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Incidents Around the House

A Novel

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“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.
1

Good night, Daddo!

Good night, Mommy!

Mommy and Daddo leave my room.

I pull the covers up to my chin.

Other Mommy comes out of the closet.

Hi, I say.

I’m so excited to see you again.


2

Bela, Mommy says to me. Eat.

I’m not hungry, I say.

But still. Eat.

I’m not—­

I’ve got minutes, only minutes. Then work. Remember? That’s the place I go to make all the little money so we can buy things like food. So, you? Eat the food. Help me out here.

Little money? I ask.

Sometimes it feels that way, hon. Like the money I make is physically smaller than what other people get.

I eat. Mommy always gives me oatmeal. Daddo never gives me breakfast because one time he gave me eggs and sausage and I ate till I threw up and Mommy got mad at him and so now only Mommy gives me breakfast. But Daddo does the dishes.

I love you, Mommy says. Bela?

My mouth is full of oatmeal.

Say I love you too, Mommy says. Don’t make me ask you to say that, ’kay?

’Kay.

I love you, Bela.

Love you too.

What’s on your mind? she asks.

Nuthin’.

But there is something on my mind. I’m looking at the recycle bin.

Bela, Mommy says. Eat.

Where does it go? I ask.

Where does what—­

But she looks to where I’m looking.

Are you seriously asking me about recycling right now?

I nod. She looks impatient.

I don’t know where it goes, she says.

Is it a better place?

Better place than what?

Than where we are?

Mommy looks at me the way she does when I say something that surprises her.

I don’t know what that means, Mommy says. The whole point is that it comes back, as . . . something else, I guess.

Something else.

I think of carnations.

Bela—­

But she doesn’t need to tell me again. I eat. Then she’s up from the table.

Be good for your daddo, Mommy says.

When will you be home? I ask.

I don’t know yet. Might be late. I don’t know.

She looks frazzled. That’s the word Daddo uses when Mommy looks like this. She’s wearing her brown leather coat. Her black pants. I don’t have to go anywhere because it’s still summer. Daddo works all the time. Mommy’s schedule is all over the place. That’s how she says it.

Bye, Bela, Mommy says.

Bye.

She leaves the kitchen. Daddo is in the den working already, and I don’t hear her say goodbye to him before she leaves out the front door. I go quietly upstairs to my room. I wait for a second by the table with the flowers in the hall.

Other Mommy is already standing outside my closet doors.

I don’t want her to make the face I think she’s about to make. She gets impatient like Mommy does.

I know she wants to talk about carnations.

I go into my bedroom.

And I wave at her.

And I sit on the end of my bed, where I know she likes to talk.

She’s been coming out of the closet a lot more lately.

She walks over to me now. Sometimes it’s like she floats.

She sits on the bed too. Slowly. Next to me.

And she asks:

Can I go into your heart?


3


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.

They both smiled and their eyes got wide and Daddo made a funny sound like from a spooky movie. Then Mommy’s smile went away and she asked,

Who’s Other Mommy, Bela?

But I was embarrassed. So I said,

I’m tired!

Daddo laughed again and shut the light and they left my room, but I saw Mommy look back once through the crack in the door. Her eyes looked right at mine. Then she and Daddo went to their own bedroom.

Then Other Mommy made the grunting sound she makes when she stands up on the other side of my bed, in the space between my bed and the wall, when she’s been crouched down there on the carpet waiting for them to leave.
“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
© Allison Laakko
Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, is the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name. His other novels include Daphne, Pearl, Spin a Black Yarn, and Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box. Malerman lives in Michigan with his fiancée, the artist-musician Allison Laakko. View titles by Josh Malerman

About

“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.

Excerpt

1

Good night, Daddo!

Good night, Mommy!

Mommy and Daddo leave my room.

I pull the covers up to my chin.

Other Mommy comes out of the closet.

Hi, I say.

I’m so excited to see you again.


2

Bela, Mommy says to me. Eat.

I’m not hungry, I say.

But still. Eat.

I’m not—­

I’ve got minutes, only minutes. Then work. Remember? That’s the place I go to make all the little money so we can buy things like food. So, you? Eat the food. Help me out here.

Little money? I ask.

Sometimes it feels that way, hon. Like the money I make is physically smaller than what other people get.

I eat. Mommy always gives me oatmeal. Daddo never gives me breakfast because one time he gave me eggs and sausage and I ate till I threw up and Mommy got mad at him and so now only Mommy gives me breakfast. But Daddo does the dishes.

I love you, Mommy says. Bela?

My mouth is full of oatmeal.

Say I love you too, Mommy says. Don’t make me ask you to say that, ’kay?

’Kay.

I love you, Bela.

Love you too.

What’s on your mind? she asks.

Nuthin’.

But there is something on my mind. I’m looking at the recycle bin.

Bela, Mommy says. Eat.

Where does it go? I ask.

Where does what—­

But she looks to where I’m looking.

Are you seriously asking me about recycling right now?

I nod. She looks impatient.

I don’t know where it goes, she says.

Is it a better place?

Better place than what?

Than where we are?

Mommy looks at me the way she does when I say something that surprises her.

I don’t know what that means, Mommy says. The whole point is that it comes back, as . . . something else, I guess.

Something else.

I think of carnations.

Bela—­

But she doesn’t need to tell me again. I eat. Then she’s up from the table.

Be good for your daddo, Mommy says.

When will you be home? I ask.

I don’t know yet. Might be late. I don’t know.

She looks frazzled. That’s the word Daddo uses when Mommy looks like this. She’s wearing her brown leather coat. Her black pants. I don’t have to go anywhere because it’s still summer. Daddo works all the time. Mommy’s schedule is all over the place. That’s how she says it.

Bye, Bela, Mommy says.

Bye.

She leaves the kitchen. Daddo is in the den working already, and I don’t hear her say goodbye to him before she leaves out the front door. I go quietly upstairs to my room. I wait for a second by the table with the flowers in the hall.

Other Mommy is already standing outside my closet doors.

I don’t want her to make the face I think she’s about to make. She gets impatient like Mommy does.

I know she wants to talk about carnations.

I go into my bedroom.

And I wave at her.

And I sit on the end of my bed, where I know she likes to talk.

She’s been coming out of the closet a lot more lately.

She walks over to me now. Sometimes it’s like she floats.

She sits on the bed too. Slowly. Next to me.

And she asks:

Can I go into your heart?


3


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.

They both smiled and their eyes got wide and Daddo made a funny sound like from a spooky movie. Then Mommy’s smile went away and she asked,

Who’s Other Mommy, Bela?

But I was embarrassed. So I said,

I’m tired!

Daddo laughed again and shut the light and they left my room, but I saw Mommy look back once through the crack in the door. Her eyes looked right at mine. Then she and Daddo went to their own bedroom.

Then Other Mommy made the grunting sound she makes when she stands up on the other side of my bed, in the space between my bed and the wall, when she’s been crouched down there on the carpet waiting for them to leave.

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

Author

© Allison Laakko
Josh Malerman is a New York Times bestselling author and one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. His debut novel, Bird Box, is the inspiration for the hit Netflix film of the same name. His other novels include Daphne, Pearl, Spin a Black Yarn, and Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box. Malerman lives in Michigan with his fiancée, the artist-musician Allison Laakko. View titles by Josh Malerman