The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
The Staircase in the Woods
by Chuck Wendig
Horror | Mystery | Thriller
388 Pages
Released April 2025
Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads
Content Warnings
It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Chuck Wendig’s books, and while this book wasn’t necessarily my favorite of his, Chucks’s mastery of horror elements is still very much present in this book.
Twenty years ago, while camping in the woods, five high-school friends come across a mysterious thing - a staircase in the woods leading to seemingly nowhere. On a whim, Matty decides to go up, and then disappears completely. Shocked and terrified, the four remaining friends (Owen, Nick, Hamish and Lore) plan a cover story and return home. Now, twenty years later, the staircase is back, and the four remaining friends are determined to right their mistake from so long ago - to follow their missing friend into the unknown.
I really enjoyed this book. The horror elements are fantastic as always, the story was gripping, so much so that I found myself flying through this book. I wouldn’t necessarily describe this book as atmospheric though, to me, it vaguely felt a bit like 90’s horror.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the friendships in this book. All the interactions between the five friends (flashbacks) felt authentic and I appreciate that they didn’t feel super trope-y as you can sometimes get when reading about a group of kids. Wendig does a great job giving their friendships lots of layers and complexity and so you have a lot of one-on-one relationships alongside the group as a whole.
Without getting into spoilers, there’s a huge array of horror elements that Wendig somehow manages to mash into this book. At one point it becomes almost repetitively overwhelming and desensitizing but I suspect that is sort of the point to allow the reader to experience the same thing the characters do. Unfortunately I cannot elaborate any more on this without giving away huge parts of this book but suffice to say, there are a lot of trigger warnings.
Overall, I have no complaints on this one. I highly recommend going into this one as blind as possible, which is what I did. If you’re a horror fan and like reading about complex friend groups, I don’t think this will disappoint.