I liked this one. It has great atmosphere and enough twists to keep readers engaged. Longer review to come soon.

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

So many things to unpack in this horror novel.
Lost changes, lost childhood, lost friends, denial, and the hope of retribution. All wrapped up in one spooky ass story.
This is part coming of age added I to a haunted house with rooms filled with their own individual horrors .
Chuck Wendig knows how to weild a pen th scare you silly and to make you think of those uncomfortable days of your youth when you made choices you may regret today and wish you could go back and fix.
My suggestion...leave that trap alone. There are scary rooms locked away in your head that are best not to revisit.

Highly recommended. Punlished April 29, 2025
Thanks to @netgalley and Random House Worlds/Del Rey for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Here's the deal: this was very creepy and disturbing. It was a solid horror read. If you are looking for a horror book that gives very "classic horror" vibes, then this is a solid choice. That said, the title does feel a bit misleading. Yes, there IS a staircase in the woods that is a central piece of the initial mystery, but the ultimate horror of the novel doesn't take place on or around that staircase. At its heart, this is a haunted house story, which is fine, but it lacked the originality that I was excited about when I read the premise. I really thought this would be unlike anything I had read before, but it ended up being a haunted house story with a weird staircase storyline pinned to the beginning. All of that said, it is definitely a solid haunted house story. The crew of friends was really fun, and I enjoyed the flipping between their lives as teens in the 90s and their broken lives as adults. The wrap up was a little disappointing, but not enough to be a let down. If you are in the mood for a haunted house book, this is a solid choice. If you are looking for some really weird and original horror, this may be a pass for you.

I received an advanced copy of the staircase in the woods from NETGALLEY, for my honest review.
Five friends go into the woods and find, you guessed it a staircase and curiosity gets the better so Matty runs up the stairs, yells Covenant and so friends were trailing behind but when Matty gets to the top he vanishes.
By the time the other 4 friends get to the top they cannot find him. What just happened?
The book hooked me from the start. Then it got weird. There were a lot of heavy content like abuse to varying degrees, depression, suicide and scenes reflecting on a overdose.
Years later the 4 friends go back into the woods to find Matty and come across another staircase. Then things got weird for me and a lot of shit happened.
I like a good thriller, this was too much for me to wrap my head around.

In 1998 five close school friends go camping in the woods. But only four return home.
Flash forward twenty years and the remaining group return to finally find out what happened to their friend.

This ended up being an interesting and fresh take on the haunted house subgenre. It was creepy and original but sadly it wasn’t without its flaws. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters and the second half felt slow-going. Also, despite some pretty dark content in places, to me it read like YA fiction which let it down a little.
Still, it was enjoyable. It delivered in terms of atmosphere, horror, and a good twist. I just wish the pacing was better and we’d been able to spend more time in 1998 getting to know the gang as teens.

I’d recommend to those who liked the following:
- Wendig’s previous work, The Book of Accidents
- coming of age narratives similar to Stephen King’s IT
- alternative haunted house stories like Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves

Thank you to Random House Worlds for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I read this book because a lot of people were talking about it. The story revolves around a few friends who venture into a haunted house and get stuck while searching for a friend. There they deal with their own traumas and fear as well as confront each other while trying to hold it together because they couldn't afford to break down or else . . .

So, as a story I really enjoyed it. Creepy, exhilarating, you don't know what you facing next. Sort of like a scary escape room but make it worse.

Lore's character was too insufferable. It felt forced. Owen and Hamish were the most relatable and Nick was fine too. but Lore? She had the potential to be the best of all but the unnecessary banters and labels just made her a forced character in the first half.

In the second half she became bearable but I am still not a fan.

I did like the story and do encourage people to read it. kept me hooked till the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Staircase in the Woods.

I have a confusing relationship with this author; I love his premises but the execution leaves me wanting sometimes.

Once again, the premise of a mysterious staircase to nowhere caught my eye. Can this be any creepier?

But the potential is bogged down with unlikeable characters.

I understand exposition are necessary to establish the friends' relationships to each other but it dragged the narrative down and the pacing suffered.

The story was reminiscent of IT, except I liked all the characters in IT; I couldn't stand anyone here.

