Weird writing style. The short, unstructured sentences felt like it was written by a five year old. Nothing really exciting happened throughout the whole book. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. Disappointed. Predictable ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Josh Malerman for an ARC of "Incidents Around the House".

I had heard so much hype for this book and it did not succeed for me. It was ultimately a huge disappointment. The narrative style was interesting with the story being told from the point of view of a child but the pitfalls of that meant it was incredibly repetitive and, at times, just absurd. The idea that parents would, on the regular, drunkenly trauma dump on their child while they thought their kid was sleeping just didn't make sense to me. Add in that the young kid would completely understand everything the parent was saying seemed far fetched.

There were definitely some creepy elements with Other Mommy in the story that gave me the heebie jeebies but it honestly could have gone even farther. I think that Josh Malerman could have pushed the envelope with the horror even more but it felt like playing it a little safe.

I understand that under all the horror and creepiness that this was a story about familial drama and trauma but it felt like that fell flat too. It felt like the author didn't want to push too hard with anything or deep dive too intensely into any topics. We only really started exploring the parents' traumas and secrets towards the very end. And the ending?? That felt so anticlimactic and much more sad than scary..

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. On one hand I think I loved it and on the other, what did I just read?!

When Bela refuses to let her imaginary friend ‘Other Mommy’ into her heart and the entity in her closet starts to follow her out of the house, Bela’s family starts to crumble. As ‘Other Mommy’ gets stronger, Bela’s parents will do anything to get her to stay away from their daughter and out of their lives.

Without giving anything away, this is definitely a horror book and while it didn’t scare me as much as We Used to Live Here, it definitely delivered on the ‘creep’ factor. Some people might be turned off by the unique story telling (which is very much told from the POV of an 8-year-old) and the lack of quotations for dialogue, but the choice was ideal for this story. I normally prefer quotations and loathe chunky blocks of dialogue, but it just works in this book. If you’re looking for something quick and creepy, highly recommend Incidents Around the House.

Incidents Around the House is out now. Thank you to Del Rey for my advanced copy in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

Incidents Around the House was an intense and claustrophobic book that I could not put down.

In it, we follow young, innocent Bela, who has a strange friend, Other Mommy. Other Mommy lives in Bela’s closet and keeps her company when she feels left out as the only child in her household. Lately though, Other Mommy has been making Bela feel a little uncomfortable. She’s not as fun as she used to be, she makes a mean face, and she keeps asking Bela if Other Mommy can go into Bela’s heart.

The synopsis for this sounded so simple that I was worried if it would be enough for a solid book, but again, Malerman has far exceeded all of my expectations. I was genuinely creeped out staying up late reading this in bed, and had to look over my shoulder and turn the lights on to check the dark corners of my room one more time before going to sleep. I think this book has freaked me out more than anything else I’ve read this year. Unnerving!

I read a lot of horror. Aside from historical non-fiction and horror-adjacent works (sci-fi, fantasy), it’s pretty much all I listen to/read.

I didn’t see that you gave me the opportunity to read this through NetGalley, and purchased it on Audible. It was well worth the money. I stayed up til 3AM two nights in a row to finish it, and listened to it at work in between meetings. The audiobook narrator was PHENOMENAL, and Malerman’s ability to fill me with absolute dread while simultaneously making me feel like I got punched in the gut is something that has been very rare for me. This is easily one of my two favorite books of 2024. The other is Our Share of Night. I’ve recommended it to friends and family, and gifted a hardback copy to my sister.

I’m the father of an 8 year old girl - and every single situation, or incident, made me consider how she must see things through her eyes - or how she would react in situations like the 8-yr old in the book did.

This is the second Josh Malerman book I’ve read - and I will definitely be checking out his other works. I read Bird Box while deployed, but this novel really hit me a lot harder, in a lot of ways.

I’ve honestly never had a book creep me out - and this book succeeded multiple times. Creeping dread. The twists were unpredictable until right before they happened, and that is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Thank you for the opportunity, and I would love to review more novels in the future.

The audiobook narrator was outstanding, as well. It sounded like a kid, and it was very well done. Terrific job to all involved.

