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Sign up todayIncidents Around the House
A Novel
Narrator
Delanie Nicole Gill
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
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Length
8 hours 23 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Exactly the dread and horror I have been looking for this year. Captures the fear you feel as a kid when you learn that your parents can't save you from everything. It Follows meets Poltergeist. ”
— Kyle • Beldame Books
Bookseller recommendation
“The writing style is what makes this a phenomenal horror read. The bounce between perspectives creates tension that leaves you screaming at the characters to pay attention.”
— Raven's End Books • Raven's End Books: The Horror Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“The first time I told Mommy and Daddo about Other Mommy they laughed. It was good-night time and I told Mommy good night and then I said it again and Mommy said, 'Why did you say that twice, Bela?' And I said, 'I was saying good night to Other Mommy.' Enter Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House, narrated by 8-year-old Bela as she is stalked by the malevolent entity she calls Other Mommy. Other Mommy is tall and thin with dark hair on the backs of her arms, and sometimes she has trouble with forming her face so the eyes end up on the chin, and every day she asks Bela, 'Can I go into your heart?' Once upon a time, Bela thought Other Mommy was her friend. Recent events have proven that to not be the case, and suddenly Bela is terrified and she doesn’t want Other Mommy to hang around anymore. Still, Other Mommy remains, asking 'Can I go into your heart?' Luckily for Bela, her real Mommy and Daddo actually believe her. They’ve seen Other Mommy with their own eyes, and they are doing their best to get rid of Other Mommy but will their efforts be enough? Will they save Bela before she breaks down and answers Other Mommy’s question, 'Can I go into your heart?' Josh Malerman continues to prove that he is a master of Horror, and Incidents Around the House might just be his scariest book yet. Brace yourselves, this book will go into your heart. ”
— Ryan • Gibson's Bookstore
Bookseller recommendation
“What would you do if your eight-year-old daughter began talking to an invisible friend that she called "Other Mommy"? What would you do if that invisible friend was no longer invisible? Bela's parents are about to find out. This book quickly moves from mildly creepy to downright terrifying. "Other Mommy" is not her friend, and after a while, she is no longer contained to Bela's room or her house. If you are a horror baby, this book is best read in the light of day.”
— Suzanne • Underground Books
Bookseller recommendation
“I’m a big horror lover and no book has ever scared me as much as this did! As I read it (and even long after) I was terrified that Other Mommy would come and get me. Which to me says that Josh Malerman crafted the best horror book of the year. ”
— Bella • Cream & Amber
Bookseller recommendation
“A truly enjoyable and creepy haunting that will leave you with a creeping sense of dread as you wonder… will it be enough to save her?”
— Keeley • Ink Drinkers Anonymous
Bookseller recommendation
“This. Fricking. Audiobook. What an INCREDIBLE narrator - an unparalleled listening experience. When someone called Other Mommy, who doesn't actually look like your mommy at all, asks you 'Can I go into your heart?' you might assume you'd never be tempted to say yes. But things aren't so simple for Bela, who is lonely and surrounded by secrets. Friends aren't supposed to trick you, are they? So maybe Other Mommy isn't the friend she says she is. But what if your parents, the people you rely on the most, aren't telling you the truth either? This book is sinister, terrifying, and so, so good.”
— Frederick • Oblong Books
Bookseller recommendation
“From the author who gave us "Bird Box," Josh Malerman brought another fantastic horror novel. This is a MUST-LISTEN novel. "Incidents Around the House" is told from the perspective of 8-year-old Bela, whose family is her whole world: Mommy, Daddo and Grandma Ruth. But there's another family member only Bela knows about: Other Mommy, and Other Mommy is getting restless. The family's futile attempts to escape Other Mommy reveals the cracks in Bela's beloved family and slowly start to crack Bela's safe world. Roxy cannot recommend this book and audiobook enough for fans of gripping and terrifying horror. ”
— Roxy • Dog-Eared Books
Summary
“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 (Best Horror Books of 2024, So Far)
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
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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Reviews
“Deeply discomfiting, imaginatively ripe, yet ruthlessly efficient . . . Simply put—and I do not say this lightly—Incidents Around the House is the most purely effective horror novel I have ever read.”—Esquire, “Best Horror Books of 2024”“A disturbing bedtime story told by a broken child, this book IS the monster that lives inside your closet.”—Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House
“A gleeful, mean, old-school scare machine . . . You just have to turn the first page to set it off.”—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and Horror Movie
“A masterwork of unadorned existential terror.”—Zoje Stage, USA Today bestselling author of Baby Teeth
“Josh Malerman is such an insidious architect. I call all of his haunted houses home, and this just might be his most devilish design yet.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
“This haunting exploration of the perils of childhood is a story that will stay with you for a long time to come.”—Gwendolyn Kiste, Lambda Literary and Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Reluctant Immortals and The Rust Maidens
“This book does worse than stay with you—it stalks you. Page-turning and nerve-burning—don’t read it after dark.”—Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Queen of Teeth and A Light Most Hateful
“Incidents Around the House effortlessly draws the reader in for a deeply unsettling and genuinely frightening read. It’s a masterclass in scares.”—Brian Keene, bestselling author of End of the Road
“Hereditary meets Skinamarink: one of my favorite books of the year.”—Sarah Langan, author of A Better World
“Terrifying, beguiling, bewitching, awesomely constructed, and a masterpiece of voice and dread.”—Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings
“So gripping in terror, I couldn’t put it down. This is everything I'm looking for in a horror story.”—Laurel Hightower
“This book has actual jump scares! Trust me: daytime only in a room with no closets.”—Sadie Hartmann, author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered
“This is what great horror does: Read it and it will never leave you. Josh Malerman is one of the best.”—Thomas Tessier, award-winning author of The Nightwalker, Rapture, and Fog Heart
"A triumph of craft and suspense.”—Sarah Gailey
“A shocker, a modern horror classic that scared the absolute hell out of me.”—Jonathan Janz, author of Children of the Dark
“Perfectly frightening . . . feels like an otherworldly warning as much as a story.”—Johnny Compton, author of The Spite House
“One of the most terrifying books I have ever read . . . I promise it will leave your heart pounding.”—Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Hugo Award–winning author of HEX and Oracle Expand reviews
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