Incidents Around The House – Josh Malerman (2024 – Review)

Josh Malerman is an American author who really came to prominence in the mainstream, when his debut novel Bird Box (2014) was adapted into a 2018 film released on Netflix – starring Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich. The post-apocalyptic Horror may be his best known story, but his body of work over the last decade is vast and impressive – with a number of great novels including Malorie (2020), Pearl (2021) and Daphne (2022), as well as the novella collections Goblin (2017) and Spin A Black Yarn (2023).

Malerman is also a singer and songwriter in The High Strung – a Rock band who have extensively toured and released music for over twenty years. So it would be fair to say that Josh has a incredibly strong work ethic, and an insatiable creative appetite and flair. He is a prolific artist whose latest novel Incidents Around The House is another fine piece of work, from one of contemporary Horror’s finest imaginations. This is a thoroughly creepy tale, with many sequences of un-nerving Horror that send a chill down your spine … “Can I go into your heart?”

This is the line that defines Incidents Around The House. A line that the story’s eight-year-old narrator Bela, is continuously asked by her Other Mummy. An apparition who visits from the bedroom closet, seemingly friendly at first, but with a sinister and underlying motive. Her manipulation of the young protagonist is perfectly woven by Malerman, who patiently delivers snippets of her visits to Bela in the present, as well as in back story. Building a relationship on suspense and intrigue, keeping you guessing as to where the story is going to go.

Because the tale is told from the POV of a child narrator, Malerman purposefully deviates from a conventional writing style. There are no quotation marks defining the speech of the characters, and there is no traditional layout of the prose. This writing style is crafted with the aim of putting us into the mind of an eight-year-old, to experience the events as she understands them. Josh also drops us into the story with an immediate short sharp first chapter, introducing the concept of Other Mummy alongside our child protagonist. And from the very opening pages … there is a wonderful eeriness.

Other Mummy haunts and often appears to Bella, continuously asking her the same sinister question, while trying to manipulate her into being complicate into some-kind of supernatural reincarnation. And Bela is desperate to keep her existence from her real Mummy and Daddo. For fear that Other Mummy will hurt them. Her parents have a strained marriage, and we are offered an innocent prospective on the slow decline of their relationship, from the eyes of their disturbed daughter.

As Other Mummy increases the frequency of her incidents with Bela, she spills out into her real world. Bringing the family together as they first try to rationalise and make sense of the situation. Before working to discover a way in which to set Bela free from her supernatural visitor. Malerman crafts wonderful relationships throughout his story, particularly capturing the endearing closeness between Bela and her Daddo. While contrasting charming softer moments with sequences of pure dread, and engaging descriptions of Horror that crawl deep under your skin.

The story touches on themes of abuse – the grooming and manipulation of a child. As well as demonic-possession, hauntings and the notion of the Boogey(Wo)man. While also exploring the dynamics of family life, as well as the innocence of childhood. Malerman has an impressive knack of lulling the reader into a false sense of security, before switching a scene on a knife edge. And for those familiar with his work, it is also nice to see a return to the city of Goblin during one particular sequence. Incidents Around The House is unquestionably a Horror story that is written with a whole lot of heart, from a writer that continues to hone his craft … and this is one of his best. KZ

9/10

Words by Mark Bates

Kult-Zilla’s – Essential Horror Books – 2024!