I didn't like their personalities or character; I get they're friends because they all shared mostly traumatic childhoods but without that connection, I couldn't see why they were still friends once they went their separate ways.

The description of the rooms in the house was interesting but the origin of the staircase and the house and how it came to be fell flat for me.

I just wasn't interested; I guess I was hoping for something more supernatural or just something else.

I did enjoy the author's note and how he came up with the idea for this book.

I ended up googling Madame Sherri's castle and THAT was creepy.

Sorry for the nightmares, future me.

The Staircase in the Woods was creepy, horrific, nail-biting (IYKYK, and also, sorry not sorry), and trauma-heavy. It also had some insane horror visuals that were both amazing and terrifying in turn. The horror is both physical (bodily harm, blood etc) and mental (there are a lot of trigger-warnings attached to this one). The cast of characters are all kind of terrible people, but with good reason - I'm not sure I really liked any of them, even by the end of the book, but I don't think that's necessary as I was still rooting for them to figure out what was going on and to survive.

The Stephen King IT vibes are strong with this one, and is one of the reasons I requested an ARC as IT is one of my favourite books ever. I don't think this quite reached those heights, but honestly I never expected it to. I enjoyed it as a fun, more modern day homage. I couldn't put it down, and was finding any excuse to sit down and read!

The Staircase in the Woods really scratched that eerie horror itch, and while it was super heavy and horrific I also had just the teeniest bit of fun devouring this one.

4.5 stars out of 5.

Enjoyed the story and characters it was interesting to see how the group of friends all viewed the situation they found themselves in and how they coped with not knowing what happened to their friend for years. It made me wonder what I would do if I were to find myself in a similar situation and how I would cope with the unknown.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House World/Del Ray Publishing as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley @NetGalley #RandomHouseWorldDelRayPublishing @RandomHouseWorl/DeyRay #ChuckWendig @ChuckWendig #TheStaircaseintheWoods #Horror #Fiction #BookReview

Title: The Staircase in the Woods
Author: Chuck Wendig
Format: eBook
Publisher: Del Ray
Publication Date; April 29, 2025
Themes: Coming of age, paranormal, fear, guilt, friendships, urban legend, small town
Trigger Warnings: rape, violence, gore, depictions and discussions of mental illness, broken friendships, betrayal, domestic abuse, child abuse, child neglect, child rape, homophobia, trauma, being trapped, death, murder, self-harm, drug and alcohol use

This was a dark, dark book. And I loved every second of it. Chuck Wendig has become an auto -buy author for me. He always brings on the horror and this black-hearted gem is no exception. Five high school friends, once so close they swore to always be there for one another. On a camping trip in the woods one night, the group discovers a strange staircase in the middle of the woods. Emboldened by alcohol and drugs, one of them walks up the stairs…and disappears. The remaining four friends are blamed and ostracized for his disappearance. Now, twenty years later, one of the friends invokes their covenant and the other three return to climb the staircase and find out what happened to their friend once and for all. Hopefully…

Chuck Wendig is a force to be reckoned with. He’s the one writer I can comfortably compare to Stephen King, both in style and story. This isn’t to say that they’re interchangeable. Wendig has his own distinct style. I just mean they remind me of each other. Wendig’s characters, like King’s, are richly established and nuanced. Each adds something to an equally nuanced story. Wendig’s writing has a very readable quality. His voice remains consistent throughout each book but each character’s voice brings out something different from his writing tool box. In short, he’s an autobuy author for me and I have loved every single one of his books. This one was no exception. I was extra excited for this one because I recognize the creepypasta that helped inspire it and it’s a favorite of mine. The creepypasta talks about random staircases in the woods that lead nowhere and promises doom to anyone who dares climb them. I love these stories. I’ve always enjoyed imagining what horrors wait at the top. Well, we get the answer from Chuck Wendig’s fevered imagination. We learn that it’s a hate that feeds on the flaws and fears of the individual. Uniquely terrifying for each character. Normally, I’d say that a cast of characters that aren’t particularly likable would be a problem for a story. I particularly didn’t like Lore, who is a self-proclaimed narcissist and behaved as such. I kept gritting my teeth during the portions of the story that were from her POV. I still found myself hoping she would find her way back, along with her equally flawed friends.

