If there is one thing I know for certain after reading this book, it’s that if I find a staircase in the woods (or any other random place) I will never ascend them. The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig had me hooked from the very beginning. The unique concept alone had me intrigued but when I learned the theme was a group of friends coming together after a long period of time to face something awful that happened in their past, I knew I was going to love it. That is one of my favorite tropes, plus a coming of age (at any age) theme is always fun. This story kept me on the edge of my seat and totally creeped me out. There were a few parts that had me under my blanket at night. I feel like if “IT”, “Stranger Things”, and “The Haunting of Hill House” had a book baby this is it! Loved this book and I can easily give it five stars.

Thank you NetGalley and DelRey for this eARC!

4 stars

Five friends, one night, one staircase in the woods and everything changed. Lore, Owen, Nick, Hamish, and Matty are high school friends just about to graduate and move into an uncertain adulthood. They share a bond that is at it's strongest when they invoke "the covenant". When invoked, it can't be refused. But what happens when Matty invokes the covenant and the other four don't follow?

This story has vibes of Stephen King's It and T. Kingfisher's Hollow Places. The premise of a staircase out in the middle of the woods is definitely creepy, made creepier by virtue of the fact that these staircases actually exist.

The story begins with Matt climbing the staircase and disappearing. Years later, the remaining four friends come together to try to find their friend and bring him back. What they find at the top of the stairs is horrifying, gorey, and takes them all back to the most painful and terrifying aspects of their childhoods.

I recommend this book for fans of this author and anyone who finds an abandoned staircase creepy. Warnings for childhood trauma and body horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey Books for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So nostalgic and terrifying… I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did, and I'm pleasantly surprised. The writing is a little repetitive at times, but overall I enjoyed it. It's a creepy and entertaining read that takes an old horror trope in new directions.

Overall rating: 4 stars
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Pub Date Apr 29 2025

Thank you to the author, Random House Worlds, Del Rey and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

3⭐️

Thank you Del Rey publishing and NetGalley for the eARC!

This book was not easy to get into at first. I really hated the first 9-10 chapters, I’m just not a fan of books when they mention too many modern events and such. It did pick up though and got better once they found the staircase in the woods the second time. I really liked the dual timeline chapters where we get to see the backstory of Matty’s disappearance and the way his friends handled losing him little by little instead of being thrown at us all at once. What lay at the top of the staircase in the woods was definitely not something i expected at all, and I’m glad I was surprised for most of the book. I felt as though there were not a lot of creepy or scary scenes in this book, which was looking forward to seeing. It was more heartfelt and character driven, which I did actually enjoy, especially since I really disliked most of the characters and got to see some really great character development for them.

This is my first book by Chuck Wendig. It was okay, although to me it read very YA and I thought it went on for far too long. Very cool concept—the premise reminded me a bit of Picnic at Hanging Rock, but at the end I was just pushing through to get it over with.

This book has an eerie anticipation throughout. I enjoyed the characters and the complexity of their relationships, in both past and present views. Wendig’s writing style is both easy to follow and consuming.

Wendig did it again. I loved his other novels and this one got me spooked again just like the others. I was worried it was going to use a lot of the internet mythology in a bad way but it ended up being great.

Five high school friends, a group of misfits if there ever was one, find a mysterious staircase in the woods. One friend decides to climb it and never returns. Two decades later, the friends come together to explore a new forest-dwelling staircase to....nowhere? They're soon to find out.

I really, really enjoyed this one. This is the second Chuck Wendig book I've read and it's safe to say that I've become a big fan. I love Chuck's writing style, where it is descriptive and full of illusions, but not wordy and tiresome to read. The chapters were short enough to keep the reading momentum going and I found myself flying through the book, egged on by the question of "then what happens?". This was a suspenseful, dark, raw look at trauma and fear. My only gripe is ending on a cliffhanger, but I respect the choice as it leaves the reader to make their own assumptions about what comes next. Lots of trigger warnings. If you're sensitive to death, trauma, grief, substance abuse, etc., etc., I'd steer clear.

De verdad que quería que me gustase este libro. Y durante unas 150 páginas, lo consiguió. No por los personajes, que están infradesarrollados y cuyos huecos son rellenados con tópicos, ni siquiera el contexto, que huele a creepypasta y a novelas de los noventa... es por el misterio y la intriga que consigue darle a todo el planteamiento. Todo, hasta que encuentran la escalera, y quizás algo después, consigue atraparte.
El problema es que luego se vuelve repetitivo. Las situaciones las hemos visto mil veces y los momentos impactantes no lo son tanto. No da miedo. Ni las imágenes que crea ni las implicaciones que tiene. Bajo mi punto de vista, el terror en literatura, para funcionar, tiene que hacerte dudar aunque sea un segundo, que aquello pueda ser verdad. Que hay una parte de la realidad que no conoces bien pero podría cuadrar con todo esto. Aquí no se consigue.
Gracias a Netgalley y a la editorial por la copia ARC.

