about the wounds each character held with them over two decades, as it is about what they find at the top of the staircase. Atmospheric and filled with enough dread that I was afraid of what was coming next, and couldn't stop reading.

4.5/5 stars, I really enjoyed this read! This one felt like a fresh twist on a haunted house novel with a heavy helping of liminal space horror. The character growth was well done, and the characters felt well fleshed out with believable flaws and struggles. The writing style really worked for me as well and left me with some vivid mental pictures.
Thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray for the ARC!

I have enjoyed Chuck Wendig's books in the past and overall I'd say "The Staircase in The Woods" is fairly average. There wasn't anything I particularly disliked about it but I just think this wasn't what I was in the mood to read. Maybe I'll try it again some other time.

Psychological thriller and horror. Mind bending and super interesting. Another great book from this author, thank you. Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This was an interesting read. I found myself being a nail-biter as I read this, as I was nervous of what was going to happen next!

The plot revolves around a group of four friends, who had drifted apart over time, following the disappearance of the fifth member of their group when they were kids. I loved how Chuck Wendig gave each character enough time to develop, without focusing too much on one over another. This gives the reader the opportunity to not have favourite characters, and instead rooting for them all to win! Wendig was also not afraid of tackling some difficult topics in this book, but seeing how the other characters react and bond was heartwarming.

The plot of this book had the potential to be repetitive with the same thing happening again and again; however, Wendig avoided this through good pacing of the plot, creative descriptions, and putting flashbacks in all the right places. I loved the theme and unique aspect of this story, and definitely not like anything I’ve read before!

A really gripping horror story, and Wendig does a fantastic job of creating something really atmospheric and mysterious.

This is one of those, "all right if you like this kind of thing" books, as so many are. I'm always mindful that this is not really my genre and therefore I am not the target audience. I was interested to read it because I quite enjoyed the author's Wanderers during one of the lockdowns. And you should know that a lot of readers on NetGalley etc. have expressed enthusiasm for this.

There was one moment for me, where I got the gooseflesh, and it came somewhere in the first half. There was a description of some horror that captured some essence of the uncanny and as I lay in the dark that night reading on my Kindle, I reacted physically to what I was reading. Which is what fans of this genre are after, I assume. But like any form of stimulus, surely you develop a tolerance? Which means you're always chasing that high…

One of my problems with this was that I felt the premise was a bit clichéd. Four people who were friends at school but have since gone their separate ways come back together in order to reckon with the Big Event that happened when they were teenagers. We've definitely been here before. The event was that a fifth member of their group, Matty, disappeared one night when they were camping in the woods.

How and why he disappeared and what happens when the friends get the gang back together is the substance of this book, and I won't say any more about the events therein. Needless to say, the title is a clue.

But I need to mention another issue I have with this, which is that I don't believe in this group of friends. This is not a, "but the characters aren't likeable" critique. This is more that I don't believe they were that close, because at no point do they seem to actually like each other. Sure, you could argue that such outsider groups are often formed simply because they are exiled from all other tribes. There's certainly something here about bullying for one of the group — except that the bullying within the group seems just as bad. And, equally, one of them is supposed to be Mr Popular, captain of the team, lead in the school play. Anyway, I just felt like the bonds weren't strong enough in the first place for the call to adventure to function.

But look who's talking.

My other issue is the perennial complaint about gender imbalance. There's a token… well, I can't even say woman. Because she's kind of vaguely nonbinary, although that detail felt like a later addition and the pronouns skew towards 'she/her', as far as I remember. Anyway, the point is that there are too many blokes. You see it all the time. Half the population, but only a fifth of the characters – in so many media. I saw a picture on Bluesky the other day, some kind of Tom Cruise project that someone was excited (?) about, and it was the same: bloke-bloke-bloke-woman-bloke-bloke.

Some of the horrors that turn up in the book are girls/women, but they're not characters so much as things-that-go-boo. So there's absolutely no way for two women characters to have even a small conversation… about anything.

Anyway, it's all right. He's a good writer. The text flows and it's not a slog to read. But this was not for me.

Thanks to Del Rey and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig. The plot took a well-known urban legend and gave it a fresh twist. The plot deals with five friends who formed an unbelievably tight bond, and one of them goes missing after a camping trip. The bulk of The Staircase in the Woods deals with the remaining friends trying to correct what went wrong the day that their friend went missing. While I believed from reading the excerpt that this was all the novel had to offer, I was totally wrong as it had so much more. The novel successfully sucks you in with tight character development as it deals with how this missing friend has affected the group. Eventually, however, the novel veers into a new direction that plays more into the horror aspect as the characters simply try to survive the predicament they are in.

Highly gripping and atmospheric; I loved it! I thought it was very creepy and full of mystery. I really liked the dual timelines and the depth it added to the story. It had well-developed characters with great character development. I loved the writing style. The ending did feel a little rushed and too easy.

