I truly felt like I needed to stand in one of those biohazard showers to wash away everything this book left on me. It had potential, and the description really caught my attention. I’ve spent years on the r/nosleep subreddit and was excited to see what this story might become. But ultimately, it didn’t work for me. It’s repetitive, but not in the adds to the plot kind of way. The writing jumps from basic descriptions like as red as a clown balloon to unnecessarily long, over the top descriptions. It felt like the author was trying to be clever, but ended up making the prose feel more performative than engaging. There were also political rants? Those felt very heavy handed and more of an angry lecture than meaningful commentary. The characters are shallow and about as compelling as background extras in a low budget film.

The physical and emotional trauma felt excessive, and not in a a way the served the horror effectively. It leans more into body horror than classic horror, which isn’t my thing. The disturbing imagery? No thanks. I could have gone my whole life without reading a sentence that includes the words centipede enema or stepping on puppies until the pop. The characters are incredibly unlikable, and it doesn’t even seem like they enjoy each other’s company. There’s no real chemistry or depth. Just a group of people who feel less like friends, and more like hostages of the plot. At best, they tolerate each other.

The book is packed with pop culture references. But instead of feeling natural, they come off as forced. Like the literary equivalent of someone trying too hard to seem relatable. I’ve also come to realize that trauma driven horror with gruesome shock value scenes just isn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Worlds for the ARC!

Although I hadn’t read anything by Chuck Wendig before, I was immediately drawn to the premise when browsing the ARCs available on NetGalley.

With only a premise to go on, I delved into this book completely blind and I’m so glad to have done so. I felt like I was a part of the friend group, encountering certain horrors as they did and being faced with their past traumas.

I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone who may be intrigued enough to read it themselves, so this review is going to be short and sweet. I recommend this book to fans of the horror genre, but please remember to check trigger warnings as this book deals with dark themes.

Now that is what I call a horror book! Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

A story of grief, loss, trauma and what happens when you let that hurt fester. 5 friends walk into the woods and only 4 come out… this story was creepy and one hell of a ride from start to finish! The only part that irks me (and why I’m giving it a 4 1/5 out of 5 ⭐️) is the ending.

Make your way up the stairs and into a whole new terrifying world… if you dare.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book for my honest review - it will be published 29th April 2025 in the UK.

I have DNFed this book at 42% - I feel like nothing has happened, everything that has happened has felt really repetitive and it’s making me lose interest.

The characters are unfortunately not for me either, I find it hard to relate to any of them. I find Lore the worst of the bunch. I’m not sure how any of them were even friends in the first place as it didn’t seem like any of them had a single redeeming quality.

I’m really sad that I didn’t like this book as I was highly anticipating it, unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. I will be giving Black River Orchard a chance, maybe the premise of this story just wasn’t my vibe.

The first book I read this year was Danielewski's <i>House of Leaves</i>, and this book reminds me a lot of that one. Here we have the horror trope of the Mysterious Staircase, one that appears and leads seemingly nowhere, and five high school friends on a camping trip who come upon the staircase. Absolutely no surprise what happens next: one of the friends disappears after going up the stairs. Or what happens after that: the friends grow distant, but then come back together and go up yet another staircase and also disappear into... a house.

We spend far too much time in the house, figuring out how that particular horror works. I wasn't expecting anything new or surprising, but because that part of the book goes on . . . and on . . . just lessened any actual horror that might have been in the house. Of course the four remaining friends go through self-discovery and conflicts and figuring out how to work together again, but some of that seems to happen very quickly compared to their exploring this space in which they're trapped.

I really hope the cliffhanger at the end doesn't lead to a sequel.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

This is an awesome thriller. It is fun to see the characters change as they age and to see them in different timelines. It brings the best of Stand by Me and Stranger Things with a forrest setting. Wendig knows how to crawl under your skin with characters you will never forget.

THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS,, by Chuck Wendig, is the story of five friends--bound by what they termed "the Covenant"--to always have each other's backs. in 1998, while they were in high school, the dynamics changed a little (relationships and crushes always a possibility), but the five stayed close.

Until the camping trip where they discovered a staircase in the middle of the woods, and their lives were altered forever. Nick, Owen, Lore, Hamish, and Matty went in....all but Matty came out.

This is a story about the friendships that hold us together in youth, and how much those friendships impact the way we move forward. In some cases, extreme cases, people can't ever let go and move on. This early friendship pact was more than just that, they were family to each other in a way their actual families never would be.

Years later they reunite to "right a wrong", finding another staircase in another area of woods. What happens there is the base of the story.

I honestly loved getting to know each of these characters. They had such different motivations and focuses--each with their own tragic backstory, made better only when they stuck together. How do you go back to a friendship like that after decades of distance?

This was a very unique take on a haunted house tale, as well. There was a lot happening, and yet it all felt "right" in a way--that this type of "home" was exactly the way it needed to be. Relationships salvaged, strained, broken, mended, and everything in between.

