THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS - Chuck Wendig


Five high school kids - generally outcasts among their peers - are bonded by their oath to protect one another no matter what. This has served them well and helped each of them survive high school.

When they chose to go on a camping trip they couldn't have anticipated the strange sight before them. A massive staircase is there, in the middle of the woods. One friend, Matty, runs up the staircase and leaps off, only to disappear. No amount of searching yields the whereabouts of Matty and before they know it, the staircase disappears.

The four remaining friends have to suffer the glares of the townsfolk who are sure they are responsible for Matty's disappearance, and after intense scrutiny from the police, friend Nick chooses to admit to giving Matty drugs in order to get the heat off his friends.

Twenty years later and Nick, out of prison, asks for a reunion of the four friends. He knows of another staircase in another forest and takes them there. On climbing and then leaping from this new staircase, the friends enter a house of horrors with no escape.

Ahhh. It's so nice to read a solid Chuck Wendig horror novel!

Wendig's characters are so easily identifiable. If you weren't one of these kids in high school, you know them (but if you're a nerdy reader, chances are good that you were one of them).

We really almost have two different stories here. The first part of the book is being introduced to the friends and then the strange disappearance of one of them, followed by the way they chose to leave the past behind. The second story is the exploration of their fears in the house of horrors.

The first part is a great set-up. It doesn't 'feel' long, though it's easily half the book. There are mysterious elements here (particularly the staircase in the woods), but nothing seems particularly like horror.  No, that waits until we enter the house and then all the gloves are off!

I'm not generally a fan of splatterpunk, and I wouldn't necessarily put Wendig in that category, but I will say that Wendig gets explicit (and gross) with his descriptions. The faint of heart beware! Seriously.

There's plenty of twist and turns, plenty of things to go bump in the night, and plenty of good horror storytelling.

Looking for a good book? The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is classic horror in all the right ways.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Staircase in the Woods

author: Chuck Wendig

publisher: Del Rey

ISBN: 9780593156568

hardcover, 400 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: APPRENTICESHIPS IN NARRATIVE - Andrew Rowcroft

Image
I am a sucker for anything by or about Kim Stanley Robinson. Since I first read The Gold Coast sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's; I haven't missed any of his books since. So, when I see a book about Robinson, or examining his work, I'm all in. What I don't like, is reading a research paper, a university-style thesis, posing as a book. In classic research paper tradition, we begin with an introduction that tells us what we are going to read. Chapter by chapter, taking up nearly 15% of the book's pages, author Andrew Rowcroft tells us what we're going to read in. In detail. With 114 endnotes. There are six chapters .... well, five chapters and a coda ... dealing with different aspects of Robinson's work. But first ... what does "Apprenticeships in Narrative" even mean? In his introduction, Rowcroft notes: "This book argues that one of the most striking aspects of Robinson’s fiction is his concern with literary apprenticeship." ...
Read more

STAR TREK: YEAR FOUR - THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT - graphic novel

Image
I am one of those faithful Star Trek fans who will gladly read stories (stories, novels, graphic novels) featuring the original Star Trek cast/crew.  When you add in an author such as D.C. Fontana, who wrote for the original series, and the excitement level for a book like this is high. The book reads like a classic Trek episode. Here, while the Enterprise is testing a new cloaking device (having stolen such a device from a Romulan ship) Kirk and Spock find themselves boarding the ship from a shuttlecraft  only to discover that they are out of 'phase' with the rest of the ship's crew. Only Lt. Arex is slightly visible to Kirk and Spock (due to some technical, fortuitous accident). It is during this time that the Romulans arrive, with Ambassador Sarek, and an old-fashioned pistol (phaser pistol) fight may ensue in the corridors. I will almost always have fun reading new adventures from my favorite starship crew, and I definitely enjoyed this, but scribe Fontana does some...
Read more

LAP DANCE LUST - Rachel Kramer Bussel

Image
WARNING: THIS BOOK AND REVIEW CONTAIN WORDS AND THEMES OF A SEXUAL NATURE I debated, a LOT, over whether or not I would even publicly post a review of this book. I mean, it's kind of embarrassing to admit to reading erotica. And yet the genre is one of the best selling subjects these days (thanks, in part, I'd guess, due to the anonymity that digital books afford) so why not read it (and, to be very honest, I was equally embarrassed to admit to reading Louis L'Amour westerns the first time I posted one of those reviews). I am not familiar with author Rachel Kramer Bussel so I'll trust Goodreads' quote that she is "one of the biggest names in the literary world of erotica." With nearly 200 works attributed to her name (many as editor) she's certainly got some experience with the genre. Overall I was impressed with the quality of the writing.  I have to admit to going into this expecting some really cheesy writing with the sole goal of getting the reader...
Read more