DNF at 12%

I wanted to love this, I am a lover of all things spooky and I’ve longed JM’s previous stuff but my god the narrative of that kid was too much and ‘Daddo’ really?!?

***Advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***

Incidents Around the House takes a clever approach to the haunted house tale by telling it entirely from the perspective of a very young child, who by context seems to be about five years old. It reminded me a little of that upcoming film where the horror plays out through the family dog’s eyes, only here the filter is the innocence, confusion, and limited understanding of a child.

That viewpoint is what gives the book its unsettling edge. Everyday events take on an eerie quality when filtered through a child’s voice, and the tension builds as the reader pieces together the darker truth behind what is being described.

At its heart this is still a fairly familiar ghost story, but the perspective makes it feel fresh, creepy, and memorable. A solid read for anyone who enjoys horror that unsettles through atmosphere and point of view rather than jump scares.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC of this book 💕

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy it.
The main issue for me was the narrator, Bela, who I found incredibly annoying. I get that she’s a child, but still.
The choice to narrate the entire book from her point of view made every chapter feel like a chore—especially because I couldn’t figure out how old she was supposed to be. She sounds like she’s 2 or 3 years old, but her parents mention how she used to talk about “Other Mommy” years ago, so she must be at least 5 or 6. Did she mention a teacher at some point?

Despite being a child, Bela seems to understand complex topics and talks to adults as if she were one herself. So… how old are you, Bela?!

Unfortunately, I got bored.

Incidents Around The House is told from the perspective of a child called Bella (not sure how old she’s meant to be - 6 or 7?).
She lives with Mommy (Ursula), Daddo (Russ) and the uninvited ‘Other Mommy’.

Bela’s parents get along, but something clearly isn’t right between them and told through Bela’s childish viewpoint, it’s easy to quickly pick up that Ursula is having an affair. The parents are concerned about Bela’s behaviour but their own messy lives means they’re not on the parental ball as they should be.
However, ‘Other Mommy’ is becoming ever more persistent and is leaving the confines of Bela’s closet and is even following the family to other locations in the daytime.
The drama ramps up as other people start to see ‘Other Mommy’. Including a terrifying moment when real Mommy and Other Mommy come face to face.

This is actually a seriously scary book. I was reading at night on my Kindle with all the lights off and I actually had to keep sweeping the light from the Kindle around the room to check that I was alone!!

But as well as being incredibly scary, it’s quite sad as well. The sadness comes from children being made aware or experiencing the crappy choices adults can make, and worse still, that their own parents make.
“What’s unfair is that people are supposed to learn the secrets of life gradually. They aren’t supposed to be told a hundred truths at once”.
* Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

First of all I would like to say thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book I really did but I just didn’t find it scary. I think the premise of the book is fantastic and for it to be written in the perspective of a child without making the plot childish however it just didn’t have me gripped. The ending was good and that just isn’t because it ended.

I think some people will really enjoy this and is a good entry horror for people just starting to get into the genre.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

Having loved Bird Box, I was very excited to read Incidents Around the House.

It certainly brings the creepy elements that I expected from a horror story, and I loved the format of telling the story from the perspective of a child. The innocence makes the story that bit creepier.

The descriptions of Other Mommy were also pretty descriptive.

I didn't like the parents - I found them to be entirely unlikable, and really struggled to care about what happened to them, to be honest.

A decent read all round.

Honestly what’s creepier than kids? A story told from a child’s point of view about the creature who lives in her closet and refers to herself as other mommy? Bela is only eight, although she does feel younger, and maybe that’s why she’s targeted. After all, other mommy only wants her to let her inside her heart, this entity will stop at nothing to get what it wants. But hey at least it needs consent, right? The other people around Bela aren’t quite as lucky, while other mommy never harms bela, it can and will harm those around her, location and distance mean nothing. You can’t run from other mommy. And as Bela and her family try to come to terms with this the disaster that is her parents relationship becomes clear, people will be hurt, and there’s only one question that matters. Can I go inside your heart?

I don’t generally read horror outside of Autumn, but I’m getting on board with #Summerween, plus this one had been on my radar since last year.

It’s just been released on paperback which is why it’s back on NetGalley, although I actually swapped over to audio when I was about a quarter in.
The audio will be a love/hate one for a lot of people as it’s narrated by an actor doing the voice of a young child, which can be grating at times, but also extra creepy 👀.

