Scan barcode
A review by streetwrites
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
5.0
Character (5/5)
Plot & Pacing (5/5)
Setting & Surroundings (5/5)
Dialogue & Diction (5/5)
Craft & Voice (5/5)
Reading Experience (5/5)
Final Rating:
5/5
Comments:
This is the scariest book I have ever read. Full stop. If I were ever going to teach a class on horror writing, this would be essential reading for my students. Josh Malerman commands craft like it’s an extension of who he is, and he weaves his way into every part of your conscious and unconscious mind. His words and the scenes they describe stay inside you, dormant as you carry on in life, and then coming alive while you’re trying to find sleep, or in the hazy spaces between waking and dreaming, and then explode vividly in dream world. The absolute dread of this book was oppressive and palpable, and reading this story from Bela’s perspective, and understanding her external world from an 8-year-old’s mind…I felt like I was back in my bedroom as a child, trying to squint into the dark, praying the monster wouldn’t come out of my closet. There’s nothing crazy complicated about the basic building blocks of this story: small child in a dark room, monster in the closet, a house and family haunted. Those things have been done a million times. But the WAY they’re done here, the way Malerman wields his craft and spins this story…breathtaking and spine-tingling. And the many themes that are intricately woven into this semi-cautionary tale…just an absolute masterclass. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this book. A masterpiece, truly. And I don’t say that about a lot of horror, because I am not easily scared by books.
Plot & Pacing (5/5)
Setting & Surroundings (5/5)
Dialogue & Diction (5/5)
Craft & Voice (5/5)
Reading Experience (5/5)
Final Rating:
5/5
Comments:
This is the scariest book I have ever read. Full stop. If I were ever going to teach a class on horror writing, this would be essential reading for my students. Josh Malerman commands craft like it’s an extension of who he is, and he weaves his way into every part of your conscious and unconscious mind. His words and the scenes they describe stay inside you, dormant as you carry on in life, and then coming alive while you’re trying to find sleep, or in the hazy spaces between waking and dreaming, and then explode vividly in dream world. The absolute dread of this book was oppressive and palpable, and reading this story from Bela’s perspective, and understanding her external world from an 8-year-old’s mind…I felt like I was back in my bedroom as a child, trying to squint into the dark, praying the monster wouldn’t come out of my closet. There’s nothing crazy complicated about the basic building blocks of this story: small child in a dark room, monster in the closet, a house and family haunted. Those things have been done a million times. But the WAY they’re done here, the way Malerman wields his craft and spins this story…breathtaking and spine-tingling. And the many themes that are intricately woven into this semi-cautionary tale…just an absolute masterclass. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this book. A masterpiece, truly. And I don’t say that about a lot of horror, because I am not easily scared by books.