I loved the premise and couldn't wait to read it. It started off well and I was really enjoying it, but , then it seemed to drag and I struggled to stick with it..All in all it is a good read that has a touch of Stephen king to it.

I really wanted to love The Staircase in the Woods—the concept had all the makings of a gripping, eerie tale, and I usually enjoy Chuck Wendig’s weird, dark storytelling. But this one didn’t quite land for me.

The pacing dragged through the middle, and even though the mystery of the staircase kept me curious, it felt like the payoff never quite matched the buildup. The characters didn’t feel as fleshed out as I expected—most of them seemed to exist just to move the plot along or embody a trauma, rather than feel like real people.

There were some great atmospheric moments, and I can see what Wendig was going for with the themes of grief and memory, but the emotional beats didn’t hit as hard as they should have. It wasn’t a bad book, just a frustrating one—full of potential but weighed down by its own ambition.

This book gives all the creepy vibes. So five teenage friends go and hang about in the wood to drink and get up to things teenagers shouldn’t be doing when they come across an imposing wooden staircase, just standing in the woods. One of the friends decides to climb that staircase and disappears. The other friends can’t understand what has happened and they don’t find him. They go about their lives as best they can.

After 20 years one of the friends gets them back together. They find another staircase in the woods and they embark on a scary, creepy journey they maybe wish they didn’t.

This book is about friendship, guilt, abandonment and fear. It is a gripping horror that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Many thanks to Random House UK, Del Ray and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before release.

I've never read anything by this author before so I had no idea what to expect really, but now I for sure know that I want to read more from them! The concept of this book felt pretty reminiscent of Stephen King's It which I thought was really intriguing – it was an interesting dynamic having a group of friends who were so tight-knit in childhood come back together twenty years later to realise how much they've grown apart and become so different to one another, but now have to stick together and rely on each other for survival and to solve the mystery of their friend who went missing. I can't say much more about the plot as I really think it's best going into this one not knowing too much, but I will say that I had SUCH a great time with this; it's thrilling, shocking, a bit gory in places, and completely gripping! I really enjoyed how the plot went hand-in-hand with the character development in this book as we uncover the group members' fears, secrets and regrets. Highly recommend this one if you like tense horror!

Whoa! Wendig did it AGAIN! He is officially one of my favourite horror Authors of all time. This was a classic Wendig style novel…starts a little slow, good character and backstory build-up then WHAM! he hits you with the darkest, twistiest freaky plot imaginable.

You are hooked in then. Cancel all plans. Get food and water and power through. I loved everything about this book. Each character came to life with their individuality, flaws, pain, secrets and their own part to play in this circle of friends who one day made a pact. The Covenant. To be invoked when one needs them all.

The story flickers between times and events and it works really well for this book. I’m not going to spoil a second of the plot as it’s so freaking good and Wendig blows my mind with his imagination. Seriously, what is in this book, cheaper after chapter is pure creative talent. You’ll love it!

A staircase in the middle of the woods?

Let the bizarre begin.

I was enthralled and flicking Kindle pages so fast. The pace and energy in the book just powers you along with it. If you’ve never read a Chuck Wendig book before this is a great one to start with! I plan to read them all. This is fairly delicious, twisted and so much fantastical fun.

I liked the deep issues tackled with the characters too. All of this plays into the storyline and the final outcome. I kept getting more nuggets of surprise thrown my way. I had a few open mouthed NO WAY! moments. Brilliant book. If you love some twisted darkness and horror in your books you’ll love this. Five huge well deserved stars.

Huge thanks to Random House/Del Ray for my ARC via NetGalley.

