Teddy

by Matthew A. Clarke

Five children discover a mysterious staircase in the woods and set in motion a series of events that will haunt not only themselves, but the rest of humanity forever. Years later, after spending the majority of their adolescent lives behind bars, the broken adults have been trying and failing to live normal lives.

Poisoned by the events of the past, Daniel Temms feels he owes long-lost friend Francie Dublos when she reaches out to him for help. Her brother has been viciously injured in what, at first, appears to be a particularly violent and unconventional suicide attempt.

As another familiar face expires in a suspiciously similar fashion, Daniel and Francie are forced to face their dormant traumas and enter a horrific world of bountiful brutality.

A fresh nightmare from the creator of Incel, Burden, and Thaumaturgist, TEDDY explores themes of grief, revenge, and sacrifice.

Previously published under the pen name Matt Duchossoy

Genres: Fantasy

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2024

About the author

Matthew A. Clarke is a British horror and bizarro author.

He has published fifteen books at the time of writing, and has countless short stories lurking in the darkest corners of the library.

Bizarro


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Bizarro fiction is a contemporary literary genre, which often uses elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism and genre fiction staples, in order to create subversive, weird, and entertaining works. We read that stuff (someone has to) and then write publicly to one another here about the experience of reading it. If you join this group, you can too.

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Connect
Website: www.matthewaclarkeauthor.co.uk
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/~/e/B082WJJPQ3
Facebook: www.facebook.com/matthewaclarkeauthor

Reviews

[Phrique · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child raised by the internet, I am VERY protective of my creepypastas. I’ve read my fill & many of them filled the void that books couldn’t way back when. One creepypasta I am particularly protective of is my beloved staircases in the woods creepypastas. I have DNF’d recent books that capitalized on the title/ concept that ultimately left me crestfallen & my soul desiccated. My expectations were in shambles on the ground. (I learned not to do this anymore, I’m a work in progress yadayada.) Luckily, many friends responded to my dramatic relinquishment & told me to give Teddy by Matthew Clarke a try. One I already owned, by an author who I already trust my brain wholeheartedly with, I was confident I was in good hands. Welp, I am happy to report that my comrades have not led me astray. Finally a Staircases in the Woods story that not only lived up to my expectations but ended up becoming so much more. 👀

Quick synopsis:
When a group of kids discover a mysterious staircase in the woods, curiosity gets the best of them. The events of that day go on to haunt those that survived for years to come. Fast forward to the future, the survivors have splintered & become estranged yet their secrets won’t stay buried. Now they have no choice but to return to the woods to get answers finally, though they may not be the ones they had hoped for.

Clarke’s story comes out swinging & never lets up. Even where one would expect a lull, he keeps the tension going with sickening imagery & psychological elements that make you feel for his characters while also just wishing you could look away. The story takes a huge shift towards the halfway mark that doesn’t take away from the action at all, it use adds to the layers & lets Clarke show off his world building talents that he’s known for. This was a vile tale that I need more of, & it turns out I’m in luck because there’s another in the series I need to get to asap. 🙀 Definitely check this one out if you like them weird, brutal, & cinematic. Highly recommend it!

[Lia's Haunted Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5/5)


I remember those NoSleep Reddit posts about staircases in the woods from years ago—the kind that made you go, What the hell is this? What’s happening? This book gave me a similar vibe, in the best way possible.

The story follows a group of “friends” who commit a crime as kids and later face the consequences as adults. It explores one possible answer to the lingering question: What if something—someone—was watching? But what I really appreciated was that, even by the end, not everything is explained. There’s still that eerie sense of mystery hanging over it.

The unsettling scenes? Nailed it. The characters? Solid. But what kept this from being a full 4-star read for me was the sudden shifts between characters, which occasionally pulled me out of the story.

[Becki 🤎 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teddy 🫣

We all know by now that Matt is one of my ultimate favs, I own a good portion of his books & was super lucky to receive audible codes for those available on there too! I obviously started with Teddy & oh my, what a story!!

