Editorial Content for The Staircase in the Woods

“On Friday, June 5th, 1998, five teenagers went into the woods surrounding Highchair Rocks in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Only four of them came out.”

These words send a quick chill down the spine and open Chuck Wendig’s new work of literary horror, THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS. A number of thrillers have had similar plot construction, but none of them have devised a horrific blend of fantasy and supernatural elements to explain why one member of that party was never seen again.

The novel jumps between the events of 1998 and the present day, and most of it is told from the perspective of Owen. He, Nick, Lore, Matty and Hamish went on a weekend camping excursion, which was really just an excuse to drink alcohol and take drugs like THC and LSD. When they come across a bizarre sight that is not part of any acid trip, they are speechless. A beat-up-looking spiral staircase, surrounded by wooden banisters, has popped up deep in the woods, defying all explanation.

"This is a haunted house novel unlike anything I have ever experienced as the house is haunted not by ghosts, but by the memories of the characters."

Matty, who is still stinging a bit from being rebuffed by Lore when he suggests they become an item, takes it upon himself to bolt from their campsite area and venture up the stairs. The others race behind him, but the last thing they see is Matty disappearing just moments before the entire staircase vanishes. Now, firmly sobered up by this tragic occurrence, the remaining foursome invokes the term for the personal pledge they have made to each other once their group formed in high school: “The Covenant.” This means that they would have each other’s backs when reporting to the authorities how Matty just disappeared on them, with no mention of any mysterious staircase.

Even though the subject has been teased over the decades, they’ve never gotten together to discuss what happened to Matty. That is, until Lore calls Owen to check if he received Nick’s email. When Owen reads it, he is numb. Nick has announced that he is dying of an incurable form of cancer and is invoking the Covenant to get his cronies back together for one last hurrah. Owen has not amounted to much and is barely employed; Lore creates video games; Hamish is a successful realtor and has a family; and Nick is in New Hampshire preparing to shake off this mortal coil.

When the other three arrive, they find that Nick has something else in mind and provides camping equipment for their trip back into the woods. No one is pleased with this, but they go along with it as it’s his dying wish. It’s not long before these four individuals, who are a great distance from each other on a personal level, come across another staircase. Sensing that this is what Nick had planned all along, they do not know what to make of it. Nick shames them into finally doing what they should have done decades ago --- climbing the staircase to find out where Matty went and possibly reunite with him.

If only it were that easy. They enter some sort of bizarre house filled with windowless rooms. To say that it is a house of horrors would be a great understatement. The differences and gaps among them are fully evident, which makes their predicament that much worse as the house seems to have been created to prey on their collective and individual fears. An escape seems nearly impossible. Lore thinks that the house may operate like a video game that they must figure out how to defeat. However, when they become separated, it seems highly unlikely that they will be able to work together. An eternity spent in this place of madness might be their intended fate.

This is a haunted house novel unlike anything I have ever experienced as the house is haunted not by ghosts, but by the memories of the characters. The writing is reminiscent of other authors who have mastered similar horrific moments, like Stephen King, Clive Barker and the late Peter Straub. Chuck Wendig builds on that legacy but makes THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS his own creation, and it rarely leads where you think it will. In the end, it is all about the Covenant.