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Synopsis:
A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.
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. . . .
Review:
The Staircase in the Woods is the newest Chuck Wendig novel, and it is the first novel written by him that I have read in a long time, since Blackbirds and the Angry Robot days. I have bought a few of his novels and have watched him find success, particularly with the Star Wars novels that he wrote, but this is the first I have read in close to a decade. It is a shame that it has taken me this long to get back to another Wendig novel, especially since when I wrote the review of Blackbirds in 2016, I said that he was a novelist that should be followed and read. I guess I did not follow my own advice.
His newest novel starts with a group of five friends that were always there for one another during high school. They saw themselves as friends with a bond that could never be broken. Until they were on a camping trip and a staircase in the middle of the woods appears and Matty decides to go up the stairs. He disappears and so does the staircase. After this, the friend group is accused of his death and their friendship dissolves. After years, one of the members, Nick, finds another staircase in the woods, and they decide to climb the stairs to try to find their friend who disappeared years earlier. The horrors that await them are unspeakable. A hidden world unfolds, making the friends face their individual and collective past, their anger toward one another, and their sorrow in and attempt to survive long enough to find their friend.
When I first started reading The Staircase in the Woods, I quickly remembered how Chuck Wendig writes. He uses a tone that feels lighthearted and jokey, even when his characters are in horrible and dangerous situations. There are times when the tone of the writing is what keeps the sadness and fear at bay, as if he is reminding us that these characters are in this story, but it’s still a story. There’s nothing to be afraid of. This tone keeps The Staircase in the Woods from being so bleak and dreary that it is unreadable. The way Wendig writes scenes and chapters keeps us as a spectator and just removed enough from the story to bring too much heartache and sadness. This separation is what makes this novel palatable and effective, and this is why any reader should not hesitate to climb up the staircase in the woods and disappear into this story.
I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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