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Synopsis:
A chilling horror novel about a haunting told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls “Other Mommy,” from the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box
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 same question, over and over . . . Bela understands that unless she says yes, soon her family must 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 on the brink of unraveling.
But Other Mommy needs an answer.
Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror told by the child Bela. A story about a family as haunted as their home.
Review:
Josh Malerman is doing his best to make himself the best horror writer working today. Since releasing Birdbox, he has had a new release almost every single year, and each one of his books is fantastic. His new novel, Incidents Around the House, might be the novel that cements him as not only a household name in horror but in all reading communities.
Narrated by Bela, the eight year old child of Ursula and Russ, there is something in their house, an entity that wants Bela to call her “Other Mommy” and allow her to “enter her heart.” When Other Mommy starts to show herself to other people besides Bela, like her mother and father, people at a party, and everywhere Bela tries to go, the novel becomes a novel of a mother and father trying to protect their child, fighting for survival, while working through the problems that they have in their marriage. They think that being a team will be the only thing that will drive Other Mommy away.
This story moves fast, and this creates a tension that rises and rises. The reader is about to break along with Bela and her family. Malerman makes us feel like we are part of the team, trying to come up with the plan to fight this threat by creating an empathy toward Bela’s mother and father. Bela’s parents are deeply flawed, making mistakes in their marriage and in their lives. The fear and threat of Other Mommy makes them reevaluate themselves and their worry feels genuine and palpable. Anyone who is a parent of a child that sees a poltergeist coming out of their closet would have the same reaction, not only of fear and anger but also of protection, You would do exactly what Bela’s parents do, try to keep yourself between the entity and your child. Malerman makes the problem they have a human one. Unlike many horror novels, the parents in Incidents Around the House look for answers, for an expert on the internet, for some sort of help, and there is none. The feeling that this is how the situation would play out in real life, that there were no real experts to get rid of a spirit haunting your house is well explored.
This is the fifth Josh Malerman book I have reviewed, and this is high on the list of his best work. I like the characters, the story moves swiftly, and in the end, all we want is for Bela to be able to go back to being an eight year old again.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Reviews of other Josh Malerman books:
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