Incidents Around the House

Del Rey released the novel in the United States in hardcover, electronic, and audiobook formats on 25 June, 2024. The audiobook is narrated by Delanie Nicole Gill and has a running time of eight hours and 24 minutes.^[1] A 400-page paperback edition was published on June 3, 2025.^[6]

Summarize Fact Check

Eight-year-old Bela lives in Chaps, Michigan, with her parents, Ursula and Russ, whom she calls Mommy and Daddo. For several years, she has secretly been visited by a humanoid entity she calls Other Mommy, which usually emerges from her bedroom closet. Other Mommy repeatedly asks whether it may enter Bela's heart. Bela understands that they would exchange places, allowing the entity to inhabit her body while she is sent elsewhere, and consistently refuses.

Bela's parents initially dismiss Other Mommy as an imaginary friend. Their marriage is deteriorating, however, and Bela senses that Ursula is concealing an affair. The entity becomes increasingly aggressive and begins appearing outside Bela's bedroom. At a playground, it imitates the voice of Bela's friend Deb and shows hairy fingers, causing Bela to panic and fall. During a party at the family home, a guest named Marsha sees the creature.

Bela later encounters a figure resembling Ursula that confesses to having an affair, resenting motherhood and wishing to begin life again in another body. When the real Ursula enters, Bela realizes that Other Mommy has imitated her. Ursula also sees the entity, and the family flees after it follows them to their neighbors' house.

They take refuge with Ursula's mother, Ruth, who accepts Bela's account. Bela reveals that Other Mommy has approached her hundreds of times and wants permission to possess her. Ruth contacts Lois Anthony, a woman with an interest in paranormal phenomena. Lois concludes that the being is not a ghost but an entity attempting to reincarnate through Bela.

During a séance, a participant reports that Other Mommy has given Bela a “present”. Ursula then reveals that her lover, Frank Doherty, has been found dead inside a closet. Bela believes that Other Mommy killed him in an attempt to repair her parents' marriage.

The family repeatedly relocates, but the entity follows them. They seek help from churches and paranormal investigators, travel to the town of Goblin and stay with Ruth's friend Evelyn. After Evelyn sees Other Mommy manifest in her bathroom, Bela concludes that the haunting is attached to her rather than to the family home.

The family returns home and installs alarms and obtains guard dogs, but Other Mommy bypasses their precautions and impersonates Kelvin, a teenage babysitter whom Bela trusts. A paranormal investigator named Brian witnesses the entity, but leaves after touching Other Mommy which is all he was after, revealing he wasn’t interested in helping the family.

Lois proposes that Other Mommy is attracted to Bela's innocence and might lose interest if Bela is exposed to a painful adult secret. At Sleeping Bear Dunes, Ursula tells Bela that she was married to an older man, Douglas Cain, when she began an affair with Russ and became pregnant. A paternity test established that Douglas, rather than Russ, is Bela's biological father, although Russ chose to raise her.

The revelation devastates Bela, who concludes that the adults around her have deceived her. She falsely tells them that Other Mommy has disappeared, but sees the entity in Lake Michigan the following morning.

After the family returns home, Ruth compares the human heart to a house containing many rooms and warns Bela to be careful about what she permits inside. That night, Bela realizes that the figure sitting beside her is Other Mommy impersonating Ruth. She hides in a closet and discovers Ruth's body. The entity uses Ruth's voice to lure Russ and Ursula upstairs. After hearing a struggle, Bela finds her parents lying face down and unresponsive.

Believing that she is alone and wanting companionship, Bela returns to her bedroom. Other Mommy again asks to enter her heart, and Bela finally agrees. Bela finds herself in an immense, empty space while she hears the entity practicing her voice, suggesting that Other Mommy has taken possession of her body and assumed her place in the human world.

Publishers Weekly described the novel as containing predictable but nevertheless eerie scares. The review identified Bela's naive narrative voice as its strongest feature, stating that it refreshed the familiar premise and strengthened the atmosphere of dread.^[7]

Kirkus Reviews criticized the novel's lengthy monologues and limited characterization of Bela, but found that Malerman maintained the reader's attention.^[2]

Lila Denning of Library Journal praised Malerman's ability to turn ordinary situations into sources of fear and considered Bela's narrative voice believable. She recommended the novel to readers of Neil Gaiman, Catriona Ward, Paul Tremblay and Scott Thomas.^[8]

Neil McRobert included the novel in Esquire's list of the best horror books of 2024. He praised its claustrophobic atmosphere, restricted perspective and narrative efficiency, calling it “the most purely effective horror novel” he had read.^[9]

In April 2025, it was announced that Universal Pictures and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster were developing a film adaptation, with Rob Savage directing, James Wan producing and Jessica Chastain starring in the film.^[10]

The film was subsequently titled Other Mommy. Chastain portrays both Ursula and the entity after it assumes Ursula's appearance. Arabella Olivia Clark portrays Bela and Jay Duplass portrays Russ. The cast also includes Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed and Karen Allen.^[11] Universal Pictures scheduled the film for theatrical release in the United States on October 9, 2026.^[5]