This book gives out serious Urban Myth horror vibes!
It’s not an original concept but in this instance I don’t actually mean that in a negative way. Staircase in the Woods works with all of those fears you had at the age when you first realised that you actually like being scared witless (preferably amongst a group of friends!). Campfire scary stories, going into the reputedly creepy derelict house in your neighbourhood, video nasties, dark woods/graveyards at night - and obviously, the urban myth.
Coupled with the fact that it’s centred around a group of childhood friends who reunite 30 years after the disappearance of one of their group in a similar location. This horror gnaws away at each character’s own personal demons, which ramps the fear factor up several more notches.
If you are/were into RPG or any type of old Skool online gaming, then you’ll probably really appreciate the take in this book. The characters start to look at their predicament as a puzzle to solve - a strategy RPG. Not my era, but I appreciate what Chuck Wendig is bringing.
The horror is relentless - perhaps too relentless, which makes the book seem to drag at times. But I guess the bombardment of atrocities described does add to the feeling of a hellish cyclical nightmare, so it’s very effective in that way.
The house in the book was like the experience of reading the book - like you were stuck on some Escher-esque stairway. And towards the end, I was thinking ‘okay, I’m done now. Let me out’.
I really, really wish that this book could have had been at least 20% shorter and had some of the repetition trimmed out - then I think it would have easily been a five star book.

The Staircase in the Woods follows five protagonists, both as young adults and then as adults.

In 1998, five teenagers escape from their shitty little lives to have some fun in the woods. However, as the night progresses tragedy strikes and one of the group, Marty, goes missing.

This causes the group to split up, and as we join the group in their later years, we discover that they each ended up in their own destinys, but the shadow of the past has tainted their lives.

Called back to the place where Marty disappeared they discover the shocking truth. Matty did not die, he went to the other side of what lays on the Staircase in the Woods.

There is no doubt that The Staircase in the Woods will garner comparisons to Stephen King’s IT due to the fact that the story revolves around a group of five misfit teenagers, and there is some aspects of the story that put the reader in mind of the eponymous story. However, Wendig skillfully steers the story into a different direction.

The book revolves around both the breaking of the relationship of the five teenagers and how they come back to building their relationship through adversity. We learn about the past and how each member of the group are broken by their parents and the long lasting effects that this has on them as adults.

When we enter the world beyond the staircase, we discover that The staircase that they have discovered does not just stand in isolation, but that it leads to a house. A house full of hate, we discover that in every in every home there is heartache. At times the story can be quite bleak as we move from room to room, horror to horror as we learn the truth of the house and how it came to be.

Wendig layers the horror on with a spatula until the insidious atmosphere of the house palpably permeates from the page into the readers psyche, each room and environment steadily worse than the last.

The story does take some time to build, and much like the house, the story lays its foundations of things that happened in the past and where the group are now. However, stick with it and you will be rewarded with a rich and horror filled story.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is a chilling mystery thriller with an unexpected ending.
There are so many mysteries, heart-racing moments, so many questions and unexpected turns.
I was so invested at the beginning. It was so intriguing, but around 40% in, it kind of went too stretched, it felt like we were going around, around and around, and I lost my interest. And I am not a fan of political topics, so that was annoying. At the end mystery picked up again, and it was a good twist at the end.

Twenty years ago, 5 friends (Matty, Nick, Lore, Owen and Hamish) went to the woods and just 4 (Nick, Lore, Owen and Hamish) came out. They could not explain what happened because they didn't know. All they know is Matty climbed that mysterious staircase and disappeared.
Now they are back in the woods, and a mysterious staircase is there, and this is the chance to find out what happened to Matty...

This is a really good Halloween book and will be a fantastic read for every horror thriller lover.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this copy.

I've gone back and forth between 3 and 4 stars for this book, so I think a 3.5* feels fair.

If you read horror novels, you often see writers compared to one man more than any other—'the new Stephen King' is the type of blurb you see applied to anyone and everyone, or at least it can feel that way at times. Few of those authors ever seem to really nail the feeling close childhood friends have when they reunite after spending years, decades, seemingly entire lifetimes growing apart, the type of tense and distant vibe in the group that King made me feel at times in IT. Wendig comes very close to managing that here.

A group of childhood friends find, and this won't be a surprise to anyone that has read the title, a seemingly impossible staircase in the woods. There's no sign of any house ever existing around it, and it doesn't go anywhere. When one of them decides to climb it and disappears, it becomes the crack that eventually rips apart their group and sets them on different paths in life. When they're brought back together by one of their own announcing his terminal illness diagnosis, they're forced to examine that night—and whether there is anything they can do to right the wrongs of that fateful day.

