Be truthful with me. When you were a kid, there was a moment when you were sure there was a monster under your bed. Or in your closet. Or maybe lurking just outside your bedroom door, in the hallway that led to the only bathroom. Did you just pee the bed, or did you risk being seen by this thing and devoured?
I had a monster when I was a kid. For some reason, when I was very young (4? 5?) I was convinced there was a giant bull with red eyes waiting at the end of the hallway, just outside my parents bedroom door, waiting to charge at me if I stepped outside the bedroom.
Horror author Josh Malerman (Bird Box, Black Mad Wheel, Malorie) has not tapped into that fear with hit latest novel Incidents Around the House. It is, without question, one of the scariest, creepiest, most nightmare-inducing novels of the last decade.
The novel is written from the point of view of a little girl named Bella. Be prepared, that means the literal formatting of the book is unlike most novels with dialogue and action words left and right justified. It'll take you a few pages to get used to it, but then the story will grab you just like that monster of your youth and not let go.
The action does not take long to start. Bella lives with Mommy and Daddo (yes, she calls her father Daddo). But, there's someone else who lives in her house. In fact, Other Mommy is Bella's friend who lives in her bedroom closet. Other Mommy started out as a friend, but now Bella isn't so sure. Because Other Mommy keeps asking Bella if she'll "let her into my heart."
Other Mommy is just simply one of the most creepy and terrifying monsters of recent memory. Bella repeatedly talks about how she crawls around on the floor, that her face is sometimes wrong and her eyes are on the bottom of her face. She also likes to creep up beside Bella's bed, and whisper things into her ear.
At the same time, Mommy and Daddo are having issues. Bella, not stupid, knows that something is wrong between them. Both parents have a tendency so sit on her bed when they think she's asleep and confess things that she cannot fully comprehend.
I don't want to tell you too much more. Just when you think there is no way this story can get any scarier, any weirder, any creepier, somehow it does.
Of course, the monster in this one is a terrific allegory for secrets themselves. Bella's parents have secrets. Bella has been keeping Other Mommy a secret. Whenever we try to keep secrets locked in our own mental closets, when they come out, don't they turn into monsters? You bet your ass they do.
Malerman has a way of doing this. Of pulling you into a story, bit by insidious bit, and before you know it you're up late at night, in bed, with the lights off, reading in terror, but unable to stop. It is like he has a hotline directly into the realm of all of our most primal fears. It is a dangerous power, and God forbid he ever decides to use it for nefarious purposes.
In recent years, there has been an amazing crop of new talent in horror. Guys like Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay and Ronald Malfi jump to mind. In just the past year, even newer names like Andrew Najberg, Blaine Daigle, Duncan Ralston, MJ Mars and so many others have found platforms in indie publishing. This is a great time to be a fan of horror literature. It is not just Stephen King and Dean Koontz anymore (although both are still writing and publishing).
Incidents Around the House scared the hell out of me. I think it will scare the hell out of you,too. Check it out at your local bookstore, or at Amazon.
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