Severely disappointed with this one.
Essentially a long slow marital drama more than anything. Daddo is weak and Mommy is a terrible person, both of whom unload their troubles onto their daughter when they think she's asleep- a bizarre way to get the story across.
Bela is supposed to be 8 yet behaves and talks like a 4 year old with occasional thoughts and actions of a child much older, there's zero consistency.
I don't understand why so many people find Other Mommy terrifying either. The ending was dull. I may have enjoyed this as a short story but as a novel it was a waste of valuable reading time.

I've heard so many people raving about this book, recommending to not read it at night because it's so scary, with lots of praise for the unique perspective. And I get some of that praise for sure. I was really intrigued when I heard that this is written from the perspective of an eight year old girl haunted by a being she calls Other Mommy that once just lurked in her closet but seems to be getting stronger and closer every day. Sounds wonderfully scary, really.
And <i>Incidents Around the House</i> had its scary moments! I liked Other Mommy as the scary creature we can't figure out. I also initially liked Bela's perspective.
But in the end, I felt like Bela was written too young (would have guessed she was way younger than 8 at times) and the writing style did kind of start grating on me. All the adults have these huge one-sided conversations with her when they think she's asleep, which very much felt like a cheap cop-out to get some information across while not leaving the perspective of the little child. The adults were mostly annoying and made terrible choices, and I was a little underwhelmed by the ending, too.

Still, the atmosphere, the unique perspective and the mystery made this a fun enough read to warrant 2,5 stars, rounding up because I'm feeling nice but also because I like it when authors try something new.

Absolutely terrifying in the best way! I genuinely couldn’t stop reading but I had to at some points! Kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

Incidents Around the House is the kind of horror that grips you from the start and leaves you genuinely spooked. Josh Malerman masterfully builds tension, creating an atmosphere of dread that keeps you hooked.

When I first realized the story would be told from the perspective of an eight-year-old, I wasn’t sure how it would work for me. But Malerman nailed it. Her innocence and childlike view of the terrifying events unfolding around her really amplify the horror, making it all the more unsettling.

The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is that some parts felt a little repetitive. Additionally, I wasn’t a big fan of the lengthy monologues.

However, the ending more than made up for it. I wasn’t sure where the story would go, but it stayed true to the tone of the book while offering a satisfying, though chilling, conclusion.

I finished Incidents Around the House in less than 24 hours, and it lingered in my mind for days afterward. It’s a solid read for anyone who enjoys psychological horror with a deeply unsettling atmosphere.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I struggled with the lack of speech marks which unfortunately affected the flow of the book for me not always easily knowing who was talking and unfortunately I just couldn't seem to get past that throughout the book.

The POV from 8 year old Bela did work for me though as it added to the innocence and atmosphere around her fear of Other Mommy and the contradiction of both wanting to be her friend and wanting to be rid of her as well.

I can definitely see this as a Netflix production

Incidents Around the House was an eerie, unsettling read. There were genuine moments which scared me, and that is an uncommon occurrence for me.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the story being told from the child’s point of view, but it worked brilliantly, and made it all the more tragic. I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a love of horror, or anyone who wants to be scared.

Firstly this book is told by our main character Bela who is eight years old so the dialogue may not be for everyone. That being said I found it makes it a quick read, although horror is not my usual go to genre.

Bela tells her Mommy, Daddo and grandma Ruth about “other mommy”, other mommy comes out of Belas closet at night and keeps asking Bela if she can go into her heart. Obviously her parents think this is all imagination until they witness it themselves.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me, although I don’t tend to read horrors very often I was expecting a lot more as it was so hyped up on my book group pages, but I’m probably not the best judge as I wouldn’t normally read this genre. It was just flat throughout for me. I like a book that has suspense and tension and has my mind wandering what will happen next.

2.5 rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Mommy and Daddo leave my room.
I pull the covers to my chin.
Other Mommy comes out of the closet.”

