Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

My goodness, was this one spine-tingling!!

Incidents Around the House, by Josh Malerman may be one of the creepiest novels I’ve read! Talk about a novel for adults about the actual bogeyman we ALL feared at one point as children, this was it! This was not only insanely original in its� execution, but truly frightening, and it literally gave me the chills! This will undoubtedly be on many Best Horror of 2024 lists, and it’ll be very deserving of it!!

Told in a brilliantly unique way through the perspective of an eight-year-old girl named Bela, I immediately connected with this novel, finding it challenging to put this one down, reading it late into the night. As we begin reading, Bela has been the target of some sort of entity in her home she names ‘Other Mommy� which lives in her closet, coming out initially at night to visit with her and ask her only one thing over and over: “Can I go inside your heart?� As the days progress, Other Mommy seemingly becomes bolder, appearing in other areas throughout the house, and becomes visible to more than just Bela. When Bela’s actual mommy catches a split-second image of Other Mommy one night, events quickly spiral and become more panicked as the family flees the safety of their home, seeking comfort at several friends� homes. When Other Mommy follows them wherever they go, they realize there is no escaping this thing, and they must face it and somehow figure out how to banish it back to wherever it came from, but will they succeed, or will Other Mommy find a way into Bela's heart and 'reincarnate' into her as a new host?!

I really enjoyed the creep factor throughout this novel, finding the story somewhat like the horror film It Follows, which is probably one of the scariest films I’ve seen. I couldn’t help but empathize with the horrified family as they fled seeking refuge and safety elsewhere and then their despair as they finally realized there was no outrunning this thing and that it would follow Bela wherever she went. As the book progressed and I learned more about Bela's family, her parents specifically, the more I grew to really dislike her mother while also feeling really badly for Bela and her father. When it hinted that Other Mommy was attracted to Bela on account of her innocence, I feared where this one would go, and for the most part, I was correct! And despite predicting that aspect of the plot, this one STILL really rocked me to my core!

This is undoubtedly a 4-Star reading experience, and the only thing keeping it from being a 5-Star read was that the reader is left with little explanation as to what exactly this entity was, and why it targeted Bela (although it’s implied some!); I really wish the author had gone more into the origins of this evil being, and believe it would have added to the horror aspect of it. If there had been just a bit more of that information towards the end, I wouldn’t have been left gasping for answers and this would have received a perfect score. If you are okay with somewhat of an open-ended, unexplained ending, then you will be okay with this one, but if you sometimes struggle with this specific issue as I did, you might be as frustrated as I was upon turning the last page. Regardless, this was still a phenomenal horror novel that will probably stick with me for some time � one thing is certain, I will be leaving my closet doors open for at least a few nights now!