When a group of young boys get together there is bound to be a bit of chaos isn’t there? Well when these kids decide to go into the woods and check out a random staircase (that’s casually placed with nothing at the top or surrounding it) the two older boys Jacob & Greg make a plan…

They’re going to throw the youngest boy, Teddy off of it, they’ve always used him as their little plaything & what’s the worst that can happen right? They force him into a burlap sack that’s surrounded by barbed wire & make there way up the stairs, Daniel doesn’t want to take part in it, all he can do is wait at the bottom with his hands outstretched hopeful to catch Teddy’s fall!

Well they throw Teddy off the stairs but he doesn’t make the landing…he just seems to of vanished into thin air?! How do the boys explain this to their parents? And to the police? They obviously can’t & of course they’re not believed. They all get sent to juvie for 9 years & are seen as young murderers!

30 years later the gang are forced back together after Greg is admitted to hospital, apparently having tried to commit suicide by barbed wired! They realise something isn’t right, they all admit they keep seeing things to do with that fateful day…they think Teddy may be back & he definitely isn’t happy 🫣

It’s up to Daniel & Francie to go back & find the staircase, it’s the only way to get answers...although they’re not prepared to find this whole underground world full of depravity with no way out 🫣

Oh this was something a little different for me & i absolutely ate it up within 24 hours! Harry was certainly a very unhinged and unpredictable character 👀😅

I loved it, it gave me a bit of stranger things vibes which is perfect for those stranger things lovers (adult ones) as it’s got a lot more gore ect in! Can’t wait for the next book!

Thanks again Matt, appreciate you always 🫶🏻🤎

[Milt Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Clarke's "Teddy" reads like a horror movie, with great atmosphere, amazing visuals, and an attractive mystery to boot, a cross between "It" and "Smile" - except for some scenes in the last third of the book when it felt like it turned into dark fantasy and absurdist fiction. The latter is not necessarily a bad thing, since those parts added to the story's positive features (imaginative twists, creepy imagery), but they did lessen significantly the mystery by blowing it up into an unrecognizable, labyrinthine journey into an alien setting full of unexplained (and a bit unmotivated and confusing) story turns. The book starts as a very unsettling supernatural tale of revenge, brutal and graphic, reminiscent of the best urban legend; but the moment the author allows himself to bring everything to the light, the pacing has to accomodate the laborious world-building, and a lot of the excitement evaporates, in order for the reader to share into the main characters' confusion, following them willy-nilly into their adventure into the unknown (and unknowable?). That said, the novel has several moments worth praising: the sinister and perverted nature of a character appearing later in the book, the incredible killings, the haunting ending; I just wish they blended a bit better together. I recommend the book as an absolutely riveting read, even though the second part is bound to test the reader's patience.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS is what The Staircase in the Woods should have been, and Matthew Clarke bloody blew it out the water with this story. This was so wonderfully twisted, bizzaro, and an amazing insight into Clarke's crazy imagination, I loved every page. The second half reminded me of visuals from Black Farm, It, and Clive Barker novels, but with it's own original take. Cannot wait to read the next installment.

[Rob Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teddy - Matthew A. Clarke
💀
3.75/5 ⭐️
💀
When a couple of kids go out into the woods and find a staircase seemingly leading to nowhere, they have a terrible idea. Teddy, the youngest was only allowed to go so long as Daniel made sure to take care of him. Unfortunately, Gregg and Jakob had different plans. Shortly after Francie leaves, shit hits the fan.

This is a brutal tale of revenge. I enjoyed the story quite a bit. My only gripe about this one was sometimes the setting was a little difficult to follow and the quick change of characters in action sequences caused me to get a little confused.i tend to read very quickly and when I backed off the throttle a little I was more easily able to follow what was going on. The brutal death scenes were creative, the deep psychology of the characters was dark. Some of the acts committed in this one hit me square in the chest and shocked me to my core (Harry is one naughty, NAUGHTY lad). With the way this one ended it's got me quite excited to see what happens in Sin.
💀
Content warning: Violence, Gore, Language, SA, Sexual Themes, Torture, Torment

[Ziggy Nixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one was going to believe a story about a staircase to another dimension.