Josh Malerman does it again! I love his unique writing style and he really makes you care about these characters. He wrote from a childs perspective perfectly and though I guessed the ending it still got to me. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

"Can I go inside your heart?" asks an evil entity known as "Other Mommy." 8-year-old Bela tells her story in her own voice, making this a riveting horror story, skillfully told from the pen of a very talented author. He writes in a unique style from Bela's perspective, making this story scary, creepy, fun, and terrific! Highly recommended! Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and Del Rey for providing an ARC.

Wow. That was unique, horrifying, and suspenseful. I haven’t read a book this fast in a long time. This book is perfect for horror fans!

At eight-years-old, Bela is a pretty typical kid. She loves to dress up and dance for Mommy and Daddo's guests. She enjoys the park. What she doesn't enjoy is the constant requests of Other Mommy to "go inside her heart."  While Bela manages to keep the mysterious Other Mommy at arm's length for some time, it becomes clear that the entity no longer wishes to wait for her attempts to take over the child and begins to unleash strange occurrences around the house. While Mommy, Daddo and Grandma Ruth think that Bela must be imagining things. After a guest to the house says she'll never come back about what she's seen, Bela's stories seem more plausible. Slowly but surely each family member sees the mysterious entity. The family goes on a mission to try and escape Other Mommy, exposing the major faults in Mommy and Daddo's marriage and a family secret that was never intended to be shared

Incidents Around the House is one of those books that causes the reader to leave all the lights on at night. I'm no stranger to a good horror novel, and even I felt the need to make sure the closet door was shut tight, and the lights were on when reading this one. Author Josh Malerman makes the reader really question what could be under the bed or in the closet.

Incidents Around the House is available July 25, 2024, from Random House.

A chilling account of a young girl named Bela who has an imaginary friend she calls "Other Mommy." Is Other Mommy an imaginary friend filling a void in Bela's life, or is it something more? The book is told from the perspective of 8 year old Bela who is constantly being asked by Other Mommy to be invited into Bela's heart. Strange things start happening around the house and there is the sense that wherever Bela goes, Other Mommy goes too.

for me, the chill factor was that the book is told from Bela's perspective. Beyond that, it wasn't particularly scary or horror-filled. Still, it was another enjoyable;e read from Josh Malerman.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review.

I had to dnf this one for now, I just found Bela’s pov to be very grating. I thought at one point it would be revealed she wasn’t a kid at all just because I couldn’t make sense of her age.

Thank you for the publisher for this arc! I really enjoyed this read! This was a quick, eerie read for me. I see why this one was picked up by BOTM. I love the horror genre less any gore, so I really appreciated this. In my opinion, this book has everything I look for in a horror/thriller read. I only struggled a bit with the dialogue/lack of quotation mark usage. 4 ⭐️!

This book was equal parts horrific at times and life lesson-y if that makes sense. It was creative and actually creeped me out to read at night (lol). It was written from a child’s POV but would skip around and formatted like a poem almost. It went on a hair too long because it seemed like regardless there would just never be a solution. I had a hunch about the “Other Mommy” name early on.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Del Ray for my DRC in exchange for my honest review.

This is possibly the scariest book I've ever read. I don't normally pick up horror or anything close. Bela has an imaginary friend named "Other Mommy", except she might not be imaginary and she might not be a friend.

The audiobook is fantastically done. The book is entirely from Bela's point of view and @delanienicolegill does an amazing child's voice.

I'll be recommending this this fall to people who like:
- paranormal horror
- single pov
- scary audiobooks

Excited to read this thriller but then after, I must say it was quite quirky and bizarre. Told from the perspective of a young child, the prose is dialog and thoughts within her head. Bella sees someone else in the house where she lives with Mommy and Daddo. It's "Other Mommy" who lives in her closet. At first you think of stories of children who have nightmares of the boogieman or monster who live in their closet, but this becomes so much more. Other Mommy eventually sits on her bed, is in her bathroom, comes downstairs, and then is at the park where she plays. Other Mommy continues to talk to Bella about "carnation" (reincarnation) and asks Bella if she can come inside her heart. Bella tries to make sense, but wants to protect her parents. They don't understand and their marriage is fragile as well. Is Bella safe in her own bed? It's a very strange premise, especially after strange things begin to happen and other people catch glimpses of Other Mommy as she grows stronger. Truth be told, I'm not sure that I liked it. While the tension builds towards the end, the storyline din't keep my interest with the choppy dialog and the repetitious events. It was just okay. Many thanks to #netgalley #incidents aroundthehouse #joshmalerman #randomhouseballantine for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My experiences with Malerman's books vary so widely and unfortunately Incidents Around the House was a miss. To start with the positives: I thought the premise was unique. We follow eight-year-old Bela, whose parents have a slightly tumultuous marriage. Bela has been seeing an entity in her room, who she calls Other Mommy. The descriptions -- and lack thereof -- of Other Mommy make her truly creepy. There are some genuinely terrifying moments in this, and Malerman is great at keeping the tension up.

