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Incidents Around the House: A Novel

“Simply put—and I do not say this lightly—Incidents Around the House is the most purely effective horror novel I have ever read.”—Neil McRobert, Esquire

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

“This book is the monster that lives inside your closet.”—Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House

LOCUS AWARD FINALIST • BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE

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.

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Published Jun 25, 2024

400 pages

Average rating: 6.97

283 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

jess.withbooks
Jun 05, 2025
8/10 stars
I have no idea what to make of that ending…by my god, would Mike Flanagan make a killer adaptation of this book.
Hartfullofbooks
Jul 23, 2025
8/10 stars
Written from the perspective of a young girl being haunted by an evil entity named “Other Mother” who wants to possess her, this haunted house novel was unique and had my interest all the way until the end. The Other Mother entity was so creepy and while this was written from a child’s perspective, it wasn’t confusing or annoying, it actually worked. While I greatly enjoyed the ride this novel gave, I hated the ending and it knocked this down a star for me. I get what the author was going for but in my opinion it was not the right ending for this. Definitely recommend if looking for a unique and eerie supernatural horror!
Fallcarry
Jul 19, 2025
6/10 stars
Two genuinely haunting scenes, but I felt like the story dragged on at times and the ending wasn't very satisfying.
Anne-Marie Eberhardt
Jul 02, 2025
10/10 stars
Disturbing in the best way!
Scarlet ST
Apr 01, 2025
5/10 stars
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman is a horror novel that still has me scratcing my head 🤔 If it was meant to scare me, it didn’t. The anticipation of what was going to happen made me slightly panicky, but it didn’t deliver. The strange relationships throughout the book were more disturbing than the very simple story and underdeveloped characters. The child point of view did not work for me one bit, and I’m still not entirely sure what the ending meant🤷‍♀️

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