My Five Word TL:DR Review: Atmospheric, Creepy – That Ending Though

Incidents Around the House.  In a nutshell is a horror story with a strange entity that lives in a closet and has attached itself to a the youngest family member – Bela, aged 8.

I really liked that the author chose to tell the tale from Bela’s point of view.  I’m not sure all the scenes are always believable but putting that to one side for the moment I think this voice brings a certain level of innocence to the story that wouldn’t otherwise be there.  Bela is coming to an age where she’s becoming more aware.  Maybe everything in her family life isn’t quite as perfect as she always thought, little cracks are appearing and observing and discovering the true nature of the relationships at play here was all the more intriguing for having a child’s voice.

Bela has a friend, at least that’s the way the story begins.  Other Mommy likes to talk to Bela when she’s alone, the thing is though, recently she’s asking something of Bela that makes her uncomfortable.  She wants Bela to let her into her heart – but Bela is very confused.  She doesn’t understand what this means and she’s now becoming more wary of Other Mother – especially as her demands are starting to feel a bit more pushy.

Meanwhile, through Bela’s observations we begin to see that not everything is perfect between her parents.  I won’t elaborate on this but leave you to discover the whys and wherefores for yourself.  It made me think at first that Other Mother was some sort of manifestation that had come about as a result of Bela’s own troubled thinking.  However, as the story progresses the Other Mother reveals herself to other people – which is always a terrifying experience for them.  On top of this, she’s no longer confined to Bela’s bedroom or closet but even seems to be able to follow her to the park and who knows where else.

Other Mother – okay, well, I couldn’t help but envision her/it as a strange mash between Momma and Coraline – I mean, once that dark image was in my brain it pretty much took up residence there and refused to budge – so that’s how I was envisioning her.  She’s one creepy individual, difficult to really describe, almost like a dark spider lurking in the corners but with a distorted or strange perspective to her face.

Bela’s parents, Ursula and Russ.  Well, not to labour the point, they’re struggling a little both with their own relationship and also the responsibility of having a child.  That is, Ursula in particular is struggling and finds it difficult to be so ‘pinned down’.  Russ feels more like the solid parent in Bela’s life.  They both have a penchant for sitting on the edge of Bela’s bed and pouring out all their secrets and worries when they believe she’s asleep – spoiler alert – sometimes children pretend.  Also, certain aspects of this gave me doubts because surely your partner might hear one of these one sided heart to hearts at some point – I don’t think these were necessarily believable scenarios but given that the author was using an eight year old to narrate I think they were necessary to get more information across to the reader.  I’m not sure that I really engaged with either of these two, they didn’t neglect Bela, there was nothing really bad, but she felt terribly lonely to me somehow.  There was also Grandma Ruth who seemed much more level headed and was a character that I liked for her no nonsense approach.

So, the story begins to escalate after someone other than Bela sees Other Mommy.  From there events really begin to heat up and the family seem to spend much of their time running away, driving away, trying to find a safe place to sleep, trying not to sleep, and then ultimately running away some more.

Now, did I enjoy this.  Yes,  I think the writing is really good, there’s certainly plenty of atmosphere and although I didn’t really find this scary I was absolutely intrigued and compelled to read on.  Which brings me to the conclusion.  I don’t know whether to applaud the author for giving us such a shock ending (well, I think it was a shock – but also to be fair I’ve been thinking about this over and over and I’m still not sure I understand everything, I confess that I’ve even returned to the book and read the last few chapters again, like I’m waiting for the lightbulb moment to happen) or just feel totally naffed off because I want some concrete answers.  And there you have it.  This ending is not all neatly tied up and that’s a decision that could be divisive for readers.  You’re going to have to exercise that grey matter and try and reason out what you think was really going on – and I confess – I still haven’t nailed it down so if you want to chuck me a bone and put me out of my misery then leave me a comment.

Otherwise, this was very readable.  It’s dark and atmospheric.  It feels like a ghost story but I don’t think it’s quite that.  It’s intriguing.  It’s definitely kept me thinking and that’s never a bad thing and I would love to see this adapted and watch it on the big screen – I imagine it would be very good.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars rounded to 4 of 5