I wasnt able to read this book before the publishing date but now that I have read it I gave it 4 stars.

This is one of the best horror books I've read recently. The characters were realistic and compelling and I was invested in each of them in unique ways. There were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing and the end was a mic drop.

High schoolers group of friend exploring the woods until they found a staircase. One of them decided to ascend and he never returned.
Twenty years later, Nick, one of the group members, summoned all of them to meet in New Hampshire. This reunion will bring them to the dejavu of staircase in the woods which made one of their friends disappeared and also forced them to confront their long-buried secrets.
The story has a taste of YA genre with element of horror and supernatural. It's slow burn, but if you love lock-room mystery, you might love this book.

Chuck Wendig’s Staircase in the Woods isn’t just a supernatural mystery—it’s a raw, emotionally layered meditation on fractured friendships, unresolved trauma, and the seductive pull of what lies just out of reach. The novel follows a group of high school friends who were once bonded by a sacred vow—the Covenant—to protect each other, no matter what. But when a mysterious, seemingly supernatural staircase appears in the forest during a teenage camping trip, and one of them walks up never to return, the group shatters under the weight of fear, guilt, and grief. Twenty years later, the impossible has happened: the staircase has returned. And so have the ghosts—metaphorical and otherwise—that haunted them all since that fateful day.

The book opens in a state of emotional wreckage. Owen, one of the remaining friends, is introduced as a man living in physical and psychological mess—surrounded by old tech parts, scattered notebooks, and the heaviness of an unfinished life. When he receives a call from Lore, another member of the old group, we’re quickly pulled into the aftermath of their shared past. Wendig’s writing is dense with feeling, layered in metaphor and internal monologue that drips with real-world weariness and surreal dread. The prose is literary but never inaccessible—gritty, poetic, and often sharply funny in that distinctly Wendig way. A simple phone call becomes a gateway into an emotional maelstrom, with old wounds cracking open in the presence of new tragedy: another friend, Nick, is dying. And he wants one last reunion. One last chance to confront the thing they left behind.

The metaphor of the staircase—its haunting recurrence in Owen’s dreams, its placement in improbable settings—becomes a brilliant symbol of both mystery and reckoning. Wendig taps into that Stephen King-esque skill of making you believe in the supernatural not through jump scares, but through emotional plausibility. You believe in the stairs because the characters believe in them—and because their pain feels real. Whether it’s the regret etched into every line of Nick’s brutally honest farewell email or Lore’s relentless pursuit of closure, the novel grips your gut long before the horror sets in.

Pacing-wise, the novel masterfully lets dread bloom slowly. The first chapters build suspense through character, not action. But that makes the stakes feel deeper. The horror isn’t just what’s waiting at the top of the staircase—it’s the question of whether these characters can survive each other, their pasts, and the unrelenting passage of time.

Staircase in the Woods will appeal to readers who love supernatural fiction grounded in real emotional stakes. Think It by Stephen King meets The Fisherman by John Langan, but with Wendig’s signature blend of gritty realism and mythic terror. This isn’t just a story about finding a lost boy—it’s about what gets lost in all of us when something unexplainable shatters our sense of the world, and what it takes to reclaim that lost ground—if we ever can.

Five high school students with mostly difficult upbringings, bond together with a Covenant to stay close friends. They decide to go camping together in the woods and a staircase appears out of nowhere. One goes up and the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later they are called together because one of them found out he has cancer. They meet up in New Hampshire to find that the staircase has reappeared and they all decide to go up together.

An intriguinging set up except that the amount of bad language, the author's bias on his political and spiritual beliefs and the dark issues and horror aspect just left me not staying interested. I had hoped for a better mystery.

My thanks to Net Galley and Del Rey for an advanced copy of this e-book.

On Friday, June 5th, 1998, five teenagers went into the woods surrounding Highchair Rocks in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Only four of them came out.<\i>

Third time is really a charm, because, this is my third attempt at this book, and it was a winner. It is a bit of a slow burn, but I also was not bored when I was reading. The characters were well crafted and the story well written. This was also my first Wendig novel, and I really enjoyed the writing style.

