The Staircase in the Woods, by Chuck Wendig

Book 30 for my 2026 goal of 36 books for the year! Quite confident I’m going to crush my goal this year. My link to the book is through my bookshop.org affiliate account, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy from there. I’ve been “internet friends” with the super talented Chuck Wendig for quite some time and this past weekend I had the opportunity to go meet him in person and get a book signed at the Belmont Literary Festival! Though his most recent work is The Calamities, I realized that I hadn’t yet read his early 2026 release The Staircase in the Woods, which is right up my alley in terms of creepy topics! The title refers to the very real phenomenon of old staircases just hanging out in the wilderness! Old houses in isolated regions become abandoned and eventually succumb to the elements; the staircase is usually centrally located in the building and built with the most structural stability, so it can last significantly longer than the rest of the domicile. This…