Eight-year-old Bela lives with her Mommy, Daddo, and the thing in her closet called Other Mommy. She keeps asking to go into Bela's heart.

Anyone who has been scared of the monster in the closet or under the bed will appreciate how terrifying this novel is. A child in danger ramps up the scariness as well. The storytelling style is very unique being told from a young child's point of view. Seeing Bela's perspective of the actions of Other Mommy, and things going on between her parents is really interesting. There are a few truly scary scenes that get under the skin and linger. I highly recommend this novel for fans of the spooky.

Incidents around the house by Josh Malerman

This book is about a family who is targeted by an entity who keeps asking the child is she can go into her heart. The child Bela is experiencing this thing called other mommy and the story is just absolutely horrifying! As the family tries to find a way to be rid of this dark force they face many obstacles and hardships… I mean it’s not like you can just look up in the yellow pages how to get rid of this ‘thing’ it’s not really clear what it is but it starts to tire of asking a child to go into its heart. Making it difficult for the family to function. This book was an absolute page turner and honestly I had to put it down in absolute fear a few times! It was a very good read!

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I have read most of this authors works, to me he is hot or miss. This book is a "HIT" with caveats, which I may as well mention right now. I am not a fan of the writing style of this book, though I still read it and it keeps my attention most of the time. Secondly, the book is too long, as toward about 2/3 of the book I was losing interest. On the good side, haunting books are hit or miss as well, with many (most), falling into the mediocre range. This one mostly kept my attention so it got scored about mediocre. If you like this author, or if you like haunted house books, certainly give this book a read.

4 Stars

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman is a creep fest!! This would make a great read around Halloween spooky season, but of course we can read creepy any time of year. Books with little kids and weird stuff happening is right up my alley and I enjoyed this so much. Everyone else gave the synopsis so I won’t rehash. Just go in blind and enjoy the ride. Oh, and sleep with the lights on! Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing- Ballantine for the early and scary read!

Thank you Netgalley, Josh Malerman and Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for the ebook. Wow!!! Must read with the lights on! I'm always skeptical for ghost story like books because I love a good horror but it takes a lot to scare me. Let me tell you this was not fun but fun to read in the middle of the night!! A fast paced horror that will have you shaking!!

Eight year old Bela lives wth her parents, and “Other Mommy”. Other Mommy has always been friendly but lately she won’t stop asking “can I go inside your heart?” Bela keeps saying no but Other Mommy is restless and won’t stop until she gets a yes.

This is my favorite type horror and I was hooked from the very first page. I love horror stories with entities and even better when a child is narrating. This one gets absolutely creepier and creepier as time goes by. The ending was shocking and left me reeling ; similar to how I felt at the end of Paranormal Activity.

“She used to just stand in the closet and stare at me. Then she came out. Then she started talking. Then she started asking.”

Incidents Around the House comes out 6/25.

This story started off great. I loved that the story was told from the POV of an eight year old. It really read like it was coming from a child and the author did a good job of making the overall story feel like it was for adults. I thought other mommy was very creepy and the descriptions of them and how they would appear in different forms added to the overall dread of the story. However, the pacing for the second half of the story was slow. The end felt like it was really dragging and I felt like I wanted the story to hurry and wrap up. I did like the overall conclusion but it felt like it took a long time to get there. This was my first book by this author and although this didn’t complexly blow me away, I will try more!

Thank you Netgalley, Del Rey Random House, and Josh Mailerman for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Ok....
So...
All the dark spaces in my house suddenly feel much less empty..... And I'm truly not being hyperbolic here.

I finished the book.... and on this night, I'm a 41 YEAR OLD man, living alone, and I'm so unnerved by walking down the dark hall of my home, and passing the curtain-free backdoor.

Trust and believe, this is truly terrifying stuff.

It's kinda like a darker version of Coraline meets a more cohesive version of Skinamarink..... With a sprinkling of Guillermo del Toro's Mama.... While being wholly its own thing.

Our imagination is left to fill in certain things, because it's from the POV of a child, but that just made it scarier...

(We even take a trip around a well known and loved Mailerman-town.)

This is a hell of a book.
Scariest I've read this year.
I've been left with a sense of unease....

I didn't know a book this heavy with horror could also be this heavy with heart.

You got me good, Josh...

5/5
(June 25)

#netgalley #delrey #incidentsaroundthehouse #joshmailerman

Review✨

Me: There is no way Josh Malerman can make a book scary when told through a child's eyes. 