First, as always, let me thank NetGalley and DelRey for the opportunity to receive this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a 40+ year Boy Scout veteran - as both a youth, and an adult leader, I have done my fair share of camping and hiking. Some of the best things to find during those outings are remnants of old buildings, and such. Even driving along country roads, you see them quite often - skeletons of what used to be someone’s home, now abandoned and forgotten.

I don’t know about you, but when I see those, I can’t help but wonder how, or why, they got that way. Who owns the property? Why wouldn’t they just destroy the structure and sell the land? Why?

And yes, I have come across just freestanding staircase (although just a few steps, like a front stoop). Obviously, caution always took precedence and I never thought of climbing them.

But, what if a HUGE staircase suddenly made it’s appearance, with seemingly no reason behind why it was there. Would you climb it? If a friend did, and suddenly vanished - would you follow? And where would you go?

These are just some of the questions, and dilemmas that Chuck Wendig asks (as does his characters) in THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS.

This is a terrifying and extremely creepy story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and out of the woods, for a very long time. At the heart of the story it’s about five friends, and how the cope (or don’t) with the loss of one of them to a random staircase they came across on a drunken camping trip. The shame and ostracism they felt from their friends and family when they came back without him - being accused of murder, and/or abandonment of a star pupil and all around good guy.

The underlying story, however, is where the real terror begins. It’ll cause you to seriously inflect on how loss, grief, guilt, and yes, love, affect us and those around us - including inanimate objects like a house.

This was an extremely enjoyable read, but I wouldn’t suggest reading it if you plan on being in the woods anytime soon; and if you are, stay off the staircase you may come across.

My feelings on this book are complicated and may change over time, but here it goes...
I really liked the concept of the story and was very much looking forward to the resolution, which left me kind of disappointed. I still enjoyed many aspects of the story though.
The characters really didn't vibe with me, which I'm sure was at least partially intentional, but I really need likeable characters if I'm going to truly enjoy a book, so that was a big minus for me.
I really liked the writing style and appreciate the stylistic decisions the author made. Sometimes I struggled a bit with the obviously American references, since I can't relate to them.
All in all, the book was quite good and certainly kept drawing my attention, however I would not choose to read it again :(
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Worlds for the ARC of this book.

I'm a sucker for the childhood friends reuniting to confront their past. It's a trope I love in horror fiction in particular.

This novel has wonderfully flawed characters. They are very rough around the edges, anxiety ridden and angry, but I always enjoy that starting point because I love to see character development unfold.

These four friends- Hamish, Lore, Nick, and Owen reunite and attemot to find their friend, Matty, who was lost after climbing a staircase in the woods.

I didn't expect much of what this novel turned into, without spoilers, but I did enjoy it very much.

The pacing felt a bit scattered, and I wish more rooms had been expanded upon. I almost wish there had been more threatening things throughout to up tension, as the main worry is over their psych, but it was still a real page turner with spooky scenes in droves.

I do reccomend this, and can't wait to own a physical copy.

Wow. Started slow but definitely picked up pace. Was a very creepy read. Love this author and will always be an auto buy for me!

Chuck Wendig does it again, sucks you into a fantastically chilling story right from the first page. I loved every moment of this book, the characters were brought so much life and pain to the story. I wasn't sure who I should have been rooting for in the end. I am ever so thankful for being allowed to read this novel early, I enjoyed every last page and it has become one of my top reads of 2024.

I rated this 3.5 stars! The premise of this book was so intriguing to me at first so thank you so much for this arc! The Staircase in the Woods started out pretty slow to me but definitely got exciting after 100 pages. This book was way darker than I expected when it comes to its themes. My favorite part was the friendship aspect, it was pretty rocky through out but I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the ending. I may just have to start using “the covenant” in my daily vocabulary.

I got everything i expected from this book - it was interesting, fast paced, with a great amount of horror and thrill in it.
Short chapters (mostly) that makes you read "just another one, and another, and maybe just one more..."
The characters are all very relatable, well written. The main plot about not haunted but haunting house is just so entertaining and quite unique for me. Haven't read anything like this before.
And if i learned something from this book - stay away from abandoned staircases you just happen to find in the middle of nowhere.
Perfect for horror and thriller fans.

rating 4⭐️

this book delivered on horror. it was grotesque, gory, unique, and fucked up. and i loved every second of it. in the midst of all the environment the character stories were each unique and interesting. i felt so much for them!!! the ending also was satisfying.

some parts of this book did cringe me out though in terms of the characters. i felt this moved pretty fast though! i wasn’t sitting there fighting to get through it.

gave me house of leaves mixed with paranormal horror game mixed with the backrooms. i loved this incredibly unique story!

