Book Review: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

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“What’s more alive than being afraid?”

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Eight-year-old Bela’s world revolves around her mother, father, and grandmother. And Other Mommy, the strange and sinister thing that comes out of her closet at night and asks the same question every single day: “Can I go inside your heart?” Soon, Other Mommy gets tired of asking, and increasingly frightening incidents begin to occur. Bela knows her loved ones will pay if she doesn’t say yes, but they’re also the only people who might be able to save her.

Incidents Around the House is a taut, relentless, and unputdownable tale surrounding a haunted family. The point of view — that of a child — is utterly engrossing, and the unique format — which separates narrative/action from dialogue sans quotation marks — moves the story forward at a breakneck pace. Pages practically turn of their own accord, with the harrowing storyline inciting heart-pounding dread and breathtaking anxiety. The narrative is riddled with jump scares; one particular scene is so visceral and petrifying that the reader can actually feel, see, and smell what’s happening.

Other Mommy is, without a doubt, a character so appalling and transfixing that the reader truly feels paranoid, defenseless, jumpy, desperate, terrified, and unsafe throughout, experiencing an intense sense of creeping unease that escalates with each page. Other Mommy is best understood and envisaged through others’ reactions; the physical descriptions, along with the entity’s tantalizing origins, are vague yet specific enough to elicit repulsion and mortal fright, resulting in a paralyzing state of terror-infused wonder.

The writing and plotline are fantastic and full of feeling, weaving realistic familial strife, personal struggles, and surprising twists with childlike innocence, intuition, and vulnerability spearheaded by a supremely malevolent and terrifying antagonist and a haunting, gut-wrenching ending. It’s a masterpiece that examines and redefines the concept of a home, one that fans of possession horror (and horror in general) will devour — a chilling and hair-raising triumph that makes this reader eager for Josh Malerman's next novel!

🖤Amanda

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