The Staircase In The Woods is an atmospheric book, quite a slow burn to begin with, before the story shifts and becomes alien and nightmarish. I went in blind, and I believe I enjoyed the story more this way, and I'd recommend others do the same, so I won't spoil anything here. Suffice to say, the group are forced to face their inner demons, their darkest secrets, their childhood traumas, and ultimately learn to become close again in order to try and save their long-lost friend—and just maybe, save themselves.

This feels like a very personal book for Wendig in many ways, not least that his interests and hobbies are prevalent throughout the book. There's a lot of metaphors and descriptions using board & video game logic, to the extent that it started taking me out of the story a little. What will be more off-putting to many readers, however, is how often politics make an appearance. Whether the character's feelings on Trump, or on sexuality and the gender binary, Wendig doesn't shy away from letting the protagonists make clear how he feels. I found it a little distracting, despite agreeing with the points made, and I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone that found King's references to Covid in Holly or Trump in Billy Summers too much, for example.

Overall I found this a strong read for much of its length, but with periods where the story felt a little directionless. The characters are all troubled and have issues in their lives, and a large part of the book is them attempting to address these, but it doesn't always make them the easiest to like spending time with. If you can get past these issues, however, you'll find a great mind-bending mystery inside, more akin to something like Kliewer's We Used To Live Here than the straightforward horror I expected going in. An interesting, but in my opinion somewhat flawed, story.

How far would you go to find a missing friend? Would you risk a leap into the unknown?

In this psychological horror novel, five high school friends go into the woods together. They find a staircase, ruined and abandoned, attached to no house and trailing off into nothing. One of them – Matty – climbs it and disappears. The rest of them go back to their lives and deal with the fallout of their missing friend. Twenty years later, having mostly lost touch due to guilt and their differences, they somehow find another staircase. This time they climb it. All of them. What they find there is nothing like they expected – a sentient house, made of ghostly murder scenes. A house that loops and changes around them, building their darkest thoughts into shapes. As they race through the labyrinth of rooms to find Matty, they must each confront who they’ve become since they lost him, and lean on their friends as they reckon with their demons.

This is a novel of self-realisation. At the start, each of the four characters has obvious flaws, none of them are likeable and all of them make questionable decisions. There are horrible scenes of suicidal ideation, self-harm, manipulation and abuse of all kinds. But, as often happens in dark times, as the characters face the danger head-on, they discover key truths about themselves – the will to not just survive but live, the power to accept that they’re more than their bodies, the ability to be vulnerable and look to others for help rather than go it alone. I like that their bond, forged of loyalty and nostalgia for the era in which our friends are our world, is what holds them together against the darkness. There’s a lot of evil in these pages, but the thread of hope is just as strong and the mending of broken relationships has you rooting for the characters.

Despite the central group being in their thirties, they still act and think a lot like teens. This frustrated me at times as a reader, but I suppose it makes an interesting point about how defining memories and trauma shape our thought patterns and influence our actions. I love the clever concept of a haunted house formed from the bad energy of terrible acts, and the take on how hate sends out more hate into the world and passes it on to others. However, do go into this knowing the author has a political agenda, and look up trigger warnings because there’s a LOT of dark content in that house.

Overall, this is an interesting read that keeps you hooked and has you wondering how you’d escape.

Huge thanks to Del Rey and Chuck Wendig for the ARC - I may now officially fear both forests and friendship. Well played.

Now, let’s get one thing straight: The Staircase in the Woods is almost impossible to talk about without spiraling (pun absolutely intended) into spoiler territory. But here’s the setup: five high school friends go camping, stumble upon a mysterious staircase in the middle of the forest (as one does), and one of them climbs it - then vanishes. Years later, the group reunites to confront the truth about what happened, where their friend went, and what the hell that staircase even was.

Yes, I know what you're thinking - childhood friends reuniting to confront supernatural trauma is a tale as old as time (or at least as old as It by Stephen King), but Wendig taps into what keeps that trope alive: characters. Not just archetypes, but complex, beautifully messy people with history and pain, all drawn back together like emotional magnets. It’s not just about spooky vibes - it’s about the psychology of fractured friendships and the scars left behind. It’s the Avengers, if the Avengers had unresolved guilt, panic attacks, and a creepy staircase that may or may not be sentient.