I liked what he did with the typical haunted house subgenre. It was a different and unique concept to a very very popular horror trope. It wasn't just otherworldly horror but the horrors humans inflict on each other. The characters being forced to not only confront their demons, but also the atrocities that the house forces them to face. Made for a very dark and highly emotional read at times.

The isolated and trapped setting really intensified the trepidation, dread and impending doom. The imagery was well depicted and deeply unsettling. I also didn't mind the ending, I think it fit the overall vibe of the book. I also don't mind ambiguity. Sometimes it works and here I think it works perfectly. Overall, this one was an enjoyable read for me. I have to read more of this author's work.

Thank you to Netgalley, Del Rey Books and Chuck Wendig, for my eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.<\u>

I understand the getting political and talking about current, relevant events in books, but this was way too real world for me. It made the reading experience feel a bit awkward. I wasn't really able to get lost in the story.

Ah, another hit from Wendig! I don't want to tell you too much- it's a thriller/mystery/horror, after all, and I don't want to ruin the fun, but I will tell you what I enjoyed about it, which is pretty much everything.

We follow four former friends through past and present as they reunite after the breakdown of their friendship. In fact, they used to be five, which is what caused said breakdown. Many years have passed since their teens and the fateful night when their friend disappeared, and they have all gone down very different paths. When one calls them all to meet, they cannot say no, due to the bond they once shared.

The crux of it is that there was a big ol' creepy staircase in the woods all those years ago. That in itself is a mystery, because of course- how many random forest stairs have you encountered, after all? But they may have to come to face what they saw all those years ago, and they are also going to have to face each other and work through their relationships and trauma. I loved the mix of character/relationship development and plot. The way they parallel each other is pretty great, too. The characters are not always likable, but who is always likable? Felt quite realistic, especially given their histories.

The ending felt a bit quick compared to the pace of the book (the ending was much quicker for me than the rest of the story, and I had hoped for maybe a tad more? Not unsatisfying, just a minor qualm!) but it works. I also noticed that a lot of folks are talking about politics and Covid and such, but I honestly appreciate when an author doesn't tiptoe around that stuff, and I feel like pretending it doesn't exist is privileged thinking, frankly. There's also some triggering topics like addition and abuse, among others, so be cautious.

Chuck Wendig once again does a Stephen King impersonation in his latest book The Staircase in the Woods. And once again comes off second best. The book itself has a premise that makes little sense but draws on a long tradition of American coming of age horror stories and for some readers hungry for this sort of material that might be enough.
Three old friends are brought together by a fourth to deal with unfinished business. That business was the disappearance of the fifth member of the childhood group, Matty, who walked up a mysterious staircase in the forest and never returned. Somehow, all these years later they have found a second, mysterious staircase and draw on their old childhood bond to dare each other to climb it. The four are seemingly unsurprised to find themselves in a bizarre world, dripping in nostalgia and fantasy/horror tropes ensue.
Staircase in the Woods is a typical American teen coming-of-age/adult drama to the point where it is practically YA. Most of the contemporary events are supported by a flashbacks because of course all of their trauma stems from childhood experience. And fears are brought to life in this twilight otherworld. Plenty of other authors have gone to the same well and many, King in particular, have done this better. And much like Wendig’s The Wanderers, which also felt like Stephen King light, readers who like this genre are better off sticking with the original.

I'm sure I wont be the only person who gets Stephen King's IT vibes. I love this about this book. This is not a Stephen King story. This is pure Chuck Wendig and this story has all of the CW vibes. There is a simplicity and beauty in how he crafts his stories and my God, they always hook their claws in you and yank you in. I love the oddity of how there is a staircase in the woods. That alone has a creepy feel. This is one of my favorite books this year hands down. I always look forward to Chuck Wendig's novels. I know that it will have clever and creepy storytelling with likable and well developed characters and unexpected twists. I highly recommend this book!

I want to thank Chuck Wendig, Random House, Del Rey and NetGalley for providing me a ARC of this novel in exchange of my honest review.