Told from a child's perspective, Incidents Around The House follows a family as they try to evade and evict "other mommy". It is somewhat repetitive, but I think that's because of what the story's trying to accomplish. Ending isn't quite as strong as the lead-up, but still quite creepy.

This horror story follows Bela as she is haunted by something. Bela is a young child and through the course of the story she is surrounded by her parents. Her parents are focused on protecting her. Sometimes, they become frustrated since no matter what they do to protect her, Bela continues to be haunted. Bela tells her parents that she is being followed by something that calls itself "Other Mother". As the story progresses, Other Mother seems to become stronger and continues to remain close to Bela. Some family members and friends try to help Bela and her parents out, but nothing seems to work. These other people often end up turning away from the family since they don't want to be haunted.

The author presents this in a way that makes the story seem realistic. I felt like this story was intense because this family kept trying to escape from the Other Mother. I was drawn into this story because I was curious to see how it would play out. Through the course of the story, I found myself rooting for Bela to escape from the Other Mother. The tension was building up as the Other Mother continued to remain attached to Bela. This was a slow paced story, but it still had me on the edge of my seat.

Bela is a little girl with a secret. She has a friend named Other Mommy who lives in her closet and visits Bela often. Other Mommy wants to know if she can go into Bela's heart. It isn't long before Other Mommy becomes discontent with waiting for an answer and begins to make her displeasure known. Bela can no longer hide Other Mommy's existence from her mother and father. The whole family, including Bela's grandma Ruth, is soon plunged into a nightmare of epic proportions.

Josh Malerman really brings the scares with this latest book. Other Mommy is one of the creepiest characters I've ever come across, and reading about her from the prospective of a small child just ramps up the terror. Incidents Around the House will definitely be on my "Top Reads of 2024" list, and I'm sure many other best-of lists. Malerman is at the top of his game. Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey Books for the review copy.

Holy moly. This book is scary!
My reading experience-
Day one- I read maybe 10 percent and wondered if the writing style would be confusing or bug me.
Day two- I’m fully immersed in the story and invested in the characters but I’m too scared to read all night and finish.
Day three- I wake up early so I can have daylight and zero distractions because I have to find out what happens.

Malerman’s tale is written from the POV the main character, Bela. The writing style is unique but I quickly fell in the rhythm and man, did it lend to the story.

There is a lot packed into these pages and it’s one you don’t want to miss!


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

The story unfolds from the perspective of an eight-year-old named Bela. The monster in her closet, Other Mommy, asks her every day "Can I go inside your heart?" When strange things start happening around the house, Bela realizes the question has turned into a demand and Other Mommy is growing impatient.

The concept of a child haunted by an entity is undeniably creepy; however, I believe the story might have benefited from a different perspective. Bela's constant repetition and simplistic thoughts felt more suited to a much younger child. It wasn't entirely believable as the voice of an 8-year-old and the parents' interactions with Bela reinforced this for me. The majority of the book were these long-winded conversations where she came across more toddler aged. I have an eight-year old so I'm speaking from experience.

The "Other Mommy" had the potential to be truly terrifying, but Bela's limited view restricted the overall sense of dread. It's a readable book but it left me wanting more.

Josh Malerman’s new book, Incidents Around the House, is absolutely brilliant. I was seriously hooked from page one. The moment ‘Other Mommy’ first makes an appearance I had goosebumps. Sure an evil entity tormenting a family isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it’s the way in which Malerman tells the story that hooks you. Yes, adding children into a horror tale is a great way for writers to heighten a story’s the tension. But Malerman doesn’t just make Bela the central focal point of the story…the story is actually told from this eight year old child’s point of view. He’s captured the voice and feel so well you’d swear an 8 year old was relaying the story to you, and it’s that ‘voice’ that truly makes this tale brilliant. Bela’s observation of the events happening around her, how she interprets the adult reactions, and her inner thoughts…wow. You feel Bela’s innocence and the conflict she is undergoing. Easily my favorite Malerman book to date. And I must admit I’m quite curious to see how the audio version of this one will be. This is a wonderfully disturbing novel, one you won’t want to put down, and one I’ve no doubt I’ll return to again and again through the years. Can’t recommend this one enough. I’d like to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R356V8UKMLE8F3/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman is a horror novel uniquely told from the perspective of 8-year-old Bella, who initially befriends Other Mommy, the entity living in her closet. Bella’s parents become increasingly concerned when unexplained incidents begin occurring at home. Other Mommy grows more and more impatient as Bella refuses to answer the disturbing question that Other Mommy will not stop asking.

I was hesitant to read this because horror books that involve entity’s haunting children is what truly terrifies me the most, but I decided to face my fear on a beach vacation, why not? The warm sunshine and soothing sound of waves crashing did not ease my fears. I had to continuously remind myself to breathe and relax my shoulders that were hiked up to my ears. I was so creeped out and terrified, but I couldn’t stop reading.

