A psychological horror novel that in many ways feels like playing a grown-up version of Corpse Party, with a fascinating premise and a trapped-location feel.

Trigger warning for: Self-harm, self-mutilation, CSA, child abuse, body horror, negative self-image, suicide

Unfortunately, like when I read The Book of Accidents, this book just wasn’t for me. I am a huge fan of the staircase in the woods phenomena and r/nosleep story, so I decided to give this book a chance before deciding that this author wasn’t one for me. However, while the title of this book does focus on the penultimate staircase, and there are a few other staircases scattered throughout - in all honesty, this book is barely about them. This book focuses much more on interpersonal relationships and traumas - and the house they all wind up trapped in - than staircases at all! I would honestly say this book has much more in common with the No-End House creepypasta and some similarities to the game Corpse Party, and that the staircase motif was more added so the author could have an exciting title to catch readers familiar with the concept. 

The first about 30% of this book was a chore to read. I’ve heard people complain about the politics being included in this book, and hilariously I would almost agree - except from the opposite direction. If I wasn’t so sure the author was leaning anti-Trump, I’d have believed him to be conservative. The ONLY openly queer character in this book is such an open stereotype that despite me also being nonbinary, agender, and aromantic I felt like Lore was almost a strawman so readers could point and laugh at how “ridiculous” a nonbinary aromantic pansexual would be as a person. ESPECIALLY when her introduction is made by harassing the “normal” seeming pro-Trump character in this novel - and this character is never given the same stereotypical treatment, and is instead seen as the “straight” man to offset how “insane” the other character is being. We’re supposed to find it funny that Lore accuses him of “hating” her because he voted for Trump - as if it’s ridiculous to assume someone voting for someone who has openly been racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic and has created legislation to make being anything other than “acceptable cishet” a crime would - maybe - not be someone a queer woman would be comfortable around. 

This uncomfortable feeling of homophobia never fully leaves the novel, as while Lore is openly attracted to both men and women, and is supposed to be aromantic - she still ends the novel in a relationship of some sort with a character who had been in love with her as children. A relationship that she, herself, had decided then to not pursue because she wouldn’t be able to give him the same kind of devotion he would give her. And at no point do either of these characters discuss what being in a sexual queerplatonic relationship would look like, and so I can only assume this is her “proper” ending to her “wildness” she had before - she’s been tamed into a relationship that she had never indicated wanting or desiring. And granted, I’m very much projecting here, but since I - once again - am ALSO aromantic it seems like an uncomfortable throughline. (Also, the author very clearly states that she can have sexual relationships but not romantic because she’s aromantic, NOT asexual, and as an asexual myself that’s…not true? Aros can have romantic relationships and aces can have sexual ones - and I’m not saying that Lore ending the book in a supposed romantic relationship is a bad thing, just that - with no discussion in the book to imply any kind of discussion about it - it feels a bit heteronormative to read.)

[Also, the character Lore ends up with I felt like had a much clearer romantic throughline to one of the other men in the story, which I feel would have done a lot to counteract the (hopefully) unintentional homophobia present in this novel.]

After I forced myself to continue past the first 30%, the book itself did improve - but that could be in part because it no longer felt like a flashlight was being pointed at my face and going “haha aren’t people like you so weird and confrontational!” 

Rather than staircases, this book instead focuses on the broken friendships of these characters and the traumas each had faced growing up. And, well…some of these could have been included more tactfully - or, not at all. One in particular felt like it was added simply for the shock value, and then each character winds up in a sort of “trauma Olympics” with each other to try to one-up everyone - even if that’s not how they intend to come across. (One scene even felt like in Jenny Nicholson’s video on Split, where she criticized self-harm scars as the only way someone with depression or suicidal thoughts could articulate it, and that these scars are the only way to help save themselves.) 

Finally, I found the ending to be a tad annoying as - while generally I enjoy open-ended stories - the way this one did felt anticlimactic, as it very clearly set up something that would have ruined the emotional feelings the reader (and these characters) felt about this character throughout the story. Also, I felt like this book kind of took a sharp left turn when we left the staircase mystery and motif, and instead entered into “evil sentient house” where…the motivation to do things just…fell apart? As the story progressed it slowly made less and less sense - especially with the climatic reason for the house to have become evil and sentient in the first place. (No spoilers, but really? That’s the evil that started this mess? That’s it??) I felt like having an actual root cause we could explore almost made the story less believable, and by the time it was revealed I was simply reading to finish this book. However, I know I’m not in the majority of my feelings towards this book, so I would recommend you check it out if you are a fan of horror and being trapped in a single location that is actively trying to break you down. 

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Random House Worlds for providing this e-ARC.