Incidents Around The House

This is a terrific book and I nearly gave it 5 whopping stars, but here's my 4-star review for now.

The writing style is subtle and understated with a direct narrative that benefits from simplicity.

This amount of restraint is refreshing and the story remains calm, focused and realistic to keep events steadily ticking along. It rarely goes over the top or goes bonkers, as a horror story with enough discipline to stick to the rails and avoid cheap scares or tricks.

Maybe a bit boring even? But it really isn't.

Cosmic horror in a sense as it peers blindly into the shadows while still giving enough visual data to live the family possession nightmare.

Characters are easy to get to know and identifiable and Daddo and Bela are particularly likeable as the core focus of the family unit. But the real star is Mommy and her alter ego, Other Mommy.

<u>Other Mommy is a real pest!</u>

Told from the perspective of little Bela who is only eight, she's the ubiquitous unreliable narrator with a vague and debatable viewpoint. This lends charm and innocence and makes reading easy with no complex Edwardian dialogues to navigate.

Not that much happens outside the family unit and its dialogue and that's my biggest criticism. It lacks scope and is easy to predict why Bella keeps on seeing Other Mommy.

What Other Mommy actually is or where she comes from we never find out. The other side remains shrouded in a veil of mystery.

There are also shades of The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, but if you're expecting that level of complexity and storytelling, prepare to be disappointed. It's good at unsettling your nerves and leading you down the garden path of the unknown.

Most of all, I enjoyed the continuous undercurrents of persistently being haunted and pestered by a demon from the other side.

'Incidents' is a good read due to the smooth and (overly) repetitive writing style and the subtlety of plot buildup, because it doesn't get rushed and runs at its own pace. It's also moral and profound in places with some thought-provoking quotes: <i>"And I think you always have to remember that if someone is mean to you, they are like that with everyone else too."</i>

It reminds you not to worry about people who treat you with disrespect or gloat at you for seemingly no reason. They do that to other people too. It's their thing and not you. Continue being yourself and move on. There will always be evil spirits lurking in the shadows and whether you choose to believe or tap into them is up to you.

Although short on scope and perhaps a bit garrulous, this is an impressive effort and I will read more Josh Malerman books in the future because of it. Not every book can be groundbreaking and this remains a really good effort!