"Teddy" by Matthew A. Clarke is essentially a 200+ page fully described nightmare. And we're talking the kind of nightmares that you intentionally don't tell your therapist about because you don't need the headache of having your meds adjusted… or worse, get an invitation to stay in a nice padded cell for a few months! There are parts of this book that are terrifying, parts that are nauseating, that are surreal, and that just defy description, at least as far as my meager grasp of language can provide. But it will forcibly glue you to your seat and not let you up until you have been through every iteration of this hellscape - sorry, THESE hellscapes - no matter how gruesome things turn out to be. And wherever it is we wind up - and Clarke never really explains that to the obvious frustration of some previous readers - it does indeed turn into an abattoir for the mind!

She blinked at them before her eyes glazed over. She’d witnessed her own death.

The story starts with one of the more tried and true tropes of horror, namely, the "you folks did something really bad when you were kids and now around 20 or 30 years later, it's time to pay the piper." I don't know if in this case it was more "It" or a protracted "I Know What Your Did Last Summer" in nature, but needless to say, anyone involved including the young victim has their lives utterly and irrevocably ruined. And the three main perpetrators do indeed pay a heavy price, having spent what essentially passes as an eternity first in a juvie prison for 5 years, then 4 in an adult prison. So it's no wonder they're extremely "messed up" if you will once we rejoin them after they've been released and try as best as possible to get on with their lives. Let's just say if drugs or suicide or massive depression are triggers for you, you need to just try a different book entirely.

Are we in hell? Because I feel like this is exactly the kind of thing you’d find in hell.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I guess I should point out that I hadn't intended at first to even read "Teddy", as my attention was drawn to "Sin" that was on my "February New Releases" list. I wasn't even aware that they were in any way connected until I read one of the ARC reviews that mentioned that references were made to the first book throughout the new one. So why not? It's not like a 500-page 6-part fantasy book … and that cover! OMG, isn't it just amazing? And even more amazing now that I understand why the hell it looks like it does? 10 stars to the artist… hang on, my Kindle program is sticking and I'm having to go over to the Amazon homepage to look things up… ok, kudos indeed to Wendy Sabrecore because that is just awesome!

His chest cavity was hollowed out, compressed barbed wire protruding like a steampunk bouquet.

And speaking of awesome, if you are here for a bit of the aforementioned gruesomeness, it's been a long, long time since I've seen such inventive ways to, well, kill people in such horrifying ways. Even before we get to what can only be called absurdist or bizarro fiction, some of these scenes, well, it's easy to understand why most of the emergency personnel we see are outside being sick in the bushes. It's all extremely appropriate, yes, based on what started this journey of horror but it is nothing less than disgustingly brutal. Hm, maybe I do need to talk about some of this with my therapist, because I had way too much fun with this one!

The once-human had been modified in a manner that would’ve made God gag.

Now be prepared fans: you are NOT going to get a lot of full explanations in this book. We aren't even going to be sure what happens to any of the survivors or whatever we'll call them from here on out. I'm not sure how it continues to be explained IF AT ALL in "Sin" but we'll see. But we have no idea where we are, who is calling the shots, what the hell is all around us, nothing! You'll just have to take this literary form of a Hieronymus Bosch painting at face value and make your own conclusions. Just like what seems to be hundreds of thousands of viewers that watch all this unfold on a TouYube streamers channel and then even live TV.

You cannot begin to fathom the things I have endured. Existence is pain. There is no relief.

I mean, at the end you may find yourself asking was ANY of this real at all? Answer: we don't know! So yeah, enjoy! Bye! I'm off to read the next book because I flat out loved this! Let's go see what explodes out of peoples' bodies this time!