Right from that creepy opening page, I was hooked. The formatting and narrative style instantly drew me in, with Malerman really capturing the voice of the young narrator, Bela. It's a great example of how first person narration can be used intetionally to enhance the story. It's simple, eerie, and totally effective.

By experiencing things through the lens of a child, we’re not just watching a haunting unfold. Instead, the events are filtered through a mind that doesn’t fully understand what’s happening which adds an extra layer of tension throughout.

This also gives us access to the things Bela notices about the adults around them, for example we realise early on that her mother is hiding a certain secret purely from the things Bella notices—but she doesn't quite understand the significance of her observations, allowing us as readers to put things together ourselves. It really adds to our involvement in and understanding of the story, while maintaining the protagonists naive sense of the world.

If you liked Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak which is another favourite horror of mine, then you'll probably like this one. It might just be because both stories center a hauntings and young kids, but they also share that similar creeping dread that just builds and builds.

Incidents is also one of those stories that has a lot more depth beneath the scares than you'd expect. Despite starting off as what could have been a pretty typical haunted house story, Incidents veers into something much more original and truly sinister, grappling with themes of family dysfunction and the cost of the secrets we harbour.

Oh wow was this creepy and did it play on my mind long after I finished it! It was fast paced and had me hooked the whole time with plenty of horror movie type scares along the way!

Incidents Around the House is a completely new genre to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This novel is so very different to what I normally read and I was slightly dubious when I started but from the first page I was intrigued and hooked.

We meet and hear Bela's story and it is a scary one to say the least. She lives with her parents but she also has another Mom, known as Other Mommy.

The Other Mommy is an evil existence within the house and wants Bela for herself. When strange and very weird things start happening within the home, Bela has to realise what is happening with the Other Mommy and try and save her family she loves.

I was super scared whilst reading this novel, do not read just before bed that is for sure.

Thanks to Netgalley, Josh Malerman and the author for allowing me an ARC in exchange for this haunting book that will stay with me for a good while yet.

Okay, so, I truly loved this. It was amazing.

I LOVED the perspective, I rarely read books from a child’s perspective as frequently, they're children’s books. Reading this story, the use of Bella’s perspective is gripping, and I don’t think that there’s anything that would improve this - in fact, changing perspective would detract from the story.

This was really interesting. I’m kind of devastated by the end of it, but the plot was intriguing, the characters were fascinating - none more than Bella.

I was not expecting this one to freak me out as much as it did.
I've been hearing about this one from American readers since the release but us UK horror fans have had to wait... and it was worth it.
There is something about your parents actually not being able to make everything better that's actually completely terrifying - and this book completely nails that. As well as the big bad being alarming as hell, and the child main characters complex relationship with it... brilliant.

I loved the first 3/4 of this book but that last part just wasn't for me. It was very creepy, other mommy was fantastic and I'd have liked more of her haunting. The parents were terrible people.

Thank you Netgalley. Josh Malerman and Pan Macmillan | Tor Nightfire for the eArc of Incidents Around the House.

Having loved Birdbox by the same author and being a lover of anything " haunted ", I was excited to read Incidents Around the House.
Josh has quite a writing style that builds both characters, pacing and atmosphere that's tense, haunting and claustrophobic. The pacing is slow to medium and is really creepy as we follow Bela, our 8 yr old MC trying to outrun " other Mommy " Not often are books written from this POV and it works very well, adding to the over all essence of the narrative.

It has everything, tension, creepiness that builds up to a haunting that you may or may not expect!
I also listened to the audio version of this book which was narrated by Delanie Nicole Gill and she did a wonderful job in narrating just a young character.

4 stars

This is my first Josh Malerman book and I am not disappointed. This was creepy, eerie, confusing and utterly baffling. This book gives Coraline vibes, but whilst they are both narrated by young girls, Incidents Around The House is definitely not a story for children.