Overall, this is one of the most original haunted house tales I've read in quite some time. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, and their ever-changing dynamics with each other when confronted by their own insecurities. There were twists and turns I never saw coming, and symbolism that was spot on. My only deduction was for some of the repetition--particularly in the middle of the book. While some was necessary to a degree, I think the book could easily have been cut down by 1/4-1/3, and made for an even tighter, more solid story.

Recommended.

(I received an eARC of this novel from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are uniquely my own.)

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 3/22/25. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

After the disappearance of their friend in high school, the remaining four friends have been spread to the wind until one of them contacts them to meet up due to a health diagnosis. When they arrive to the site, they find out it’s actually to explore a staircase in the forest like the one their friend disappeared on. A quick decision sends them all into a journey through self and friendship that they might not escape.

This was a really fun read. I didn’t necessarily like any of the adult versions of the characters that we meet but I could see how they had become the people that they did. The pacing of this book was so spot on. If I ever thought I’d have a moment to catch my breath and adjust to where we were in the story that quickly was flipped on its head leaving me feeling as disoriented as I imagine our characters felt. The imagery in this book was just absolute horror perfection. I ultimately enjoyed this book but found I had predicted the twist midway through or else it would have been a 5 star read for me.

🌳📶🏠Home is where the hurt is🏠📶🌳

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my second book by Chuck Wendig, and he is now a staple in my future TBR and an auto-buy author.

5 friends go camping...4 friends come back. And this turn of events unravels their tightly knit friendship apart until years later, a friend invokes the covenant. A promise must be fulfilled. A mystery, secrets, feelings, and the past come to light. If only it was *that* simple.

With the narration style, multiple pov, going between then and now, the depth that goes into the characters and their relationships as well as their complicated pasts, the lore and mystery surrounding the disappearance of their friend as well as EVERYTHING else happening this was a superb read, with being 400 pages and I inhaled this book. It was that good. With creepy pasta vibes, mystery, thriller, unnerving, and uncanny that delves into the complexity of relationships and grief.

"Hell is not a place, or a presence. Hell is an absence. Hell is the place where God will not see you....Hell is a choice"

This is a highly recommended read.

I would love to thank NetGalley, DelRey, and Chuck Wendig for allowing me to read and review this masterpiece! Can't wait for my next one!

DNF@ 46%

I liked the cover and the plot, but that's it. The book is way too long and repetitive. It's character driven and I wish it was plot driven instead, because I don't care for the characters at all.

From the very start of reading this, I could tell it was something special, something that was going to really mean something to me.

I am a complete sucker for the trope where an incident implodes a tight knit friend group, scattering them to different parts of the country- just for resurfacing of that disastrous incident to be the thing that brings them all back together. It really just gives so much room to talk about what pushes people away from each other and all that you can lose in order to get that back. Wendig demonstrated this so well. You really get a sense that these are real people who really did have an entire adolescence of memories with one another.

The idea of the staircase in the woods is so fascinating to me. Structures in the middle of nowhere, where they seemingly don't belong are kind of terrifying to me. This book also incorporates another of my favorite horror concepts: the haunted house. It is a little different in this book, but it gave the same kind of feel. And it was SCARY!

This book was incredible from start to finish. Both the concepts in this book and the dynamic between the characters got into every single corner of my brain. I was consumed by this book and I highly recommend it.

Other than the Stephen King novels I've read, I'm not much of a horror person when it comes to books. Except, apparently, when it comes to Chuck Wendig - who is admittedly King-esque. I read Wanderers a few months before the IRL pandemic broke out, which was disconcerting, and I still don't look at apples the same after Black River Orchard so I can't wait to see what The Staircase in the Woods screws up for me!

But maybe it won't be anything. Because my third Wendig novel is definitely firmly in the horror genre but it's a bit different in that it's so much a band of questers (is questers a word? I'm not a gamer of any sort so apologies if it's not) looking into themselves as they fight the at turns tangible, figurative, and darkest 'bad guy.' I think it's pretty clear that sometimes the biggest, most horrifying 'bad guy' a person can face is when they face themselves and what they've done, or rather not done.

And that, at it's heart, is this story.

Lauren, Owen, Hamish, Nick, and Matty were inseparable in high school and yet they each had things they never wanted the others to know. So when one of them goes missing, on the aforementioned staircase in the woods,' rather than being pulled closer together, they drift apart.

Apart and down very different paths to very different degrees of success.

Until a bold-faced lie brings them back together years later to search for their friend and they end up trapped in a... I'll say 'plot device' so I don't spoil the story... plot device that forces them to confront the very worst in themselves and the world around them. And then they either have to defeat it or be defeated, only their high school jokes of 'all in this together' become survival instincts.

It's a fairly long novel and I read it in three days, so one of the only drawbacks is that it's just readable enough to be over too fast.

Thanks to NetGalley, DelRey, and the author for the chance to read this novel early in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for the pre-release copy of Chuck Wendig's latest horror novel, The Staircase in the Woods. Below you'll find my honest review.

