Scary Summer Reads: Incidents Around the House

There are haunted house stories, and then there’s what Josh Malerman has conjured in Incidents Around the House. This is a slow-burn fever dream of dread, grief, and quiet terror that doesn’t scream for attention so much as it creeps into your subconscious and takes up residence.

This is not a story where doors slam shut or walls bleed theatrically. Rather than relying on spectacle, this haunting unsettles by tunneling inward, exposing the fragile ground of memory, fear and childhood innocence.

The premise is deceptively simple. Bella, a young girl, begins seeing a strange entity she calls Other Mommy, a visitor who isn’t quite imaginary. Disturbingly, her parents can see her too. From this single chilling truth, Malerman spins a tale where reality bends, love and fear blur, and the walls of the home seem to pulse with unnameable unease.

What makes the story so chilling isn’t just the presence of a ghost. It’s the psychological intimacy of the haunting. This isn’t about what goes bump in the night. It’s about what stares back at you in daylight and makes you question your role as a parent, a protector, or even as a person. The domestic setting, normally a safe haven, becomes a place of unsettling questions and mounting dread.

Malerman’s prose is disorienting because it's told from the frustrating perspective of a child. This distorts the ordinary just enough to make everything feel slightly off-kilter. You want to know more. You want this child to tell us the parts she is not telling us. You want her to understand what we as adults understand from what she is describing. It's excruciating.

One of Malerman's notable strengths is his ability to create emotionally resonant work without descending into melodrama. The horror arises not only from the entity itself, but also from what it compels the characters, and us as readers, to face. The notion that certain presences, once welcomed, never truly depart.

What makes it even more unsettling is the authenticity of the experience. While hauntings in horror films are frequently exaggerated, the fear here is exhausting and persistent, gradually wearing away at your mind until you feel vulnerable. This often mundane realism is what gives the story its profound impact.

Incidents Around the House is a classic boogeyman tale that also explores the vulnerability of children in dire situations where adults are equally powerless. It's a grim, stark, and intensely realistic story that captivates. It's one of the rare books that instilled in me a fear not just of the night, but also the realization that in a genuine haunting, there's no escape at any time of the day.