The Staircase in the Woods

This by-the-numbers horror outing from Wendig (Black River Orchard) introduces a group of five misfit friends who, as bullied and traumatized kids, formed The Covenant, a promise to protect one another. This vow was broken when, on a camping trip, their friend Matty vanished at the top of a mysterious staircase they found in the forest. Decades later, the staircase reappears, offering the group the chance to find Matty and make things right—but there’s a gruesome puzzle waiting at the top of the stairs to be solved first. Unfortunately for readers, the solution to this puzzle lies at the end of an overlong pastiche of horror fiction clichés and abundant asides about geek culture that grow tiresome (at one point, one of the terrified protagonists takes a break from the action to recount the plot of the Legend of Zelda). Wendig tries to eke a captivating mystery out of these elements, but the narrative is weighed down by clumsy attempts to shock and the characters aren’t fleshed out enough to carry the plot. Particularly underdeveloped is the one nonbinary character, Lore, who feels tokenized by the narrative. This disappoints. (Mar.)