[❤ArtfullySinful❤ · Rating 2 out of 5]

“This place appeared out of nowhere. Maybe it’ll disappear just the same.”

A handful of children playing in the woods would make the worst discover of their lives when they encountered this floating staircase. Indestructible and only visible after crawling through this tunnel, it's something mystical and terrifying as it's two floors drop off to nothing once you've reached the top. Jakob Vander and Gregg Dublos were the older of the group, yet they were the same two that would set in motion their own demises decades down the road. Francine Dublos and Daniel Temms wanted nothing to do with the sinister prank that took place, and Francine would end up going home alone to avoid the whole ordeal. Unfortunately, Daniel stayed behind with the youngest boy Teddy and saw first hand what happened to him. Convincing him to open this burlap sack, Jakob and Gregg tied it closed and brought the terrified Teddy to the top of the stairs where they would drop him and he would vanish into a void without a trace. Scared to go home without him, the trio of boys would face jail time and prosecution for the disappearance and accused murder of Teddy. Haunted night after night by visions of barbed wire and a monster's face in the burlap sack, it was almost a blessing when Daniel got the call of his cancer diagnosis. At the same time, Francine would reach out for her brother Jakob and get the entire group running back to the place that started it all.

Sometimes, it can be hard to find something to live for. Life is hard. Unfair. It can be easy to get lost in thoughts of negativity if you allow your mind to dwell for too long. But then, why shouldn’t you allow your mind to dwell for too long?

With years since any of them last spoke to each other, it's a shock to be reunited and seeing Jakob do badly injured. Found from an assumed suicide attempt, his entire body was lacerated with barbed wire that seemed to of spawned from thin air in his bedroom. Unable to speak, he managed a few words where he blamed Teddy for the attack. But that's impossible right? How could a missing and presumed deceased child really be at play against grown adults decades later? When news of his death reached their ears, they never expected Gregg to also be killed so violently. With only Daniel and Francine left, they know they need to return to the Wickey Forest and attempt to find the stairway again. Unbeknownst to them, Harry Sanderland was following them and upon seeing the duo jump, would follow suit while broadcasting to thousands of followers online. As he took the plunge into the unknown, nobody really expected the events that followed. Drawing in hundreds of explorers, police were unable to stop those who were jumping and those that entered the other rhelm found themselves plummeting from thousands of feet and becoming killed upon impact. Trading in the blue skies and forests for a pinkish one with desert like sand, it's the abominations that wandered the land that should've been feared more.

“…three children charged with murder over three decades ago…”

Other souls unfortunate enough to become trapped here would become freakish experiments where mechanicals would combine it oth human flesh to make these hybrids. Seeing countless people killed, it's the experiments done to the bodies that left the worst impressions. Saw blades and metal in their mouths, faces and extremoitiyies, these beings were powered through cables programmed into their brains and only wanted to torture and kill. As more and more of the people dwindled, only Daniela dn Francine would be left and Teddy would give him the worst ultimatums. Killing Gregg and Jakob in this dream rhelm, he would sacrifice himself for Francine to escape and she would have to encounter her biggest fears and nightmares of she even wanted a taste of freedom. Lead higher and higher by angels, these deformed humanoids were the friendliest things she had encountered, and she would find herself suddenly plummetting back down to earth with one hell of a story to tell.

You deserve to die. Even she deserves to die.

[Sue and her books · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝕋𝕖𝕕𝕕𝕪 by Matthew A. Clarke is a story about guilt, lost innocence and the fallout of bad decisions taken to epic, unimaginable proportions - a brutal fusion of visceral horror and relentless dread.

It all begins with a group of kids stumbling upon a mysterious staircase deep in the woods. Where did it come from and where does it take you?

