The Scary Reviews

 

Genre: Horror
Length: 376 Pages
Publisher: Del Ray
Release date: June 25, 2024
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 copy provided in exchange for an honest review

As always, I continue to find books from Josh Malerman a hit or a miss, not many are middle ground. Incidents Around the House was no different. It fell a bit short for me as I waited and waited for that ‘gotcha’ moment.

The novel was a fairly short, bit it took me forever to read. Sometimes a story feels like ‘work’ to read instead of the story pulling me along while I enjoy the ride. Bela was hard character to get behind and a lot of her dialog was painful to read. It was disjointed and like it is coming out of a kid, which it was, but it didn’t lend to help the story along. Another minus here was the story was not creepy or scary. I kept reading and waiting for something to happen. Guess what, it didn’t happen. The ending is good, but I’m not sure if it was worth the time to get there.

At first, only Bela could see “other mommy”, but as the story progress everyone can see her. I don’t know the why or how. I guess I’ll never know and that falls in the bucket with waiting for the horror and tension that never came.

Link to purchase Incidents Around the House

Josh Malerman, Biography-

Josh Malerman is a New York Times best selling author and one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung, whose song “The Luck You Got” can be heard as the theme song to the Showtime show “Shameless”. His book Bird Box was made into a Netflix film of the same name, starring Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich. He has been nominated for 8 Bram Stoker Awards and has written 36 books, many of those (14) prior to the publication of Bird Box, his debut. Daphne will be his 11th published book. He lives in Michigan with his fiancee, the artist/musician Allison Laakko.