Eight year old Bela lives happily with her mum and dad, until “other mommy” starts appearing in her closet, asking her questions like “can I go inside your heart?” Ummmmmm..no? 😱
As she’s only 8 she doesn’t understand the implications of any of this and thanks to her parents failing marriage they don’t seem to get what’s happening for a good portion of the book either.
Of course it eventually all comes to a head and the family must figure out how to rid themselves of the very scary “other mommy”.

This book definitely had its creepy moments; as supernatural entities go, the ghost in this one is super malevolent and I could absolutely relate to the fear this family go through as they are terrorised by this thing.

However, like many horrors, I spent a lot of the book questioning the utterly wild decisions the parents make that somehow always make the situation worse. To be fair, that’s often just part and parcel of this genre.

There is however, way too many parental soliloquies made to their child, who is clearly pretending to be asleep, where they share really non-appropriate information that just left me scratching my head a bit. Is that a realistic thing for parents to do? Not in my experience but these folks are weird I guess. The ending was also deeply depressing and it left me feeling a bit flat.

Not my favourite of its kind but horror fans will no doubt enjoy its spooky vibes.

With many thanks @netgalley for my copy. All opinions are my own, as always.

Dark, unsettling and enthralling. This twisty little novel will keep you awake at night, and looking round every corner.

This was really really creepy. Especially because it was from the pov of a child.

Our MC is relatively friendless for her age and ends up spending a lot of time around the adults in her life. Adults who just tend to ignore her.

Initially I thought this would be like a psychological horror - a way for the kod to make sense of the behaviour of adults in her life and to tackle her loneliness.

But it devolved into something else.

I wish I had gotten more explanation from the author regarding the events that took place. What , Why etc. It was all very vague. Maybe it was meant to be vague as it was from a child's pov.

I absolutely did not like any of the adults in the story. They were just so uncaring and indifferent towards Bela. No one attempted to have an actual conversation with the child.

The story also became very repetitive. And I think somewhere in this, the author lost the element of surprise.

But overall, it was a solid read. It left me creeped out and scared, and not just cz of what was happening in the house.

Eight-year-old Bela has a secret friend. She calls her ‘Other Mommy’. Other Mommy lives in Bela’s closet, and she used to only come out at night.

But now Other Mommy is visiting Bela at the park and at parties, Bela never knows when she might appear. Other Mommy isn’t a regular childhood imaginary friend – other people see her too. Bela and her family aren’t safe. Other Mommy won’t stop until she gets what she wants.

The story is told entirely from Bela’s perspective. I do enjoy a well-written adult novel from a child’s perspective – Emma Donoghue’s Room is still the best example of this in my opinion – and the voice of Bela works well here in part. Bela feels authentic to her age, and there’s an unnerving sense of isolation in the early stages when she is the only one who is interacting with Other Mommy.

But, as the story goes on, it takes on more of a family dynamic, and this is where I feel the narrative device struggled. The adults open up to Bela with lengthy monologues which feel unrealistic, plus often when they attempt to move out of earshot and have a private conversation she is still able to hear and relay the gist of it to the reader. It feels like the author wanted to convey more than was possible from Bela’s innocent viewpoint, and perhaps the book could have benefited from additional narrators to make it feel more cohesive.

But then there’s Other Mommy herself. She’s the real deal. A genuinely creepy unknown entity when she’s confined to Bela’s bedroom and the closet, but once she gets out she’s truly terrifying. There’s no escape, and in the second half of the the novel the drama builds as the entire family goes on the run knowing that the demon that haunts them is only ever one step behind them. But, I would have loved to have found out more about what she actually is and where she came from.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. It definitely came through on the horror element, with plenty of spine-chilling appearances from Other Mommy. Alongside this, it throws a complicated family dynamic into the mix. Telling the family’s story from the viewpoint of the child gives a strange window into the parents – at times, I really felt for them as they tried to battle the unknown being. But, they’re extremely flawed – particularly the mother who feels a little villainised – and at times their monologues made for difficult reading.

I think I might have rated this higher if it had all come together in a satisfying ending, but the ending also left me with mixed feelings. As it is, there’s some elements of brilliance in this story and I know Malerman is an excellent horror writer, but some parts just felt a little messy.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. I honestly couldn’t get past the layout which might be a bit silly but it’s just not for me. I would definitely consider reading other books by this author but this one just didn’t keep my focus.

