Incidents Around The House is a uniquely disquieting reading experience, heightened by Josh Malerman’s narrative choices that just twist the knife a little more.
Kids in horror are often creepy—sometimes intentionally and sometimes through the way you can see their innocence being eroded by the forces at play in the narrative. The creepy child is a staple trope of horror and I usually enjoy it. Malerman’s decision to tell this story through Bela’s voice is instantly unnerving and stands out. She subverts this trope with a bright-eyed innocence and naivety that reminds you just how young she is and how little she knows of the world around. I love how much inference there is, the way readers can pick up on hints earlier on but are also pieced together later on for Bela. That younger and more naïve viewpoint is a refreshing change for me and adds stakes to the story immediately. She is ultimately a fairly helpless child caught up in this nightmare come to life. It is also interesting seeing how different characters interact with her, what that reveals about themselves and the world we are inhabiting.
Using a child’s voice adds a new layer to the scares as well. Other Mommy on her own is petrifying as a concept and in execution. The phrase she’s repeating and what it actually means is fantastically done by Malerman, epitomising Bela’s voice as a tool to both clearly show and obfuscate the horror. But Other Mommy in Bela’s voice is a new level of terror. From the very first introduction of her, you are drawn back to the monster hiding in the shadows and under the bed of your childhood. We can all relate to aspects of this and the thematic richness this can imbue in a text. Malerman taps into that regressive state of fear and exploits it for all its worth here. It is a dynamic change from a standard haunted house narrative with plenty of tricks up its sleeve. I could very easily see this translating well to other forms of media—I’d particularly love to see Mike Flanagan’s take.
Some of these scenes are genuinely terrifying. I read this in chunks and firmly avoiding just before I went to bed. There are a lot of layers to the story and rich thematic motifs that are open for interpretation. I enjoy ambiguity in horror and think the imagination conjures more scares than you can ever produce on page. The unseen monster is always scarier for me than the one you see. Here, what you see is pure nightmare fuel but there is a lot more hinted at which is even worse. In my interpretation of the story, there is a poignancy and emotional integrity within the themes as well. This is encapsulated in the ending, which I won’t spoil, but I will say leaves your jaw dropped.
Around Bela, we have some wonderful characters, including Mommy, Daddo and Grandma Ruth. I loved how much this book rests on its relationships and the messiness that can ensue, though with the gloss of a child’s innocence. That allows for the stark contrast of the horror unfolding around them. Malerman also drops in some intriguing hints about Ruth that speak to a layered narrative that I enjoy dipping in, rather than knowing the whole story. There are breadcrumbs of world-building around the central story to make it feel fleshed-out but still leaves you wanting to know more.
Incidents Around the House is a striking horror story with clever narrative choices that elevate this haunted house tale into something that will stick with you long after the final page.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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 question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon 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 about to unravel.
But Other Mommy needs an answer.
Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror about a family as haunted as their home.
