A little girl's imaginary friend keeps asking to come into her heart, and the haunting spreads from her closet to her whole family.
A creepy, sad and original haunted house novel told by a child, with a bold ending, held back by a repetitive middle and long grown-up speeches. Three and a half out of five.
Every guide comes as a video and a full written article. Pick the one you need: the review is spoiler-free, the ending explained is not.
The complete Incidents Around the House summary: the full plot chapter by chapter, characters, the bathroom scene, the ending explained, themes, the Other Mommy movie and what to read next. Full spoilers.
Is Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman scary? A spoiler-free book review with content warnings, who it is for, what works, what drags and my 3.5 out of 5 score.
Who or what is Other Mommy in Incidents Around the House? The rules of the haunting, the bathroom scene, how she looks, smells and sounds, and what she means. Spoilers are labelled.
Incidents Around the House ending explained: what Bela says yes to, where she ends up, what happens to her family and how the Other Mommy movie ending differs. Full spoilers.
Finished Incidents Around the House? Here are the Josh Malerman books in order and spoiler-free books like Incidents Around the House, from Bird Box to Coraline and Hill House.
Incidents Around the House (Del Rey, June 2024) is a horror novel by Josh Malerman, the author of Bird Box. It is narrated by a little girl named Bela, whose imaginary friend, Other Mommy, keeps asking if she can go into her heart. As of October 2026 it has also been adapted as the film Other Mommy.
Content note: frequent strong language, heavy drinking and some drug use by the parents, references to infidelity, a child in danger and an off-page death. Below you’ll find a spoiler-free review, the ending explained (with the book vs movie differences), Other Mommy explained, books like it with the Josh Malerman books in order, and a complete guide to the whole story.
Incidents Around the House came out from Del Rey in June twenty twenty-four. It's told by a little girl named Bela, who lives with her mother and father in a quiet suburban house in Michigan. She calls them Mommy and Daddo, and the book is full of their jokes, drinks and late night talks. It's set in the present day, with phones, babysitters and backyard parties, which keeps the haunting feeling close.
Bela also has a friend who lives in her bedroom closet. She calls her Other Mommy. They used to play. Now Other Mommy keeps stepping out of the dark, getting closer, and asking Bela the same strange question again and again.
Incidents Around the House came out from Del Rey in June twenty twenty-four. It's told by a little girl named Bela, who lives with her mother and father in a quiet suburban house in Michigan. She calls them Mommy and Daddo, and the book is full of their jokes, drinks and late night talks. It's set in the present day, with phones, babysitters and backyard parties, which keeps the haunting feeling close.
A creepy, sad and original haunted house novel told by a child, with a bold ending, held back by a repetitive middle and long grown-up speeches. Three and a half out of five. Read it if: you like slow-burn haunted house horror; you enjoyed the quiet dread of shirley jackson or coraline; you want a fast, strange read with an ending to argue about; you like horror that is really about a family. Skip it if: you want fast action or a tidy explanation of the monster; heavy profanity and drinking put you off; a frightened or endangered child is a hard line for you; you dislike repetition and very short chapters. Review: Incidents Around the House →
Our ending explained covers the final chapters in full, with spoilers. Incidents Around the House ending explained: what Bela says yes to, where she ends up, what happens to her family and how the Other Mommy movie ending differs. Full spoilers. Ending explained: Incidents Around the House →
Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Books like it: Incidents Around the House →
Josh Malerman, the author of Bird Box. Del Rey published the novel in the United States on June 25, 2024.
Yes. The film is called Other Mommy, directed by Rob Savage and starring Jessica Chastain. As of October 2026 it is in theaters, with a US release on October 9, 2026.
It is more unsettling than gory. The fear comes from dread, strange smells and sounds, and a child's point of view, with a few properly frightening scenes. This is the reviewer's assessment.
Other Mommy is the entity that lives in Bela's closet and keeps asking to go into her heart. The book never names or fully explains her. Lois Anthony calls it a possession attempt, and the ending suggests she comes from a vast space that is not a closet.
Yes. It is a standalone novel, and as of October 2026 I found no announced sequel.
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