One thing that I didn’t expect from this book, but thoroughly enjoyed, was the one-on-one “conversations” Bella had throughout the book with her family members: Mommy, Grandma Ruth, and in particular Daddo. I enjoyed hearing the stories and life lessons the character’s shared, seeing them in vulnerable and flawed states. The lies and secrets exposed made me cringe, but I could not turn away from this dysfunctional family and the nightmare they were living in.

I finished the book while reading in bed on the last night of vacation. It was a warm night so I removed the covers from my feet and turned off the light. That lasted no more than 10 seconds before I imagined Other Mommy at the foot of my bed. Next, I noticed a flashing light near the ceiling and quickly turned the light on. It was the green light from the fire alarm. Phew!

Am I proud of myself for reading this fantastic horror book? Yes. Have my fears been eased? Absolutely not.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, Del Rey, and Josh Malerman for the ebook ARC.

It is always a pleasure to rejoin Josh Malerman and his Malermanverse full of creepy town and even creepier hauntings. He is one of my favorite authors that is sure to weave an absolutely terrifying story and his latest, Incidents Around the House is no exception.

I tore through this story of Bela, a young girl who we are told is eight years old, but honestly, I felt she was written as a much younger character both in her thoughts that we get directly from her POV and her actions and this was my only complaint with the book. Bela is visited at first every night by an entity that she refers to as Other Mommy who repeatedly asks if she can "go into her heart". As Bela becomes more reluctant to give Other Mommy what she craves, Other Mommy becomes more and more insistent and more powerful.

Incidents around the house is first and foremost a haunted house story but is also so much more. There are themes of innocence and family secrets that make this quick read rather special. One thing is for certain, one of the biggest fears I have is keeping my children safe and Malerman always seems to tap into those fears perfectly with stories such as this and Bird Box.

Highly recommended for fans of Potergeist, The Exorcist, and Haunting of Hill House. I definitely got "bent neck lady" chills with this one and I do not scare easily.

Thank you to NetGalley, Josh Malerman, and Ballantine/Del Rey for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Net Galley and Del Rey for this book!

I did not go into this with high expectations, but I was utterly creeped out from the beginning. The premise is a little girl (our narrator) who is being haunted by this paranormal entity who wants to be her. The little girl and her family are terrorized by this entity to the point our narrator begins questioning if she should succumb to her wants.

I did not necessarily like the narrator and story being told from the little girl's perspective, but it did set the tone for this horror novel. This was truly creepy but not scary for me. I enjoyed the plot and how the story played out overall, however.

Unlike anything I've ever read before. I think this is one of the scariest novels I've ever read. To say anything of the plot would ultimately ruin the future reader's experience. My advice is to try to read this novel in one sitting to really ratchet up the tension. Highly highly recommended.

This was one of the creepier books I have ever read. It reminded me a little of a video game I played from a young child’s perspective. I think the world is a lot scarier when you are an adult looking through the eyes of a child. The writing of this one was simple, it was all the perspective of a child and unlike some writing this child presents as a child and not like an adult. The age is a little unclear but she’s young and reads like a young child. I’m not going to get into the plot, I think this book is better if you go in blind and slowly immerse yourself in this horror.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of Incidents Around the House!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
🎥 loved the movie It Follows
👻 enjoy scary stories
📖 like quick reads with a lot of suspense
🧦 want a book that’ll scare the socks off you

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?” 

When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.

Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents’ marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel. 

But Other Mommy needs an answer.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

Wow! This was such a good read. I loved that the story was told from little Bela’s POV. Her age is never said, but I figured her to be around 7 years old or so. She is still young and innocent but also understanding more of the world around her. The suspense was really built up in this story, and it reminded me a bit of the movie It Follows (which I also loved) so I enjoyed that. I think this would make for a fantastic movie adaptation because Other Mommy sounds positively terrifying! I also enjoyed the wise words and moments thrown in by the adults in Bela’s life.

𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔.

I started this book after dark and kept reading until I was finished, just a little after midnight. And I didn't go to sleep until it was light outside. All of my childhood fears, from the thing under the bed to the thing in my closet were suddenly inexplicably real.

I had no issue with the story being told from eight-year-old's Bela's POV. It took me a minute to get used to the stream of consciousness, no quotation marks, storytelling, but I quickly settled in. Something horrendous is in Bela's closet, something that Bela calls "The Other Mommy." They started off as friends, but Other Mommy has been asking Bela for something..."𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒈𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕?" and her patience is wearing thin. She's becoming bolder, more insistent.