Boy was I wrong. If you enjoy Josh Malerman's other works you will love this. And if you have never read a book by him...read this!! Incidents around the house made me scared to go into my closet 😂. The fact that it's told by a child makes it creepier.  This may be the best horror book of 2024. The fearfulness just builds and builds and builds. Out 6.25.24!


Read this if you like:

-Bird Box or any other of his books

-Supernatural Horror

-A book that will keep you up at night


Thank you #netgalley and @randomhouse for the ARC of this title for my honest review! I loved it and give it 5 🌟

Josh Malerman's Incidents Around the House is a chilling horror novel centered on eight-year-old Bela, who is tormented by a malevolent entity called Other Mommy. As unsettling incidents around her home intensify, Bela realizes her family's safety hinges on her decision to let Other Mommy into her heart. The tension escalates with the cracks in her parents' marriage, adding to the sense of impending doom. Malerman's skillful blend of psychological and supernatural horror creates a haunting and unforgettable tale about a family's struggle against an unrelenting evil.

Title: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Publication Date- 06/25/24
Publisher- Del Rey- PRH
Overall Rating- 4.75 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure I’ve ever given a 4.75 rating, let me explain. Incidents Around the House is a book that’s so different from anything I’ve ever read. I want to be very careful what I say about the synopsis as there aren’t a lot of reveals so really you should go in knowing as little as possible. This is the story of a family falling apart, the child in the middle of it all and how our parents contribute to and take away our innocence. Almost the whole story is told from the perspective of the child, Bela.

Some warnings for you. This is a horror, some scenes are rather creepy mostly because of the descriptions of how things move and how the entity interacts with the child. She wants to go inside Bela’s heart….. I think not. Anyway, it’s creepy, however, it is VERY slow. This is a slow burn, family story. Everything is predictable, there are not really any twists or turns. Now, here’s the thing, this worked for this story. I really felt seen, none of us have normal families and rather you can relate to this exact experience or not, there will be pieces you feel seen in. Because of the nature of the content and it coming from the child’s perspective it can feel really sad at times so just prepare yourself for this. This isn’t a story you read for the thrill, you read it for the heart and it has a lot of it. There were so many quotes I wrote down and a lot of heartfelt words of wisdom.

The reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is because I wish the child’s perspective was used more intermittently. It was very unique and for the most part, I was fine with it. I just think it would have been a five star for me if there was just a little less. One plus about this book as a whole, is that it is exactly what it says it’s going to be, no more and no less and that’s a bleeping win if you ask me.

All in all I would recommend this book if you like the things I talked about in this review. I am looking forward to reading more from this author and probably will reread this in the future.

I absolutely loved this! I love when horror books follow kids and having the book narrated by the book made this even better. I find Josh Malerman to be hit or miss for me but this one was definitely a hit!

Incidents around the house by Josh Malerman is about a little girl named Bella it’s my best guesstimation she is around seven and lives with her mom and dad who she calls the dumbest name ever “daddo.” For years now little Bella has had a woman who comes out of her closet who she calls other mommy and that first other mommy was friendly made her laugh played games but now she wants something from Bella but the little girl cannot make sense of it and that scares her. It seems the more Bella refuses to do this one request the stronger other mommy gets and eventually she will be seen by others. When this happens mommy and Daddo have no idea what to do… I mean who would? The mom is a mess both parents drink too much they smoke pot in front of their daughter they have wild parties where they get so drunk they now hire Calvin a teenager to babysit little Bella who is the only child at the party and who they get to dance to entertain their friends. It is wind Bella‘s mom sees other mommy that they leave the home and unintentionally ruin friendships in an effort to try and figure out what to do. They should’ve listen to grandma from the beginning. This book was OK it wasn’t scary the ending was a letdown in my opinion but for a book whose main character is a little girl I think the author did a pretty good job I didn’t get all the heart the heart and expounding of such deep life contemplating situational talks with Bella by mainly her dad but seemingly every adult in her life and they were a lot of them but I would be lying if I said the book didn’t keep me interested because the dead head I known it was going to end like that I probably would’ve given it a miss because I have so many other great books with awesome endings I just felt like the ending was a total letdown. I would still recommend the book because as I said it is definitely an interesting read and one eye initially didn’t know how the author was going to keep up the momentum with the child as the narrator but he certainly did. If not for that ending I probably would’ve given it five stars. I want to thank random house Valentine for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

What in the world did I just read? That was an INCREDIBLE read! I’m going to be honest when I say I was a little intimidated by the writing style. But I’m so glad I stuck through it. This book gave me the heebie jeebies for sure! And it’s hard to find one that will anymore! Thank you NetGalley for this amazing ARC!

