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“That’s the trick. The whole trick. With aging, with living, with enduring this life. It’s all about heart. How long can you maintain an open heart and an open mind in this world, how long can you sustain being kind to other people, no matter what they say or do.��

ok, Josh Malerman might’ve just redeemed himself for me with this one. Incidents Around the House is more of a psychological horror following a young girl named Bela and her parents Ursula and Russ. the horror of this story comes in the form of an entity called “other mommy�� who’s attached itself to Bela under the fake guise of friendship. I’m happy to say that this did deliver on the supernatural/haunted elements with some fun creepy moments spread throughout. i wouldn’t say i cared for the characters necessarily though (especially Ursula who i wished would get kicked down the stairs by the ghost), but i found all the drama behind their family dynamic to be very entertaining and i was consistently curious the whole time. in the end, i actually felt bad for Bela, as she’s just a child who can’t really differentiate between this false sense of friendship and the real danger of this “other mommy�� and what it plans to take from Bela..everything.

i also want to mention that the story is told through Bela’s pov, so it’s written in a way that shows that�� through odd formatting and dialogue, with a added innocent coated lens. it could be distracting for some, but i feel like the author did a good job balancing the narrative overall.

thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the arc, all opinions are my own.