Josh Malerman’s INCIDENTS AROUND THE HOUSE is a parent’s nightmare down-spiral, one that’s difficult to shake off. It felt like it was written during a feverish meditation, with Malerman’s both inner child and grown-up philosopher on full display at the same time. From the moment I started it, I couldn’t put it down, especially as the previews for The First Omen played in the darkened theater and my buttered popcorn fingertips stained the iPad screen. I had to finish it as the last preview played, and even when the movie began, all I could do was think about what I’d just been hit with. Highly recommend this straightforward, compelling tale—Malerman’s best work yet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray / Random House for sending this ARC. All opinions of this book are my own.

💀Can I come into your heart?💀

So I’m sure you’ve seen the insane amount of positive reviews for this one so far…. And I have to agree with them!

This book was absolutely horrifying. It’s told from the perspective of Bela, and innocent young kid. She’s been seeing “Other Mommy” for awhile now. She lurks in the closet, always asking Bela if she can come into her heart.

But Other Mommy is becoming more insistent. She’s starting to follow Bela everywhere. Even during the day.

This book is a blend of psychological horror and domestic horror. Not only do we focus on the horrors of the other mother haunting Bela under the guise of “friendship,” but we also see Bela witnessing her parents arguing and growing more distant.

I found the perspective being told through a young kid made this story even scarier. The innocent lens she puts on things made the scary scenes stick with me.

And let’s talk about the other mother for a moment. 👏🏻 What a horrifying monster. The descriptions of “her” had me glancing over my shoulder and shutting my doors. Absolutely terrifying. Perfect nightmare fuel.

Just be aware going into this that because it’s told through Bela’s perspective, the formatting is a bit different. There are no quotations for characters talking and the dialogue may seem a little off—but this is all done on purpose to put the reader in a childlike mindset.

I’m giving this one a solid 5 stars!

Special thanks to @netgalley @joshmalerman and @randomhouse for the advanced readers copy!

I love Josh Malerman's books, especially The Bird Box, Goblin, Daphne and A House at the Bottom of a Lake. This book was a bit different since its told from a child's point of view. It was a bit trying to get used to the child Bela's speech not using quotes. She lives with her parents and The Other Mommy, a frightening creature that comes out at night. Other Mommy has a scary request from Bela. At first you may think this is an imaginary friend but when other adults see the creature, they are extremely frightened of her. This isn't one of my favorite's of Malerman but it was definitely a creepy story.
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Good GOD this might be my favorite Malerman story (it’s hard to beat Pearl but it just might).

Told from 8 y/o Bela’s POV, Malerman does a mostly fantastic job of capturing a realistic story told from a child’s perspective while maintaining a cohesive plot and timeline that makes sense. There are a few times that I definitely had to readjust my suspension of disbelief, and almost every time had to do with adult characters giving monologues to this central child. Bela, learn to walk away sometimes, your family likes to hear themselves talk.

I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every minute of this book, and found myself having to keep my lights on at night. The descriptions of Other Mommy really got under my skin, and I don’t scare easily with monsters. The combination of simulated childhood fear + the environment of mounting tension was *chefs kiss*

I don’t want to give too much away, but the overall themes leading to the ending were very heavy and crafted masterfully. You start the book thinking the villain is very obvious, and end it with the unsettling question of what you just read and how to process it.

I can see audiences getting put off by the lack of quotations, but I sincerely hope those people stick it out. This is a gem of a horror book that left me disturbed.

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman is a creepy and spooky tale, told from the point of view of the young daughter in the family. I enjoyed this spin on the pov. I will recommend this title to patrons at my library.

I am a library associate and received an advance copy from #NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing House-Ballantine/Del Ray Books as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #DelRayBooks #IncidentsAroundtheHouse #JoshMalerman

Title: Incidents Around the House
Author: Josh Malerman
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine/ Del Ray Books
Publication Date: June 25, 2024

This is one creepy book. Malerman has painstakingly crafted a story that is creepy and emotional and he has done it in such a way that keeps the reader guessing until the last page. Bela’s story crawled out of my closet and under my skin where it remains still. Bela is an eight year old girl who lives with her Mom and her Daddo. She also lives with a sinister entity called the “Other Mother”. She wants to trade places with Bela. Why would she want that? All Bela knows is that the Other Mother used to stay in her closet but now she won’t even stay in her house. She’s getting stronger and bolder because she needs to know if she can go into Bela’s heart.