What scared me the most about this book was that Other Mommy made her presence known to other people. When I got to the scene where Bela's mother saw her, I almost stopped reading for the night. But because I like to torture myself, I continued. When Bela's parents tried to flee with her, Other Mommy followed. It seemed as if there was no way to keep her safe...until they realized what was attracting her to Bela.

The ending left me with my mouth agape and reaching for the remote to watch cartoons. Creepy, genuinely unsettling, and filled with relentless dread. Thank you to Random House/Ballantine for the early copy. This title publishes June 2, 2024.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (rounded up)
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Review: let me start off by saying I never read horror, but this year I’ve been a little more open. My whole life I’ve been scared of horror movies, ever since my dad told me we were watching Lord of the Rings but we accidentally saw The Ring. So the fact that this is my second horror in a month is a big thing.

This book is told from the perspective of a child. It took me a while to get into it, but a few chapters in it definitely added to the creepiness of the book. The child lives at home with her parents and starts getting a visitor named “other mommy.” Cue the creepiest, eerie, scary ride where her parents find out and they try to get her help. “Other mommy” starts appearing everywhere.

I read through the book so fast because I needed to know what would happen. I couldn’t imagine being in this type of situation, so I keep feeling so anxious (in a good way) to see how it was going to end. I loved seeing how the parents were handling the issue through the eyes of a child. I wish it was a little longer because it felt a little rushed at the end.

This book was intense. It was interesting to read it from a child’s perspective. It reminded me a lot of Coraline with the “other Mommy” aspect.

What I didn’t like at first was not having quotations around the dialogue. It kind of grew on me throughout the book but it was sometimes difficult to tell if someone was speaking or not.

I loved how the father “daddo” was always inspirational when he was talking to Bela. He was so calm with her throughout everything, while Mommy was angry, crazy, etc.

Some chapters were terrifying. The way that Chapter 8 ended. I screamed! I had to drop my phone and walk away for a few minutes before I could come back. 😅

The ending kind of confused me. I wasn’t exactly sure what the last 2 pages meant.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read the Advanced Readers copy.

This is a creepy book. I couldn't read it before bed. The things that make it creepiest is that it is told from a child's perspective, the haunting entity is inescapable, the desperation is palpable, and even though you, like me, will likely predict the ending way before it happens...it's still an absolutely terrifying conclusion.

Thank you (?) to NetGalley for the many nightmares to come.

This book was an easy enough book to read, but I’d have To say that reading a book from the perspective of a child is really difficult and sometimes gets confusing! I loved the storyline, but I wish it was creepier.

"Incidents Around the House" by Josh Malerman offers a chilling and unique horror story told from the perspective of eight-year-old Bela. The premise is intriguing, centering around Bela's encounters with a malevolent entity she calls "Other Mommy." This entity's eerie request, "Can I go inside your heart?" sets the stage for a series of terrifying events that put Bela and her troubled family in grave danger.

Malerman excels at creating an unsettling atmosphere. The tension builds steadily as Bela's parents' marriage begins to crumble, adding to the family's vulnerability. The portrayal of Bela's innocence contrasted with the sinister presence of Other Mommy is particularly effective, making the reader feel both protective of Bela and terrified for her.

However, the narrative style, entirely from Bela's perspective, can be both a strength and a weakness. While it adds authenticity and a unique voice, it also results in a somewhat limited and repetitive storytelling approach. The lack of quotation marks around dialogue and the simplistic language can be distracting and may not appeal to all readers.

Despite its strong atmosphere and chilling moments, the pacing of the story felt uneven at times. Some scenes dragged on, diminishing the overall impact of the horror. Additionally, the ending, while unsettling, was somewhat predictable and lacked the shock factor that many horror enthusiasts might be looking for.

Overall, "Incidents Around the House" is a solid horror novel with a unique narrative style and a compelling premise. While it may not be for everyone, fans of psychological horror and stories told through a child's perspective will likely find it a worthwhile read. Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

<b>Title:</b> Incidents Around The House
<b>Author:</b> Josh Malerman
FIVE STARS!

'Incidents Around The House' tells eight-year-old Bela's experience as her family is haunted by a chilling entity known as Other Mommy. I honestly don't scare easily and this is one of two books that has ever given me nightmares - so that is high praise for me!

Malerman has a unique way of describing certain events and characteristics that are so unsettling. So many "thanks, I hate it!" moments that disturbed me to my core. If you've been searching for that read to keep you up at night and make you keep a night light on, this is the one. Other Mommy will absolutely crawl under your skin. Just don't let her into your heart.


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I was able to receive an ARC of this book thanks to Netgally. I have been looking for a good horror book, and this one really did not disappoint!
The format threw me off, but once I got used to it, I actually liked it. The story was unique in that it was first person POV from a child.. I can envision this being made into a movie. It was definitely scary and I am not one who gets spooked easily!