Have you ever seen those really cool pictures people take and put on the internet of old, run down, abandoned houses? Or random parts of houses still standing when the rest is gone? This is kinda like that, but just a staircase. A staircase in the woods, leading up from the ground, leading up into nowhere, is waiting to be found. I've seen photos of random things like this found in the woods, and always thought there had to be good stories around them.

This takes that concept and give it the Wendig version of the Stephen King treatment. A group of friends, in their high school years of course, go camping in the woods one weekend. Five go in, but only four leave. One decides to go up the staircase they found in the woods, standing all on its own, and disappears, just as the staircase does a moment later, never to be seen again. Years later, they're all drawn back into the crazy when one of them leads them straight to another staircase in another forest, and this time, the hunt for their long-lost friend is on. What awaits them at the top of the staircase? Well, I have to leave that for you to read and find out. But what I can say is that this is a horror novel that lives up to the word.

I absolutely loved this one and highly recommend it to horror fans, especially if you like King-esque stories. Top notch, five stars.

I love Wendig’s writing and this is no exception. Suspenseful and mysterious, I love the mood and the relationships between the characters in the book.

Fascinating horror scenario where a mysterious staircase leads a group of friends into a house whose rooms are filled with reenactments of gruesome murders and other unhappy events, The relationships between the friends are tested as they begin to doubt themselves and each other during their seemingly endless and fruitless quest to escape. Chilling and suspenseful.

Chuck Wendig is an autobuy author for me and this book hasn't changed that one bit.

The Staircase in the Woods follows a group of friends who grew up with each other. They went through some seriously harsh times and were there for it all. One night when they went camping they encountered a random staircase near their campsite. There's always that one friend who wants to go exploring where they definitely shouldn't. It's no different here. One friend climbs to the top of the stairs and disappears. Years later, the group has coped with the fact that their friend went missing that night without any explanation.

Then they decide to go on another camping trip as adults and encounter a similar staircase. This time, they resolve to explore it together. They go to find their missing friend and end up getting significantly more than they bargained for.

This novel puts the meaning of friendship under the lens, looking at how people often grow strong bonds in their early years but as time passes and more responsibilities accumulate and interests change, those bonds deteriorate. It's just a part of life. More importantly, it highlights that no matter how good of a life somebody appears to have, we all have our own battles. This book examined all this beautifully.

With Wendig's previous novels, he succeeded at fleshing out the characters and making them feel three-dimensional. His dialogue is always top-notch. The characters have always felt like real individuals with their own distinct personality. I can't say that The Staircase in the Woods succeeds with that here. The friendship between everyone doesn't feel genuine. It feels forced. Shallow even. I didn't get the feeling that any of them actually considered themselves friends. More like a group of people who tolerate each other.

There's a lot more telling than showing throughout the novel that I found disappointing because Wendig's other books brilliantly leaned into showing.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy! I truly don’t know what to say about Chuck Wendig. He’s done it again! I have a staircase in my house and this book made me scared to go upstairs in my own house. This book is an excellent demonstration of how setting, place, and environment can really set a scene that is at once foreboding and enticing. I love a good haunted forest, creepy woods story, and this one pulls no punches!

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, including the ultra creepy staircase in the woods. I enjoyed the complicated and layered relationships between the characters as well as the diversity that was present throughout. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the chance to read an early copy!

"They were more than just a clique, more than just fellow wanderers. They were the crew, bound by their Covenant.”

Lore, Owen, Matty, Nick, and Hamish were BFFs in high school, until one of them went missing and changed everything forever. Now, 20 years and separate lives later, they've reunited for a weekend to rehash what happened all those years ago. Nick didn't tell them that the mysterious staircase in the woods has reappeared - which is where all their problems started.

First of all, I would NEVER. At my core, I am a scaredy cat. This book was methodical in it's reveal. It flips back and forth between present day and the past right after Matty went missing. We slowly learn each person's backstory which frames what happens when the ascend the staircase. The ever changing and seemingly unending labyrinth in which they found themselves in was terrifying. It felt like a horror take on the concept of friendship as a whole. Each room felt representative of an aspect of their past, self-reflection, and friendship as it played to each person's vulnerabilities and fears. It was sufficiently creepy while also wholesome. It's a story about what happens when grief, guilt, fear, and friendship collide together. It felt a little monotonous and repetitive in the middle. And the ending a little too ambiguous for me to love. However, if you're a fan of Stephen King's It, I think you'd be a fan of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Worlds for the advanced copy!

I received an early copy of this book so i could give my honest feedback on it and I love the premise of it and overall, it has a really good baseline to the story. A core group of friends that call themselves the "covenant" find a lone staircase to nowhere in the middle of the woods. One of them goes up the stairs only to disappear and never come down again. Years later the friends find themselves mysteriously in front of the same stairs again so this time they all go to try and find their friend.
The book started of really strong but somewhere towards the middle it started to drag in some sections, i didn't connection to the characters as much as i would have hoped to and I was a little disappointed in the ending. It was pretty abrupt and left a lot of questions unanswered.
Overall though I would still recommend the book especially if you are fans of his other books.