Where these characters go - physically and emotionally - is nightmarish. Creepy, disorienting, unsettling, and at times downright heartbreaking. Trauma isn’t just part of the backdrop, it's the heart of the story. The characters are tested relentlessly - by their past, by each other, and by the horror of where they end up. It’s psychological horror in the purest sense: everyone’s lost in more ways than one, and Wendig drives that point home hard. But, as he beautifully reflects in the afterword, maybe getting totally lost isn’t the end - it’s the beginning of growth.

Each character feels real. You’ll see yourself in one of them - or see someone you know. And if you’ve ever gone through any form of trauma, prepare to get emotionally sucker-punched.

My biggest gripe would be the limited POVs. We mostly follow two of the four, while the other two only occasionally break the surface. It’s a missed opportunity, because exploring each of their inner turmoil could’ve taken this already rich psychological narrative to another level. I wanted to feel each of their spirals, not just see them from a distance.

To sum up: The Staircase in the Woods isn’t breaking new ground, and it doesn’t pretend to. But what it does do, it does well - it haunts, it hurts, and it offers just enough light to guide you back out again. That, in my book, is what horror should do.

3.5/5

PS: Shoutout to Wendig for throwing in nostalgic nods for '80s and '90s kids, especially for fantasy and sci-fi nerds. One reference had me legit whisper “No way” out loud - it’s my favorite book (nope, not Tolkien). That kind of attention to generational flavor adds a nice human touch to all the horror.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!
This book!!! I was hooked pretty much straight away. The writing style is just incredible and I really liked the way things were described. I've never read anything by Chuck Wendig but I will definitely be checking out his other books now. The characters are unlikeable and annoying (in my opinion) in the beginning which I love in a horror/thriller book and then by the end I ended up liking them! Short chapters make it really fast paced and I loved the multiple POVs. Between 80%-90% the writing is quite dark and there are some heavy scenes so maybe check out trigger warnings for that if certain things make you uncomfortable... overall I cannot fault this book at all I was addicted to it and hated having to stop reading!

In this creepy tale we follow a group of teens who find a mysterious staircase in the woods. 5 go into the woods and only 4 come out.

This book takes a close look at friendship and how far are we really willing to go for the people we care for. As well as what trauma can become if it’s bottled up.

This book was so atmospheric, really brilliant haunted house vibes with a twist. And boy was this story full of twists and runs both literally and in regard to the plot. I kept thinking I knew what was happening to have the rug pulled out from under me.

The characters in this story are so interesting to follow. Their development from teens to adults and then again with their experiences trying to survive what I can only describe as a nightmare made real. There is really good look into friendship and how even your closest friends can be struggling but you miss it. What does that do to your friendship? What does it do to you when you’re alone with your thoughts and you feel like there’s nobody that can really see you. This cast of characters is also interesting in its representation, we have an MMC with OCD which I feel was portrayed brilliantly through Owen. And while all of these characters are deeply flawed and not entirely likeable you still wanted them to make it through this ordeal.

I really enjoyed this book and I’m absolutely going to be getting a physical copy.

Chuck Wendig’s The Staircase in the Woods is a compelling blend of horror and mystery. The story follows five childhood friends—Matty, Nick, Hamish, Lore, and Owen—who, during a 1998 camping trip, discover a mysterious staircase deep in the woods. When Matty ascends and suddenly vanishes, their bond shatters. Decades later, when the staircase reappears, the remaining friends are drawn back together, forced to confront their past and uncover long-buried secrets.

Wendig’s atmospheric storytelling is one of the novel’s strongest aspects. His exploration of friendship and childhood trauma is gripping, nostalgic, and undeniably eerie. The dual-timeline narrative, weaving between past and present, instantly pulled me in. I found myself completely invested in unraveling the mystery of what happened that night when five friends entered the woods and only four returned. The story builds tension, balancing themes of friendship, loss, guilt, and the lingering ghosts of the past. The eerie, unsettling vibe kept me engaged, and Wendig’s ability to craft a creeping sense of danger added to the overall suspense.