Just writing the synopsis gives me a delightful case of the shivers. Mr. Malerman’s sheer skill as a writer put me through a slow and excruciating experience with every creak and murmur whether on the page or in my house. As “Other Mother” crawled around the pages, terrorizing Bela and her family, I found myself enthralled and creeped out. I’m not easy to scare at all. I think this is the closest a book has ever come to haunting me after I turn the last page. Well done, Josh!

Bela is a unique child and Malerman’s writing gives her a voice that reflects this. Her innocence plus her old soul make for an effective and sympathetic protagonist.

All in all, this novel was effective and compelling. I don’t have the words to explain how much I loved it. This is easily the best novel by this author that I’ve read and that’s saying a lot! Don’t read this at night!

There are not many stories told from the POV of a child and it's something that I believe, from time to time, really does work. Especially when it comes to horror. You're seeing a monster through a child's eyes and they're not understanding of what's going on or why everyone is acting the way they are. For the first half of this book, I think it really works. You're following Bela, reading her thoughts, understanding why she feels the way she feels. The second half of this book is where the story kind of lost me. We're being drug around, going from place to place, putting other people in harm's way, and then landing on a beach with a strange woman and being told something horrible by probably one of the worst mothers. That leads us to the ending, which I thought was very anti-climactic. So much is happening - possibly we will get answers - then, it just ends. I was left wanting more of an explanation than anything. Why was this happening to Bela and her family? Is the monster real or a metaphor? If it is a meant to be a metaphor, why are other people seeing it?
Maybe I just like having the feeling of closure, and I know sometimes not having closure works as well. For this story, I felt like more detail should have been given even if we are reading from an 8-year old's POV and all the detail wouldn't be there from her eyes. Like I said, the first half of this book was very good, the creep factor was there. You got the eerie vibes and the monster in the closet feel. The second half just felt rushed into a head on collision of an ending.
I'd like to thank Netgalley and Randon House Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Josh dialed the creep factor up as far as it can go. What would you do if you were a kid and a creepy woman who comes out of your closet kept asking to “go into your heart”? Would you say yes?

Josh Malerman never fails to serve his readers unique stories, which is why I get really excited with each book he cranks out.

Incidents Around the House is no exception. I love the idea of a child POV. You don't see that too often. This one was a bit of a mixed bag, though. I thought the child came off a bit redundant on phrases, and while that makes sense (it's a kid!) It didn't translate that well. The creep factor was certainly there, though I was hoping for more of an ending. Regaurdless, I love Josh's books, and I think this will be a big hit for the horror community!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this opportunity!

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman is one of the freakiest books I have ever read in my life. I found myself forgetting to breathe as I read it and often realized I was literally crying because it freaked me out so badly. I will give a very, very brief summary. It is written from the POV of a child about a thing in her closet that's been paying her visits. It wants to be "let inside" her heart. Soon, she begins seeing it in other parts of the home. And then, it is not confined to the walls of the family's house...and eventually...other people can see it too. It's a book
that reminded me what it was like to be a child, and honestly, I felt being a child was very difficult. The overwhelming thing I recall from ages 3-10 is 100% “what the fuck is even happening right now?” And never knowing what’s next or, worse, what’s expected of me. And that’s freaky. I felt that way every second of my little life, and that made for a nervous, anxious childhood. To be fair, that’s how I feel as an adult, but now I’ve had nearly 50 years of experience acclimating to it. Reading this child's story took me back to that unsettling place of vast uncertainty; sitting with the echoing reverberations of that anxiety through the lens of a monster/haunted house/demon story/possession story, rendered those feelings doubly alarming. I didn't actually parse in the end what was happening/what had happened, and that's fine. That's perfect, actually. I feel like those alarming feelings of WTFery as a story is amping up are so infrequently sustained throughout the course of a book and all the way through the end-- and Malerman has executed it masterfully. Isn't it funny, though, how those things we fear so dreadfully, eventually become those fascinations that delight us? As a child, I hated never knowing exactly what was going on, and yet, as an adult, that's the hallmark of some of the most excellent stories for me.

I won’t lie: I literally wept from fear while reading this book! There was something about the innocence of Bela’s perspective coupled with the rising tension in the novel that made the danger feel so close and immediate. I was reading it while rocking my baby in the nursery, and I felt like Other Mommy was looking over my shoulder! I could totally envision a movie in the style of Hardcore Henry, where the entire movie is viewed through Bela’s eyes directly.

I love Malerman, but this one was a little rough for me. It’s written from the perspective of a child and while the horror endured is far from childlike, it was still rough for me to get through language-wise. Still a quality read though if you don’t have those same issues.

