Across the creepier parts of Reddit lay stories about staircases in the woods. Some are real, while others are made up stories, but it’s become a bit of a phenomenon regardless of whether the real life cases have mundane reasons for existing. Thus, it’s a great premise for a horror story, and one that established author Chuck Wendig capitalized on with his new novel, The Staircase in the Woods.
In 1998, several friends found a staircase in the middle of nowhere. Following a fight, and some drugs, one of their members went up the staircase and vanished along with it. Following this strange and unreal event, the remaining four were looked upon as murderers, but no evidence was ever found. They existed as pariahs, though, and carry that — as well as other baggage — to this day.
Fast forward to the present and Lauren (aka. Lore), Owen, Nick and Hamish have lost contact to an extent. They’ve all kind of gone their own ways, and have tried to put what happened to their exceptional friend, Matty, behind them. Lore is making popular video games and sleeping around, Hamish has found God and has three kids, Owen is struggling but trudging on and Nick continues to look for Matty.
When Nick emails his friends to tell them that he’s dying of cancer, they feel they must heed his message and get together again, to form what remains of their group, The Covenant. However, Nick has ulterior motives, as he’s found another staircase in a different state.
When the group ascend the staircase, they find themselves trapped in an ever changing environment with no clear idea of where they are or why.
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is a story of friendship, and what can happen to childhood attachments. It’s also an interesting character study, and brings up interesting points about homes. That’s all I can really say without spoiling things.
Reading this book reminded me of Stephen King’s IT, Ronald Malfi’s Black Mouth and novels like them. I recently read both of those stories and honestly liked them more than this. However, Chuck Wendig is a talented author with a good imagination, and he’s presented another quality read. One that is quite a bit better than his last work, which was a bit too out there for me. We will try to forget about the evil apples and note that this effort is more in line with above average releases like The Book of Accidents and Wanderers, though I would also put those a step ahead of it.
While I liked the ideas behind this narrative, and generally agreed with how it ended, I didn’t find it as original as it could have been. I was hoping for something really unique given the premise, but found a story that wasn’t incredibly dissimilar from some others I’ve read. I also didn’t connect with it as much as some others. Still, these complaints don’t deter from what is a good book that is well worth reading. I just hoped for more.
As it stands, The Staircase in the Woods is a quality read, and something to check out when it releases. While it doesn’t entirely reach its potential, it’s a very interesting piece on friendship, family, home and attachments, not to mention this world that is full of so much good yet also so much evil and rot. I’m glad I gave it a shot.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the early copy. Receiving this book for free did not affect our review.