What starts as innocent fun turns into horror when the youngest of the group disappears after a cruel prank goes wrong. Three of the teens are convicted of his murder and spend their lives behind bars. Years later, one of them, Daniel Temms, is pulled back into the nightmare when an old friend, Francie Dublos, asks for help - her brother has been violently injured in what seems like a gruesome suicide attempt. But the truth is far stranger, and far more dangerous, than anyone could possibly imagine.

Teddy is a nightmare that pulls you in and drags you to places beyond imagination. Prepare yourself for a bizarre and unsettling kind of darkness.

[Sammi Dyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teddy written by Matt A. Clarke was previously published under the pen name Matt Duchossoy. It is a nightmare fueled, gory filled tale that is razor sharp and hauntingly good. Where things just can not be explained within the realm of reason. what is happening just is not possible, yet … happening never the less. The supernatural is one of those unexplained occurrences and when those occurrences are experienced there is no way of proving or stopping these events and the consequences are harsh. This is a must read that will keep you looking out of the corner of your eye questioning any movement and shadows. It will have you jumping out of your skin. Did you know a sequel is in the works. I for one can’t wait for Sin.

[Rae Waller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't say it's exactly a highbrow taste of mine but I am SO VERY HAPPY to find extreme horror with an actual plot and characters. Too many writers think just describing gross things happening over and over (or in some cases merely "oh no, an unattractive woman exists", and if you do this I hate you personally) counts as frightening. Here, we actually want to see what happens to the characters, and there's an actual mystery behind what's going on. The horrifying imagery is also excellently horrifying. I'll be checking out more by this writer.

[Rena · Rating 5 out of 5]

You guys are SERIOUSLY missing out if you haven't read anything by Matthew A. Clark.

This takes place in the same f*cked up realm as Sin (see my previous review). It's unrelenting in how brutal it is. I had to stop once because I realized I was holding my breath and another time I stopped because it was a bunch of nope. Lol. His world building and character development is done so quickly and so well. Man has a serious talent.

Needless to say I will be keeping a close eye on this author and anything he puts out.

[Shannon Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loooooved this book but hated the end and how it never really explained anything and then just BOOM, the end? I would LOVE to see this turned into a movie because it's so unique but absolutely needs more to it and a better end. I kept going between 4 and 5 stars but finally decided to go with 5 since I felt such excitement to finish it and see how it ended and really enjoyed it a lot! Definitely going to check out other books by this author now

[Paloma S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never have I read a book within this genera that had be sobbing and then also insanely uncomfortable but clawing for more in the end. Teddy, my love I am sorry this happened but thrilled we got the best revenge story possible. Once again, this author impresses me with the world they built. I’ve read this twice and it a top 3 in my list forever.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is my first Matthew A Clarke book.and it won't be my last. Like a cross between one of your favourite coming of age horror stories and the weirdest aspects of a Clive Barker imaginarium this book has it all.
My only issue is that I wish he had fleshed the book out a lot more. I wanted more of the characters' back stories, but a reader left wanting more is better than one bored AF

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I liked: Clarke has a way with similes. I highlighted several unique ones that fit his book wonderfully. The dialogue was fairly realistic and his writing is easy to read.

What I didn’t like: This story wasn’t for me. Maybe (definitely) it was meant to be weird, but it progressed into something I just couldn’t enjoy. Perhaps I am too old for creepypastas and the like. The character name Wez made me raise an eyebrow. Is this a real name?

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

an eerie story of a mysterious staircase that you just have to know what it is, where it goes, and all that. I'm not a prude but I don't like explicitly weird sexual stuff in the horror genre I don't know but its a great story you need

[Sarah Leis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Ashley Slater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing visuals, well written horror. Could have done without the weird sex stuff but good book overall.

[Kelley O · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read

[Raven Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an unexpected horror that I could not predict where it was going and I absolutely loved it . I had a lot of wtf moments and that’s why it got 5 stars

[Canadianmombooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was creepy and entertaining until it got wild and off the rocker! Quick pace, fast read.