Book Review: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

I love horror novels, but the format generally struggles to generate fear at a level equal to film. Sure, authors can conjure up enough suspense to keep readers turning pages well into the night, but rarely are they able to actually scare anyone. Instead, the genre often resorts to extreme violence or other shocking imagery to elicit a reaction, a problem that can also plague horror movies but seems to be more easily avoided there. So, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the latest from Bird Box author Josh Malerman, Incidents Around the House, uses a clever conceit to create a compellingly creepy atmosphere that completely avoids blood and gore.

The story is told from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl named Bela who has begun seeing a figure she refers to as Second Mommy in her closet at night. Her real Mommy and Daddo (as she calls them) have a relationship that oscillates between happily adoring and severely strained, the latter of which they incorrectly think Bela doesn’t notice.

Bela doesn’t have many friends and so she is at first happy to talk to Second Mommy despite her unusual features. As Second Mommy begins asking Bela to let her “into her heart” and appearing in more and more places, Bela finds herself becoming fearful of her and finally decides to tell her parents. Mommy and Daddo are of course skeptical about Second Mommy’s existence, until the being, whatever she is, begins to more forcefully insert herself into Bela’s life and ultimately becomes undeniably real, at which point they resolve to protect their daughter by any means necessary.

Telling the story from the perspective of someone so ostensibly innocent and naive to the ways of the adult world as they struggle to make sense of the events around them, both of the domestic and supernatural variety, is a genius move. It really helps the reader to build up preternaturally high levels of sympathy for the main character and therefore care very deeply for their well-being and better understand the reasoning behind some of her more questionable decisions. Equally smart was the decision to avoid describing Other Mommy in much detail. Some elements of the entity’s appearance are doled out gradually throughout the novel at key moments, but even then, much of Other Mommy is left to our imaginations, allowing us to insert our own worst nightmares upon her.

This book had me legitimately frightened several times as I tore through its pages well into the night. It should newly refresh a fear of the dark for many readers and will likely have them looking askance at their closets and jumping at minor sounds as well. Incidents Around the House is easily the scariest book I’ve read in years, and with its deeper conversations around growing up, innocence, and the very nature of fear, it’s also one of 2024’s better novels in any genre. ★★★★★