📖 Incidents Around The House by Josh Malerman ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫✨ 4,75 stars I finally decided to pick up Incidents Around the House because the movie adaptation is coming soon, and I already knew I wanted to watch it. After reading the book, I’m even more excited to see this story come to life on screen. The story follows eight-year-old Bela, whose family is her entire world. But Bela also has a visitor: Other Mommy, a mysterious entity who comes out of her closet and repeatedly asks her, “Can I go inside your heart?” At first, Other Mommy seems almost like a friend, but her presence becomes increasingly disturbing, and Bela soon realizes that something is very, very wrong. As strange incidents begin happening around the house and tensions between Bela’s parents grow, the feeling of safety she depends on starts to disappear. I absolutely loved the way this story was told. Having everything narrated from Bela’s perspective made it so much more interesting because we only know as much as she does. Since she’s a child, she doesn’t always understand what’s happening around her, which made certain scenes even more unsettling. I also loved how Malerman slowly reveals what Other Mommy actually is instead of giving us all the answers right away. I had to read this book in basically one sitting because I simply couldn’t put it down. The writing was easy to get through, but the atmosphere kept me hooked, and I constantly wanted to know what would happen next. Was I actually scared while reading it? Surprisingly, no. But that’s probably because I have aphantasia and can’t really visualize what I’m reading. I think some of the scenes might have been much scarier for me if I could picture everything in my head. And honestly, that’s exactly why I’m so excited for the movie. I can’t wait to actually see Other Mommy and experience all those creepy moments on screen. I’m a huge fan of paranormal and psychological horror, while slashers usually aren’t really my thing, and this book definitely delivered the kind of horror I enjoy. It was creepy, unsettling and had such an interesting premise. Now I just need to see the movie and find out if Other Mommy is even scarier when I can actually see her.

Super spannend und gruselig! Regt zum Andenken an! Einige Sachen habe ich nicht ganz verstanden. Sehr tiefgründig und interessant, als auch traurig und verzerrt.

The creepiest aspect of this book is that the entire plot is narrated from the perspective of a young girl, which forces readers to reflect on how reality is perceived and presented. The child senses a supernatural presence in the house in the form of a woman who calls herself “Other Mommy” and asks for access to her life. At first, the parents do not truly believe what their daughter is telling them; however, the boundaries between fantasy and reality become increasingly unstable until the parents themselves begin to perceive the unnatural presence. That is where the real horror begins. Author Josh Malerman, best known for the film adaptation of his novel Bird Box, plays with the differing perceptions of reality between children and adults. The novel contains little blood and no conventional monster. Instead, the horror is psychological—an insidious fear that slowly takes shape and becomes something inescapably evil. Incidents Around the House is a novel that sends shivers down your spine and should not be read before going to sleep—you may start wondering whether something is hiding under your bed.

i know horror is subjective but where was the horror in this book that leads ppl to say it’s the scariest they have ever read? also wanted to DNF it cause I couldn’t decide which one was worse the real mom or other mommy