Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman

A chilling horror novel about a haunting told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls “Other Mommy,” from the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box
To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There’s Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: “Can I go inside your heart?”  
 
When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the same question, over and over . . . Bela understands that unless she says yes, soon her family must pay. 
 
Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe but other incidents show cracks in her parents' marriage. The safety Bela relies on is on the brink of unraveling.  
 
But Other Mommy needs an answer. 
Incidents Around the House is a chilling, wholly unique tale of true horror told by the child Bela. A story about a family as haunted as their home.
 

Eight-year-old Bela is the only child in a dysfunctional family full of secrets. Bela has also been keeping her own secret from Mommy and Daddo. She's been talking to an entity that hides in her closet. An entity she calls Other Mommy that at first seems friendly and benign but is now becoming increasingly bold and aggressive. Other Mommy is growing more powerful and no longer confined to Bela's room. It grows angry and frustrated that Bela will not answer its question "Can I go into your heart?" Now it follows Bela everywhere and has no fear of showing itself to others. It knows things about the family and uses it against them. It can be anywhere.

Told from Bela's point of view the story is even more terrifying when portrayed through the eyes of a child who is learning that her parents can't always protect her. She struggles on her own to understand the meaning of this entity wanting to go into her heart and her sadness at the loss of what she once considered to be a companion who was there for her when her parents were not.

This is not one of those books that I couldn't put down. Incidents Around The House is a book that I had to put down more than once.  I had to take a break because it was scaring me. It brought back every childhood nightmare I had ever managed to forget. It will land on my Best Horror Novel of the Year list.

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Del Rey Books

Available for pre-order

About the author

Movie Review- Pandemonium

Drawing on themes found in Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost, Pandemonium is a multi-textured existential fantasy, topped with signature notes of visceral horror, disturbing fairy tale, wry comedy, and dark thriller. From the creative mind of Quarxx, comes this aesthetically stunning and relentlessly macabre tale. Pandemonium made its world premiere at Neuchâtel and went on to screen at Fantasia, Frightfest, Fantasy FilmFest, Sitges, Grimmfest, Trieste and Screamfest 

 Pandemonium follows Nathan (Hugo Dillon), an ordinary man on a journey he never expected. After realizing he has died at the scene of a car crash, Nathan descends into the depths of hell, where he is doomed to experience the pain of tortured souls along the way.

Nathan awakens after his car crash, only to be told by the biker he hit that they are in fact both dead. After his initial disbelief, he steps through the doorway that will eventually lead to his own personal hell. His first stop shows him how and why those who came before him are facing their own journey into hell. We see their individual stories as an anthology before we get to Nathan's fate at the end.

The anthology format reminded me of an old TV series called 13 Demon Street in which Lon Chaney Jr portrayed some sort of guardian to hell who was hoping to find someone with sins worse than his own so he could move on and they could take his place. But in Pandemonium there is nobody for Nathan to tell his side of the story to, his fate is sealed.

The most terrifying part is how easy it is to find oneself in hell. Those whose greatest sin may have been not paying attention are just as likely to end up damned as those who commit multiple murders. This bleak reveal is thought provoking. It made me wonder if there really is a hell can it be escaped by merely remaining sin free? Or must one actively participate in conscious deeds every single day to avoid ending up in hell? 

Get thee behind me Satan!

Available May 27 in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland. On the same day, Pandemonium will be available on major VOD platforms, including Apple TV and Prime Video.

Watch The Trailer Here

 

Voracious by Wrath James White

 

Doctor Trevor Adams is a genius by all accounts. His ethics, however, leave a bit to be desired. When the Aphrodite Aesthetic Reconstruction Clinic hires him to create a genetic weight-loss treatment, Doctor Adams uses a synthetic retro virus to transport pygmy shrew DNA into clients willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to be able to eat whatever they want without gaining a pound.

Pygmy Shrews have metabolisms so fast they don’t store fat cells and have to eat every two hours, twice their body-weight in food every day, or they will die. When they are hungry, they will attack and consume prey more than twice their size. They have fangs tipped with a red iron ore, saliva that contains a paralyzing neurotoxin, are the size of a quarter, and are considered to be some of the most vicious animals on earth. When Doctor Adams’s clients begin burning more calories than they can possibly consume, he is afraid he has made one terrible mistake.

Dieting and weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry. The things people are willing to put themselves through to get that beach body know no limits. For some people, no danger is too great a risk.

What if you didn't need calorie restrictions, grueling workouts, pills, or surgeries? Dr. Trevor Adams has an incredible solution. After one easy treatment, you can eat anything you like for the rest of your life and never gain an ounce. You can even eat things you would never have dreamed of eating before. In fact, you will have to eat anything and everything you can get your hands on because your body is wasting away faster than you can chew.

These unforeseen consequences will affect not only the recipients of this treatment but everyone around them, and time is running out because the hunger is spreading.

Voracious is a satirical horror with bite. It's a fast paced gory read about what happens when vanity and greed try to mess with mother nature. I would recommend it to those who like their horror on the more extreme side.

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.

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When the Night Falls by Glenn Rolfe

Rocky Zukas lives with the ghosts of what happens when you fall in love with a monster. Lucky to be alive, Rocky roams his beachside hometown living on autopilot, waiting for life to start again.

November Riley has never been far from the boy that stole her heart. She watches from the shadows, knowing she can never make things right between them, but never giving up on the chance they could try one more time.

A new documentary is bringing Gabriel Riley, the Beach Night Killer, back to national consciousness. The dead serial killer has a trio of new fans that are ready to make Old Orchard Beach, Maine their home for the end of the summer season.

When the new strangers in town discover Rocky’s relationship to the past of one of their own, he becomes their number one target. Can November protect him, or will these other vampires prove too strong?

When the night falls, blood will spill, and death will reign.

This highly anticipated sequel to Until Summer Comes Around takes place ten years after the most momentous summer of Rocky's life.

Things have settled down in Old Orchard Beach in the years since the murders. The tourists are back as usual, and Rocky lives a mostly quiet life, dealing as best he can with the knowledge that monsters are real, and that the first and only girl he ever loved was one of them. 

Now, ten years later, a documentary about the murders brings back that pain and a slew of pests that want to interview Rocky as the survivor of the massacre that rocked the town. Rumors and speculation that the killer may have been a vampire and might not have been alone have caught the eye of more than just reporters. Now people are going missing and Rocky may face a fight for his life again.

The vampires Glenn Rolfe has created are not immortal, nor are they confined to the darkness. They are a fresh original take on what we all think we know from movies. They don't kill just for survival but for the sheer thrill and enjoyment of it, and they walk among us in the sun. You may even spot one on the beach this summer waiting in line at the concession stand, but you'll only know once you feel the bite. When The Night Falls is the perfect summer read. It's brutal, deadly, and sexy in all the right ways with the perfect 90s vibe.

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to the author for the advance copy.

Available for pre-order

Until Summer Comes Around should be read first.

About the author