Bela, an 8 year old girl, is being haunted by someone she calls 'Other Mommy'. She originally comes from and stays in the closet, but starts appearing in multiple places, and Bela isn't the only one who can see her anymore. 'Other Mommy' asks Bela one question: 'can I go into your heart?'. The story follows the haunting getting more vicious and scary, leading the family to flee anywhere they can. Turns out they are safe no where and must go home to face her before she kills them all.

One thing I quite liked about this book is that the horror depictions were not completely over the top. They seemed realistic and almost calm. which created a really eerie feeling whilst reading. You never knew what was to come or what was truly happening. Malerman does well at deeply unsettling you without really cheap scares.

I absolutely hated the parents, predominantly the mother. I didn't like the whole 'lets ruin Bela's innocence to make her less appealing to the demon'. I thought it was juvenile and very unrealistic. I also don't think that how they 'depurified' her was excessive enough for it to actually work. The ending is a complete mystery to me, I am so annoyed that I don't fully know what it all meant. It had me literally silently screaming out of frustration. It was definitely open to interpretation but I just wish I had any idea at all on what everything meant. There were a few plot holes throughout which added to the confusion, but because this is a horror book I think it added to the weirdness of it all.

I highly recommend this to horror lovers. I will be looking out for more books by this author.

Bela's house is haunted but so far only she can see it. It's her it wants but she doesn't want to let it in. How long can she fight it off?

This is quite a unique horror as its told from the view of a child so we see everything through her eyes. It's a different take. The plot is creepy and a little sad at times. You can't help but feel for Bela in this. A child facing adult situations and a decision that terrifies her. There's not many characters in this and you only really get to know Bela. The ending was how I figured it would end. I'm not sure if I liked it and yet it worked for the story. The atmoshpere is well built in this and definitely not one to read late at night or home alone. A horror with a unique spin.

I'm not one to want to read horror with the lights on, but Incidents Around the House had that affect on me. Eery, creepy and completely gripping. More please

A very creepy book with the POV of an 8year old child as the main narrator with conversations between her parents when she’s “asleep” to the side of that.

The character of the other mommy was definitely creepy and her constant question to be let into Belas heart was enough to not make me want to read this in bed. I think the overall idea of this story was great in theory but the execution didn’t do it for me. I think I was put off by the child’s POV. To me she read as much younger than 8 and the conversations between the parents could have been written as inserted chapters outside of Belas POV commentary. Maybe this book is more suited to audio where you can listen to Bela but then the parent’s conversations can be heard as just that.

I didn’t dislike the book. The story piqued my interest but the execution of it didn’t work for me. Still, I am sure that there will be many who fully enjoyed it and the creepiness of the story was excellent. I just was taken out of it by its execution.

To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddy 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 question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.


I enjoyed reading this and its different POV, being a child. The story zips along at a good pace and is seriously scary. I struggled a little with the parents, they were not very real in my opinion. Great idea but I didn’t feel like it fully worked for me.

Synopsis

Bela is 8 years old and lives with mommy and daddo and an entity from her closet she calls other mommy. Other mommy keeps asking if she can go inside her heart. The more Bela says no, the more insistent other mommy becomes. As the safety of her family deteriorates, Bela is becoming worried that she might say yes.

Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

I found this really hard to rate. It definitely had the creepy factor and kept me reading. I wasn’t sure about the narration, as it was written from Bela’s perspective, some of it felt a bit repetitive, and I struggled with the conversations not having quotation marks to tell who was speaking. But… it definitely added to the creepiness having it written in this way. Some of the conversations the parents had whilst Bela was sleeping felt odd, but… it helped us to know a bit of backstory. It was full of suspense and left you not wanting to go to toilet at night. The description of other mommy was very creepy. The characters were not all likeable but that worked well for the story. I enjoyed the slow burn creepiness throughout. I found the ending a bit predictable but thought it worked well. I have heard the audiobook for this was very good and added to the creepiness. Overall an enjoyable book with suspense and an easy page turner.