Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
Let’s get back to the Horror Aficionados, and I was excited when this one came up. Having previously read Black River Orchard and The Book of Accidents, I was ready to read another Chuck Wendig offering. I remember enjoying both of those books – to differing levels – so I was certain I would enjoy this one too.
This book is set in two different time periods. In 1998, a group of five friends decides to go on a camping trip in the woods. Nick, Matty, Lore, Owen, and Hamish. There are friendships within the overall friendship, some of which are more fractured than others. The five of them discover a staircase in the woods. That bit probably won’t surprise you. Despite the advice of the others, Matty climbs to the top of the staircase, where he and the stairs disappear.
Twenty years later, the remaining four friends are haunted by the disappearance of their friend, especially as they were blamed for it by his parents. Owen has shut himself away and seems terrified of everything. Hamish is a married man with two children, but he has a difficulty with staying faithful. The only one who seems to be living the life she dreamed of is Lore, who works in the video game industry. When Nick tells them he has terminal cancer, he uses it to guilt-trip the rest of them to hang out one last time. They go camping in another woods and find the same mysterious staircase. This time they decide to go up there together. They don’t know what they might find up there, but they believe it might be the only way to find Matty again. If he’s still alive, that is.
That is about as much of the plot as I can give without treading into spoiler territory. But I will say the book reminded me of Stephen King’s IT in the sense that the central characters are a group of friends who are divided and reunited by a trauma in their teenage years. I’d say this is also blended with the trippy horror of Backrooms, which began as a creepypasta before evolving into a YouTube series and then a movie by Kane Parsons.
It’s a story about friendship but also about how the decisions we make when we’re younger can affect the people we become when we’re older. All I can say is that Chuck Wendig has done it again. Another tremendous offering, and I look forward to whatever he is working on next.
My Goodreads Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)