In 1998, a group of high school friends enter the woods of Bucks County, PA to go camping... or, as teenagers are more apt to do, go "camping," which is to say they went into off into the woods to fuck and get fucked up. But in the midst of all their drugs and booze revelry, they stumble across the peculiar sight of a staircase in the woods. Just a staircase. There's no accompanying house, or the remains of a house that was, to indicate some perfectly normal reason for this staircase to be there. It's weird. So, of course, one of the teens climbs up the steps and... disappears. He didn't fall off the other side or pull some fancy sleight of hand to prank his friends and jump scare them in the woods. No, what he does is just completely vanish right off the face of the earth. Gone gone.

In the present day, the remaining friends, now long-since disconnected and grown apart, are reunited by a new tragedy coupled with the discovery of another strange staircase in the woods. This staircase is an opportunity for them to find out what happened to Matty, to find out if he's even still alive off in somewhere else, and maybe to save him, to put right what all fell apart so many years ago. And up they all go, up, up, and away, right on into hell.

The Staircase in the Woods is an unremittingly dark exploration of liminal spaces, fractured friendships, and the inner lives of this group of people that used to be friends but who have grown into almost-but-not quite strangers. In some ways, it's a haunted house story, but author Chuck Wendig does a marvelous job of inverting those particular tropes along the way to give us something different, interesting, and next-level with its exploration of game mechanics and simulated reality philosophizing.

Mostly, though, it's a haunted people story. Theirs are stories about being lost, of being abandoned, of what it's like to be hollowed out and filled with darkness. The characters -- Nick, Owen, Lore (short for Lauren), and Hamish -- are all bleak figures with scarred childhoods, the better in which to mine for misery. There's deceit, depravity, suicidal ideation, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse, addiction, child sex abuse, animal abuse, parental neglect, murder -- you name it, it's probably in here to some degree.

And that's not even getting into the pure, distilled scenes of nightmare fuel surrounding such heady topics. Did I mention this book is dark? The Staircase in the Woods may be the bleakest and darkest work Wendig has created thus far, skating up to the edges of, yet skirting around (but not necessarily away from), abject nihilism. That last bit could certainly go either way, sure, because throughout it all there's a certain measure of hope, but one can't help but wonder what happens when hope hits a wall, and how much a friendship, even one that's been reforged from its fractured remains, can truly withstand.

For me, it's those questions of endurance that made The Staircase in the Woods so damnably compelling. I found myself trapped by this book's gory hooks, but it was the human elements that truly captivated me, the relationship dynamics, their responses to each new piece of unraveling information, and their puzzling over what exactly was happening to them, whether or not they'd figure it out and how, and what then? I couldn't help but recall the tagline to the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, "Who will survive and what will be left of them?"

I couldn't help speculating, too, on other pieces of media that The Staircase in the Woods exists in conversation with. Wendig taps into a serious House of Leaves vibe, sans all the heavy extracurricular homework, not to mention Reddit creepypastas and The Backrooms, with overarching shades of Richard Matheson and Stephen King, the latter if only because every current-generation horror writer exists in the shadow of King, whose continuing work and legacy reaches oh so very far and wide that it becomes impossible not to touch in some way, shape, or form, even if only incidentally. The Staircase in the Woods is a shifty, shifting hodgepodge of inspirations that ultimately come together in unique, and uniquely infectious, ways, inside and out. It cuts and crawls its way into you, burrowing into your heart and mind, twisting and changing as it grows deeper inside you, and isn't that just the best kind of horror?

In this captivating horror novel by a New York Times bestselling author, a group of high school friends finds a mysterious staircase in the woods. After one friend walks up and never returns, the staircase disappears. Twenty years later, the staircase reappears and the friends reunite to find the lost boy and uncover the secrets beyond the staircase.

Let me tell you, I loved this read. I think opening up with “On Friday, June 5th, 1998, five teenagers went into the woods surrounding Highchair Rocks in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Only four of them came out.” was such a smart way to catch the reader's attention, because it caught mine. The more I learned about the characters, the more I wanted to read. I think the dual timeline and multiple POVs were done so beautifully (I do not enjoy books with these characteristics (typically)).

The book's eerie and unsettling atmosphere captivated me, immersing me in a world of tension, danger, and suspense. The vivid descriptions painted a vivid picture in my mind, while the characters' emotions weighed heavily on my heart. The ending was breathtaking, leaving a lasting impression I won't forget.

I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!