I'm a great fan of Josh Malerman, so when I started reading and saw the phrase "Other Mommy", I was concerned it was going to be some kind of Coraline-esque copycat novel (not that there'd be anything wrong with that). But other than the similarity in the names of Other Mommy and Other Mother, this is definitely its own novel. I don't usually like kids in peril type books (too anxiety inducing!), but this one worked.
Incidents Around the House is a novel told from an 8 year old girl, Bela's, point of view. She is quite mature for her age, has a great relationship with her parents, attends grown-up soirees that they throw at her home, and is being haunted by a malevolent entity, she calls Other Mommy.
Other Mommy wants Bela to let her into her heart so she can be in "carnation". Bela keeps this secret to herseilf until Other Mommy is viewed by others and then with the help of her parents, grandmother, and other characters, they battle this evil being. Bela has to face some grown up truths as the adults in her life work to get rid of Other Mommy.
I will refrain from giving away any more plot details (other than to prepare yourself for the ending. Gulp!), but rest assured, the creepiness and horror factor on this was a solid 8 for me. I had an image in my mind of Other Mommy but would have loved a frontpiece or endpiece illustration of his vision of her just for fun.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

While some parts genuinely creeped me out, I don’t love child narrators, which took a lot of the enjoyment away from me.

I have read other books by Josh Malerman and this book was so great!!!!! I love his writing style, it really pulls you in. I also loved how the story was told in Bela’s perspective . It was scary, chilling, haunting, and parts definitely made me jump!!! I highly recommend it! I read it all at once start to finish! Coming in June 2024!!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group Ballentine for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #IncidentsAroundTheHouse

4.5 stars. I have been a Josh Malerman fan for years (Birdbox is still one of my #1 horror reads) so I was ecstatic to get the Netgalley ARC copy of Incidents Around the House. I can warn you now: prepare to be SCARED.

I read a lot of horror. Most of it is quietly unsettling, maybe a little gross. I am often scared for the character but rarely feel scared myself. Malerman always manages to challenge that feeling. There were several points during Incidents Around the House where I had to set the book down because I was getting too scared. Then I would go find my husband and tell him what was happening so that he could be terrified with me. He was so happy when I finished the book so I would stop scaring him! :)

In Incidents Around the House, a young girl named Bela has an imaginary friend named "Other Mommy". Other Mommy starts out in her closet but keeps getting a bit closer and soon is following Bela outside of the house. And now other people are seeing her. Maybe Other Mommy is not so imaginary at all. As Bela's family tries to determine the best course of action, Other Mommy keeps asking Bela, "Can I go inside your heart?" Will Bela let Other Mommy in to keep her family safe?

I think my heart-rate increased to 3 times its regular speed the whole time that I read this one. Just read it.

Incidents Around the House is a terrifying tale that seamlessly blends psychological horror with family drama. Set against the backdrop of everyday family life, Malerman has crafted a modern classic. As the story progresses, you are drawn into a world where fear lurks around every corner and in every closet. This is the kind of horror that isn't just about what goes bump in the night; it's about the darkness that resides in all of us. It is rare that a book creeps me out, but this one did the job and also left me an emotional wreck! I finished it in one sitting. This book will leave you questioning—what is home? I wish I could give more than 5 stars.

I’m really a big fan of Malerman’s writing style. This haunting story being told from the POV of a young girl really amped up the tension and suspense. This was such an atmospheric read that left me genuinely creeped out at times. I found myself glancing around the corners of my home for “Other Mommy” when reading this in the middle of the night. I think the pacing and characters are fantastic, the the book as a whole is immersive. I can’t say I really loved the ending, but it’s somewhat mixed feelings. On one hand I think it’s very emotional, on the other it felt really dissatisfying - which could also be completely intentional.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for the ARC. Opinions are my own and freely given.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the stylistic choices of this novel, and I also found myself to not enjoy the child’s POV as much as I thought I would. Though I thought it would make the novel scarier coming from a little girl’s perspective, I just found it to be a bit childish and it didn’t really resonate with me. I know a lot of other reviews really enjoyed this, so my not enjoying it is more that I didn’t connect with it rather than it not being a good book! Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the arc!

This book surprised me in the best way. Josh Mallerman is a hit or miss author for me, so I went in with pretty low expectations, but they were hit out of the water. The slow build of unease to fear felt very realistic as our main character slowly is able to convince those around her that “Other Mommy” is real, and is ready to fight for the ability to enter her heart. I found myself cringing and stopping reading due to dread and the scary scenes that I find so hard to pull off in a book. One of my favorite horror stories of all time is Mallerman’s House at the Bottom of the Lake, so maybe I need to focus on his novellas rather than his novels, and I’ll definitely be picking more up in the future.