Unfortunately, I also felt like a lot of this dragged for me. Between the eerie moments, there were a lot of monologues. My issue was primarily that I didn't understand what he was trying to convey here. I also struggled a bit with the writing style and would often have to reread passages to fully understand what was going on and who was speaking. My caveat being that I'm not sure how much of this was due to the writing or due to it being an advanced copy. Either way, I do seem to be in the minority as this has a pretty high average rating. So if it seems up your alley, it's probably worth checking out.

OMG, WTF did I just read? I don’t think a book has ever made me scared to go to sleep, until now! Maybe it’s because my side of the bed is next to the closet door? Seriously, I don’t get scared by books or movies that often … this has me freaked out. Let me say, I didn’t realize this was a paranormal horror book when I started reading, I wasn’t prepared! Lu Lily the author was gracious enough to throw in some humor, I caught myself laughing out loud a few times (felt good to break the tension). A little hard to read at first, had to gain my footing because of the POV. It’s written from the POV of 8 year old Bela (although it reads a little younger, I could see maybe a 6 year old). She lives with mom and dad, who are having some marital issues (that they don’t think Bela picks up on, but she does). She has one close friend, and a nice babysitter, but that’s about it. Enter “Other Mommy”, the scariest thing to invade my brain in awhile. She hides in the closet, at first, then starts to creep out into Belas room … she wants to know if she a can “Enter her heart” and reincarnate. Bela says NO, but throughout the book you see Bela fight with whether she should say yes, just to make everything stop. The entity grows stronger, becomes more bold … things happen, I can’t say what, but let’s just say there seems like no escape. I couldn’t read fast enough, I couldn’t breathe, I don’t think I’ll forget this book for awhile.

I did not enjoy this book. The parents names: Daddo and Ursula were not appealing. I was expecting to be scared out of my mine based on ratings and comments BUT I found this book to be endless rambling and extremely anti-climatic. Very disappointed!

If I never have to read or hear the word “Daddo” for the rest of my life, I would be truly grateful! This is being sold as “horror,” but honestly there wasn’t anything remotely scary about this entire story. This is more about a story about an eight year old named Bela, and it’s written from her pov, about her and her parent’s lives with a “creepy monster” lurking in her closet…

The way this book was written took a bit to get used to because the dialogue isn’t written like regular dialogue. Also, the conversations with Bela from adults/her family were not what normal convos would be like with a child, let alone an eight year old. This story was wayyyyyyy too long and the story kept going around and around in circles for a ridiculous amount of time!

Don’t even get me started with the ending?! I wasted 300+ pages of this annoying story to find out literally nothing. What an awful ending and nothing felt resolved or buttoned up in any way.

I do not understand how this has such high ratings, are we all reading the exact same book?! There was nothing remotely scary about this book at all!

If you’re looking for a true horror book, you want something spooky, creepy and to be scared?! This IS NOT IT! I would not recommend this unless you want annoying dialogue, a creature of some sort, family drama and an awful ending.

This author is so hit or miss for me. I've loved some of his works. I found some OK. This one.....I get it. I get that this is told from the point of view of the young girl at the center of the "incidents." The story telling is so stilted and hard to read that the tension and terror are completely lost. This should have been truly creep and terrifying. But the style took me out of the narrative again and again. When I think of the story now I see how truly scary this could be. Instead I cringed at every "Daddo". I hated not knowing if the main characters was thinking or speaking until halfway through a sentence because the author refused to use quotation marks. I know what he was trying to do. It didn't work for me.