Josh Malerman is a very popular author and for good reason. Although it was a bit odd for the story to be told from the eyes of an 8 year old, he did a good job. I got some nostaligia as i read a lot of haunted house books growing up and it gave me flashes back to those good times.

This book is creepy as heck. This book is also freaking fantastic.

I had a bad experience with my last Malerman book, which was Daphne. I didn’t like it at all. I ended up DNF-ing it. I ended up wanting to read this one mostly because I couldn’t stop thinking about the cover. It’s a brilliant cover that evokes these feelings of childhood, innocence, being so small around large things, being defenseless against the dark, abandonment, and of feeling isolated. I just couldn’t get it out of my head: “What is that book about?”

Well, the cover does a good job of conveying a lot of what the book’s themes are, actually (so A+ to the cover designer!). I never had a closet growing up, so I don’t know what it’s like to fear the monster in the closet, but Malerman could’ve made the “monster in the closet” any number of things and gotten the message across because the monster is just a very large metaphor (for lack of a better word right now) for the culmination of just about everything that’s happened to everyone in this book. (If I went any further it’d be Spoiler City and I don’t want to live there).

When I tell you this book is fantastic, I’m telling you I think this is the best horror novel I’ve read so far this year, and that’s saying something because it’s really been a great year for horror already. Not only does it fall outside the traditional narrative structure, which sets it apart in a unique but not-annoying way, but it’s told from the POV of a child that comes across as genuinely lost, frightened, and never comes across as precocious. A lot of the horror in this novel felt like it was being generated directly from how sad and helpless this child felt. How cruel it all felt.

It’s set at a great pace, is unbelievably suspenseful and unpredictable, and honestly left me a bit shook. I can’t recommend it enough.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Ghost Fiction/Horror/Paranormal Horror/Suspense Thriller

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for sending me an arc. All opinions are mine.

We follow Bela as she struggles with Other Mommy scaring her and asking her the same question repeatedly. Of course, that can’t be the only issue in Bela’s life. Her family is completely dysfunctional. Mom has major commitment issues and Dad just sits back and watches the show. When things start to take a turn for the worst, family life begins to crumble.

While I know this story is told from the perspective of an eight year old girl, it felt like she was a lot younger for most of the book. I found that I did not care one bit for any of the characters or what happened to them.

I wanted to love this book. I thought the premise was cool and could have several directions in which to take to make this book scary. However, it fell flat to me. The whole story was repetitive, written like a five year old was telling it, and just not my cup of tea.

I could not finish this book. The storyline was interesting but I couldn’t get past the narrator being the child. I got about 40% and couldn’t read anymore.

It feels good to be back in the Samhatten-Goblin universe, but unfortunately, I’m disappointed. Three stars for the following reasons: surprising nobody; Josh Malerman can describe a monster/ghost/demon. There were parts that, even though I was reading in broad daylight, scared me. For two days I thought I saw and heard Other Mommy everywhere. For most of the book, JM works in lessons and morals without being preachy. Daddo and the grandmother are likable. Even among the unlikely characters, they are all somewhat relatable. Why I removed two stars: it got a little preachy, tedious, and drawn out at the end. At its core, the book is about being grateful, honest, loyal, and most importantly; protective of important relationships. I got that with the name of the monster. I also don’t think the title speaks to what the book is about or even the storyline. Like “Pearl”, I think this book will be re-released with a new title. About halfway through I felt dragged along and just wanted it to end. It really reminded me of the movie “It Follows.” I’m still a JM fan, but this was not my favorite.

Incidents Around the House was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. As a Josh Malerman fan I was so excited to pick up his newest novel. I loved so much about this book and disliked so much at the same time.

I had a hard time getting into the book at first because it’s written from a child's perspective. I found that easier to get over the more I read and got into the flow of the story. So many parts of this book genuinely scared the shit out of me. As a mother I could not imagine having my children go through the things Bela did. Other Mommy is so terrifying and was written so well I would literally get goosebumps reading about her interactions with Bela. But at the halfway point the story started to fall off for me. It became more of a family drama than a horror in the end. I do believe the final scene saved it for me but I was still left wanting a bit more. That being said it takes a lot to scare me in a book and Josh pulled it off so well I will probably never forget Other Mommy. And that is why he will continue to be a favorite author of mine.
3.5/5 Stars

Thank you so much to Delrey and Natgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for my honest review.