However, the pacing at times felt slow, with the horror elements simmering beneath the surface rather than delivering immediate scares. Additionally, some of the characters felt underdeveloped, making it harder to fully connect with their emotional stakes. If you enjoy slow-burn horror with emotional depth, this book offers plenty to appreciate—but if you’re looking for fast-paced thrills, you may need to adjust your expectations.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Uk for a free eBook and an honest opinion.

DNF @ 35% - Supposedly thriller / horror

Five high school friends are camping in the woods when a staircase appears. Matty walks up the stairs and disappears, never to be seen again. 20 years later, the other four, no longer friends, regroup when one of them tricks the others into coming back together when he finds another set of stairs.

Requested on NetGalley as the premise sounded really interesting and creepy and it is a choice for a popular horror book box. At 35% I found no creepiness nor horror and the story was extremely slow paced - I normally read between 80-100 pages per hour this one was taking me an hour to read 30 pages.

I feel like the staircase / horror (if there is any) is more of a side story to the characters own troubled upbringing and friendship group. I found all four characters highly unlikeable - the story is told mainly from Lor / Laurens and Owens POV. Owen has a very repetitive nail biting habit and an unrequited crush on Lor that takes up most of his pov. Lors chapters is mainly about her being a Bisexual, drug taking, Trump hater. Another part of the story I deeply disliked was how Nic got the gang back together by lying that he was dying of cancer!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to review the copy of the eBook. Not the story I was led to believe it was, unfortunately.

I need to started with a disclaimer - I am a lightweight when it comes to horror! I haven’t eaten an apple since reading Black River Orchard, that was some visceral imagery. So my terrifying might just be a walk in the woods for you.

This book was seriously disturbing, and kept me awake at night. Partly because I couldn’t put it down and partly because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
But the main reason I love it was the humanity, the friendships and the fact that friendship needs effort, it’s all too easy to get sucked into the void that is modern life. We expect so much but give so little.
The horrors persist, both in the real world and in this book, made worse by them being a reality in both. Humans seem to carry around their own little buckets especially for pain and self-flagellation, and boy do we hate putting that bucket down.
A definite recommend, as are all the books I’ve read by this author so far.

So this was a very slow start for me, I struggled to get into it at first but it picked up around 40% and even then I still kept losing interest but I didn’t want to DNF so I carried on.

The premise is good, I liked the idea of the staircase and what happens with it, it’s a good idea but it felt really slow in most places. It kinda fell flat for me as well, some of the “rooms” were interesting and they were incredibly detailed but it didn’t really feel like a horror.

I couldn’t connect with any of the characters, none of them were necessarily bad, I just didn’t like any of them and wasn’t rooting for anyone. I also ended up skimming a few times went I felt like things got a little too draggy.

So unfortunately, this wasn’t for me. It didn’t feel like a horror and it’s also too slow for me. I liked the premise and the ideas of all the rooms, I just personally didn’t get on with how it was executed

Thank you to netgalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I do tend to enjoy this type of horror, I enjoy the changing rooms, alternative reality type of situations that can come of it. However, I feel this story fell a little flat. I did "enjoy" (if you can call it that) reading about the different rooms, and some of the descriptions were gory. But I didn't have that sense of dread and tension that I personally want from a horror. It was a good book, and entertaining enough but left something to be desired from me. Part of this is due to the flashbacks to different events, I understand that was important to help create the backstory for the characters but also pulled you out of any tension that was building. I would try this author again though!

Five high school friends bonded over their misfit status and the uncanny discovery they made in the heart of the woods. When camping together they came across an endless staircase, stretching into the sky and seeming to ascend to their highest wonders or fears, if only they had the nerve to discover which.

Highly anticipated but unfortunately not for me. I enjoyed the early similarities to [book:It|830502] but then events began to make less sense and the horrifying elements never truly impacted me. There were a lot of bizarre and potentially spooky scenes but I never truly felt anything for them. I merely read and moved on, which is the opposite of what I come to the horror genre for.

Chuck Wendig is back with an eerie forest book that really captures your attention from the start. However, the ending had a lot to live up for and I'm not sure it hit.