Eight-year-old Bela has a monster living in her closet — one that used to be nice. Bela can’t remember when Other Mommy, as the demonic figure asks to be called, first appeared. But Other Mommy has emerged from the closet over time, sitting on Bela’s bed, creeping around in shadows on Bela’s wall, and appearing elsewhere in Bela’s home.
The pair used to be friends, Bela thinks, until Other Mommy became preoccupied with asking the girl an insidious question: “Will you let me into your heart?”
Incidents Around the House is author and musician Josh Malerman’s latest horror story. Best known for his 2014 breakout post-apocalyptic novel Bird Box, which was adapted into a Netflix movie starring Sandra Bullock in 2018, Malerman has written dozens of novels and short stories. The highly anticipated Incidents tells a story of demonic possession from Bela’s point of view; the novel contains only her narration, save a few (sometimes droll) monologues from Mommy (Ursula) and Daddo (Russ), Bela’s problematic parents.
Because the story is written exclusively in Bela’s voice, it’s an easy read, one that felt almost too juvenile at times. Bela’s parents are annoyingly selfish and place unbelievable burdens on the young girl, mostly related to their own sordid sexual pasts. It’s not a graphic novel; it is, though, creepy. Until I started looking for shadows in mirrors and making sure my closet door was shut before bed, I didn’t realize just how much the novel terrified me.
The book’s twist (spoilers ahead) is one not usually present in thrillers addressing demonic influence (typically, there’s a priest, and an exorcism, and things turn out relatively fine). But when Bela’s parents eventually learn of, and see, the demon, they’re just as scared of it as Bela is. Upon the advice of a woman with a fascination for the occult, Bela’s parents become convinced that the girl’s innocence is what makes her desirable to Other Mommy. To strip away that innocence might make Bela less attractive — and might make Other Mommy move on, perhaps to a different subject. So, Ursula and Russ tell Bela their secrets to squash her childlike innocence, the worst being that Bela’s father isn’t her biological father, due to her mother’s infidelity.
If intended, Malerman does an excellent job tricking the reader into being frustrated by Bela’s naivety. Bela eventually gives in to Other Mommy’s request, after the demon starts to harm her family. You’re left thinking one of two things: Bela’s heart was so shattered by her parents’ admissions that she’d rather give it away to evil than exist in such a state of despair; or Bela gave in to the demon, thinking that it might be the last chance at saving her family from harm. Either way, generational trauma factors in, and the sins of Bela’s parents, I think, ultimately made her a vulnerable enough target for demonic possession.
Father Carlos Martins and podcaster and former football player Ryan Bethea have a show called the Exorcist Files in which Father Martins, an exorcist, discusses his experiences with demons. In a couple of the especially haunting cases, childhood trauma makes kids more susceptible to demonic influence; indeed, their vulnerability, and the wounds imprinted upon them by careless or spiritually devoid family members, can make children the devil’s most attractive targets. If you believe in such things, as I do, Incidents is a horrifying read — one that gets scarier the more you consider its ambiguous ending.