Spooky, sad, and excellent.

         Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House is both a good old fashioned ghost story but also a highly innovative one – genuinely scary (which, in my humble opinion, contrary to what the gushing reviews of ARC readers suggest, is hard to do), quite a bit sad, and kept me turning the pages in a way I have not been motivated to do in a long time.

            The book centers on and is narrated by Bela, a little girl who is being visited by an entity she calls Other Mommy, a kindly, friendly presence that asks Bela if she can enter her “heart,” which becomes pretty clear pretty quickly is a euphemism for possession. Through Bela’s simple but insightful narration, we gather that things are not particularly right between her Mommy, Ursula, and Daddo, Russ, sometimes from dialogue that Bela doesn’t always understand, sometimes from things she seems to gather are going wrong in their relationship. Initially, it is only Bela that can see Other Mommy, but that doesn’t last, as the entity’s desire to take over Bela’s body causes her to reveal herself to others, setting into motion a desperate flight and series of confrontations between the family and Other Mommy.

            Malerman expertly weaves traditional ghost story tropes into the novel such as the child as the subject of the entity’s desire, and the consultation with “experts” such as psychics and paranormal investigators, but he also flips the tropes on their head. The child is the narrator in this story, and so-called “experts” only seem to make things worse.

            Though distracting at times, the marital drama between Ursula and Russ adds character and human drama to a very inhuman story. The family is in peril, brought together by a supernatural force none of them are prepared for, and the family’s flight from place to place, person to person as they seek refuge from Other Mommy, keeps the reader tense and on the edge of their seat, the hopelessness of the situation oozing off the page.

            The dark presence of Other Mommy hangs over the entire book, effectively portrayed through minimal prose. The presence of Other Mommy at time is merely suggested, Malerman having Bela talk about how she hears creaking or steps upstairs is enough to keep you reading. When Other Mommy is around, she’s a terrifying, monstrous entity.

            Can’t exactly say what I feel about the ending, but it is a doozy, and I’m sure glad I read the book.