BOOK REVIEW | THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS | CHUCK WENDIG

 BOOK REVIEW | THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS | CHUCK WENDIG

BOOK OVERVIEW

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.

"Chuck Wendig weaves his magic once more, turning a lonely staircase in the woods into a searing, propulsive, dread-filled exploration of the horrors of knowing and being known."--Kiersten White, author of Hide and Lucy Undying

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 extraordinary: 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 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.