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

An adult seeing the world through a child’s eyes again can be wonderful. A reminder of the joys of discovery, innocence and then there is just the occasional weird level of association they make that can confuse anyone but themselves. But also when we see what a child sees we as adults can recognise when things aren’t quite what they appear we may see dangers a child cannot or themes children are many years from fully understanding. In Josh Malerman’s very interesting horror novel Incidents Around The House we follow a young child whose imaginary friend is now terrorising her but soon many others will feel it’s presence.

Bela is eight, she loved to dance, playing with Mommy and Daddy but is getting worried about Other Mommy. Other Mommy used to love in the closet but has taken to getting closer and closer to Bela in her bed. Talking to her and now is very insistent about being allowed into Bela’s heart. It may finally be time for Bela to tell her parents but will they believe her? Will Other Mommy get mad at her.

Overall I was very interested in this story. Malerman ably makes the challenge of taking a horror story and telling it through a young child’s eyes. The voice of Bela really sells the story as she dwells very much a real chapter filled with the joys, questions and puzzlement of a child. She delights in the love of her parents, being able to show off dances at a party or slight puzzlement at her dad and his friends smoking and getting very giddy outside. As the reader we get to put these experiences together with our own knowledge and just as much and we put the fun pieces of childhood together we then start to see the darkness Bela is only suspecting.

Other Mommy is a worrying force in the book. Bela dangles clues such as black hairs on her arms and a face where the eyes are on the hands. Is this a nightmare or something else - as you may guess from it’s something else and her intense interest in Bela is increasingly disturbing. We get an early puzzle as to why Other Mommy wants a carnation and the explanation for that is ingenious and chilling. Other Mommy is a possessive entity that can mimic others and we also see starts to leave Bela’s bedroom and I’d capable of some much more horrific acts as the story develops.

Child pursued by monster is bad enough but the other theme is the chilling realisation that a child can have that your parents are not godlike superheroes that are both perfect and can make bad things stop. As we get to know Bela’s Mommy and Daddy we start to see the behaviours a child wouldn’t recognise and also the conversations that suggest they are not quite the happy family Bela knows. It’s not the best time to learn that monsters are real and the latter half of the story is these three characters out of their depth and trying to stay together as a family. Malerman makes us feel the increasing desperation and pressure the family tries to survive hour by hour where even a trip to a bathroom can become something truly horrific. Other Mommy also seems to know this family and uses it to her advantage in how to hurt them. The malevolence builds and builds very powerfully. The family are just stuck with fiends and family trying to support and the vagaries of who you can find on Google which really underlines how bad things are getting for them.

For me the main issue I had was the ending. There are in some ways two. The one I liked is where a ‘cure’ appears that really echoes that theme of finding out your parents are human. It’s bold, cuts deep and really makes an impact. If the story had left it there I think while it could be lowkey the emotional impact it leaves packed a punch. Instead Malerman returns back to a much more traditional spectacle of a horror tale ending which while done well is still ultimately heavily signposted and actually just feels for me a bit obvious and lacking the impact the other option could have delivered.

Incidents Around The House is a broadly inventive story that’s used its main viewpoints really well and puttered in an interesting position of not just a witness but also an interpreter of events. Its exploration of how children see parents is very well handled and bar that ending was a very enjoyable spooky tale. Highly recommended!

For eight-year-old Bela her family is her whole world, but as well as Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth there is Other Mommy, an entity that asks Bela every day “can I go inside your heart?”
When incidents start occurring around the house Bela realises that Other Mommy is getting restless and wants an answer to her question, Bela will need her family to help her defeat Other Mommy but that family is starting to fall apart.

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.
Telling the story from Bela’s point of view had the potential to be interesting but although she is supposed to be 8 years old due to the way the character is written she come across as much younger.

i'm afraid this wasn't for me, i gave it to 20% but i couldn't get into it. please note that as i didn't finish the book i didn't leave any reviews on any other platforn

I was really intrigued by the premise of this book and absolutely loved the horror vibes right from the start. The opening line, "Mommy and Daddy leave my room. Other Mommy comes out of the closet." instantly set the tone—eerie, unsettling, and full of dread. The cover with the bunny in the dark? Spot on. It perfectly captures the atmosphere of childlike fear and helplessness.

The story is told entirely from the perspective of a child, and while that’s a clever and unique choice—bringing a raw vulnerability and sense of powerlessness—I unfortunately just couldn’t connect with the voice or language. The narration felt too distant for me to really sink into the story, and ultimately, I had to DNF it.

That said, I fully recognize what Malerman was going for. Writing horror through a child’s lens is brilliant in theory, because the world becomes scarier when you don’t fully understand it. And for readers who can click with the narration style, I imagine this could be a truly chilling and immersive experience.

Verdict: Not the right fit for me, but a creative concept with some seriously creepy moments. Worth trying if you enjoy unconventional storytelling and don’t mind a child’s voice guiding you through the dark.