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved every part of this book, I have even brought a physical copy to add to my bookshelf, and I have been recommending it in the book club to the point that it has now been chosen for the book of the month.

Excellent. A sort of juvenile writing style but one that gets its point across to the point where it was a really fun and really quick read where I could just immerse myself!

This book reminded me how fun horrors can be. Excellent story with a unique perspective.

Incidents Around the House is a ghost (or a demon?) story told from the perspective of a child. Bela is around 9 years old and has a friend called Other Mommy who lives in her closet and asks her for access to her heart. At the beginning, we're not sure if it was just her imagination, especially when she didn't want her parents to know about this. But then the situation escalates and turns into a family trying to fight off this monster.

At first, I wasn't sure about the child being the narrator, especially when the formatting of the book is also unusual, but I quickly got used to both these things. Bela is quite smart and understands more than she should at this age. Especially when it comes to her parents, who have some secrets. I liked how the parents acted here, their behaviour was quite realistic, and I could feel how powerless they felt.

I loved the atmosphere created here, the way it grew more claustrophobic and tense with each chapter. And how quickly it progressed.

A great read for horror fans and everyone who enjoys unique stories.

I do love a horror book but sadly this one didn’t quite do it for me, I did finish it but it definitely isn’t a favourite.

Eight year old Belas family is her world there's mommy daddo grandma Ruth and other mommy. But other mommy is getting restless she's not getting the answer she wants from her question to Bela and Bela understands from what's happening around the house she's either going to have to say yes or her family will pay.

I really thought by the reviews of this it was going to be terrifying but I didn't find it that scary the creepiest part of this was that other mommy wasn't contained to the house she could follow Bela everywhere. I liked that this was written for Belas pov and we got to see everything how she does. Her parents are strange a lot of the things they tell Bela I personally wouldn't speak to an 8 year old about. I flew through this found it really fast paced and I didn't want to put it down wanting to know if they were going to survive their ordeal with other mommy or not. Highly recommend if you're looking for something creepy to read.

I’ve been getting better at reading horror, something I’d avoided for most of my life, and didn’t think that I’d been creeped out by this one. Then one night I found myself needing to put the light on to go upstairs, and looking at a closet with suspicion. It turned out that Other Mommy had managed to get under my skin after all.

I found the use of form in this novel to be an intriguing one. There is an author’s note at the front of the book explaining that “the unique format of the novel is intentional: left-justified for narration/action, indentation for dialogue, with spaces between. All in the name of perspective: This story is told by a child.” I admire Malerman for his bold choices here. I’m not sure that the layout enhanced my understanding of the perspective, but it did help to immerse me in the immediacy of the scenes and the lack of narrative commentary allows the reader to interpret the events themselves more readily. Bella sees what she sees, and takes a great deal of this at face value. It’s the adults who, like the reader, must interpret the events as problematic and find a solution

Whilst the simple reporting of dialogue may lead to details reading like a factual recount in the hands of some authors. Malerman’s dialogue often has a steady calmness to it and is at times rather rhythmic. So, you have this little kid recounting horrific scenes as though they are as strange as someone brushing their teeth, the reader’s mind asking all the relevant questions and filling in the gaps, and this lyrical soothing tone pushing you through it all. It won’t be for everyone, but personally, I found the style to be refreshing and rather compelling.

Some of the action is rather repetitive, and I found myself getting frustrated with Bela’s parents on more than one occasion. However, I found this to be a fast-paced read with the author avoiding many of the possible cliched scenarios. There are plenty of original features in this novel to make it a worthwhile read for fans of horror.


Thank you to Pan MacMillan, Josh Malerman and NetGalley UK for an ARC of ‘Incidents Around the House’ in return for my honest review.

The concept for this novel is intriguing, unfortunately the execution of it...well let's just say not so much.

Told by Bela who is 8 this suffers from the fact that anyone who's ever had an 8 year old child will not be able to relate at all. I can't speak to the authors experience but I could guess. Also Bela's parents are, well, prone to pontificating rather than advancing the story. The entire thing was uber repetitive and honestly I only finished it to see if there was anything unpredictable at the end. Spoiler: there isn't.

As for being scary, no. Well OK the parents are scary but that's an entirely different thing. I remain disappointed because it promised so much. Apologies to the author but this wasn't for me at all