First, I’m going to start at the end. Chuck Wendig’s explanation about getting lost described in the last chapter of The Staircase in the Woods was thought-provoking. (I also had no idea there were actually staircases in the woods).

The main storyline is that five high school friends go camping in the woods and come across a mysterious staircase. One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later four of the friends return and climb the staircase themselves.

I dont want to give too much away, but what I will say is that I had hoped for the same kind of imagery that Wendig painted in Black River Orchard (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) and it didn’t quite achieve that. The premise of the story is inviting, the flawed characters are complex, and what’s at the top of the staircase is atmospherically creepy.

Let’s go camping! It’s summer in the late 90’s and a close group of misfits using camping as an escape from parents, responsibilities, and anxieties. Each member of this strange crew is so different, but yet this friendship works. Come take a walk with “The covenant” and discover a random eerie staircase in the woods they camp in as teens. Matty goes up… and never comes down. Fast forward decades later and each is living a life or lie of their own. When Nick decides to get the crew back together, playing on sympathy due to a fatal illness, the others have no choice but to concede and meet up. After all, they called themselves “the covenant”. There for each other no matter what. But when they meet, they discover more lies and truths about themselves and each other, as the eeriness from decades ago comes slowly creeping back in. Is Matty still alive? Are they losing their minds? Will they end up hating each other for all their built up resentments and guilt? The story bounces between timelines and reveals the hidden labyrinth world above the staircase in one horror after another. This story literally kept me reading into the morning hours. The concept of this strange otherworldly place will eat away at your mind like a parasite, clawing at the back of your eyelids as you try to rest and release the day. Hold on, because it WON’T release you even long after you’ve read it! Such a great read and this author doesn’t disappoint!

One of my favorite authors has done it again! It's a slowburn, it's not action packed but it's smart and entertaining on an other level. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Staircase in the Woods was such an intriguing mystery and I enjoyed every page of it! Right off the bat I could tell that this book would be something special and as I read more of it, I found myself completely immersed in the story and the journeys of each of the characters. I found the mystery of the novel (a staircase that is found in the middle of the woods and in which the friend of the main characters in the book goes up and is never seen again) to be unique and intriguing. I also loved the pacing of the novel and how the characters progressed throughout the story, both independently and also in their relationships with each other. I think a lot of people will enjoy this novel! I can definitely say it was one of my favorite novels of the year!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first Chuck Wendig novel and it sucked me right in. I loved the premise of the staircase in the woods and the fall out of a friendship group after a tragedy. The descriptions of the house as an entity were extremely compelling and kept me invested as the characters unraveled its mysteries. The dynamics of the friendship group, and each characters’ personal struggles, benefited so much from their background stories. I think it’s hard to pull off a story as complex as this one - multiple characters, jumps in time, a horrific atmosphere, a mystery, and supernatural occurrences- but it was very well executed and had a satisfying ending. I appreciated that it had enough answers without answering them all. The book is very bleak at times but never lets go of hope and the knowledge that we’re all better off together in the mess of life instead of going it alone. Content warnings for self-harm, substance abuse, child SA, child loss, and abuse.

Expected Publication: April 29, 2025

In this horror novel, I followed a group of friends who return as adults to face a supernatural event that haunted them in their youth. When they ascend a mysterious staircase in the woods for a second time, things get eerie, confusing, and emotional, exploring themes of friendship, guilt, grief, and letting go. The story leans into classic horror tropes, reminding me of Stephen King’s It, with flashbacks and characters wrestling with unresolved trauma.

I found the book creepy, captivating, and almost impossible to put down. Although the writing is occasionally repetitive due to the plot structure, it didn’t distract much from the experience.

Rating: 4.35 stars, rounded down.
Thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray for the ARC!

Chuck Wendig does it again! What would it be like to live in this man's head for a day? I absolutely loved the flawed characters in this. One thing that Chuck does so well is keep the hope alive even in times of great turmoil and distress. His characters never have to handle the tough stuff alone and can lean on each other even if they can't stand each other in the moment. I don't want to spoil anything so I will just say that the characters do in fact get trapped and where they are trapped is absolutely terrifying.

The story revolves around four friends coming back together to solve a 20 year old mystery involving an inexplicable staircase in the woods and the disappearance of another friend.

I found the premise of this book intriguing, but it takes quite a bit of time before the story actually becomes interesting. The first 1/3 of the book kind of drags and made me really detest most of the characters. Once things get moving, there is at least some creep factor and tension to the story, though the ending felt a bit anticlimactic.
It is well written and overall, not a bad book; it just wasn't as compelling as I had hoped. 3.5⭐️

Thanks to Random House Worlds|Del Rey for providing this book for review consideration via Netgalley. All opinions provided are my own. #TheStaircaseInTheWoods #NetGalley