Incidents Around the House Summary By Chapter | Josh Malerman

Deb gets scared and runs to the wooden jungle gym to hide from the “scary story.” Bela follows her and sees hairy fingers curling around the entrance to the wood room.

The entity’s voice comes from the dark, asking to enter Bela’s heart. Bela screams and falls backward down the slide, hitting her head.

Key Moment: Other Mommy appears outside the house for the first time at the park.

Chapter 9: The Doctor’s Recommendation

The family is back at the kitchen table, discussing Bela’s fall. Mommy is extremely worried, but Daddo tries to stay calm and tells Bela about his own childhood accidents.

Bela cries, feeling overwhelmed by the situation. They decide to take Bela to see Dr. Smith for a “clean bill of health.”

Bela hears creaking upstairs as they prepare to leave. She wonders if saying “yes” to Other Mommy would make the entity stop getting closer.

Daddo takes her hand to lead her to the car.

Key Moment: Bela considers for the first time if giving in to the entity would provide relief.

Chapter 10: The Pattern on the Wall

Dr. Smith examines Bela in an office decorated with wallpaper of geese chasing ducks. He asks Bela why she was walking backward on the jungle gym.

Bela thinks about the hairy fingers but lies and says she wasn’t scared. When pressed, she finally admits “Other Mommy” scared her.

Dr. Smith notes that Bela is usually very coordinated and wouldn’t fall without a reason. He finds no signs of a concussion but is intrigued by her mention of an “imaginary friend.”

He tells Bela that sometimes he thinks he sees the geese catch the ducks out of the corner of his eye.

Key Moment: Bela confesses the name “Other Mommy” to a professional for the first time.

Chapter 11: The Party Monster

Mommy and Daddo throw a party, and Kelvin comes to babysit Bela. Bela is excited to see Kelvin and asks for help getting clothes from the closet.

She is afraid to open the closet door, but Kelvin finds only her blue and purple clothes inside. Downstairs, the party is loud and Daddo’s friends are drinking.

Daddo introduces Bela to Lois Anthony, who he says thinks Bela might be a “Sensitive.” Lois touches Bela’s shoulder but says she gets “zero indication” of magic.

A man tells a ghost story, and Mommy’s friend Marsha screams. Marsha claims she saw a tall, dark blue, hairy monster in the room. Bela tells everyone it wasn’t a monster; it was Other Mommy.

Key Moment: A guest other than Bela finally sees the entity during the party.

Chapter 12: The Stoned Confession

After the party, Daddo sits on Bela’s bed while she pretends to sleep. He is stoned and talks about his old friend Quinn Dole, who died young and is “missing out” on the feeling of life.

Daddo faces the closet and commands any ghost to leave his house, claiming they are happy there. The closet door creaks open, and Daddo assumes it is a loose hinge.

He gets a screwdriver and fixes the hinge, then puts a chair in front of the door. Daddo falls asleep in Bela’s bed.

Bela lies awake, listening to the closet doors and worrying about what it means to trade places with Other Mommy.

Key Moment: Daddo tries to “fix” the supernatural threat with a screwdriver and a chair.

Chapter 13: The Morning After

Mommy returns home in the morning, looking tired and still wearing her clothes from the night before. She takes aspirin for a hangover and asks Bela about the “séance” atmosphere of the party.

Mommy asks Bela for a detailed description of Other Mommy. Bela describes her as bigger than Daddo, with eyes on the sides of her head or the bottom of her face.

She also mentions that the entity sometimes slides across the floor on its belly. Daddo wakes up and they discuss the zoo trip they promised Bela.

Bela asks for a stuffed vulture because they eat things that are already dead. Mommy stares at the ceiling with crossed arms.

Key Moment: Bela gives her parents a terrifyingly detailed description of the entity’s shifting form.

Chapter 14: The Eye in the Leaves

The family visits the zoo, which Bela realizes is a place her parents go to have long, private talks. In the reptile house, Mommy and Daddo argue while Bela looks at an alligator.

They run into Lois Anthony, who invites Daddo to a Friday meeting about the “occult.” Mommy is dismissive and calls the interest “mayonnaise brain.”

In the butterfly house, Bela follows a red butterfly and sees a blue eye buried in the green leaves. She panics, thinking the entity is in the enclosure, and runs out.

Mommy is furious and declares that the situation “stops now.”

Key Moment: Bela sees the entity’s eye among the butterflies, prompting a family meltdown.

Chapter 15: The Empty Closet

Mommy empties Bela’s closet, throwing all her clothes into a large pile on the floor. She declares that Bela is not to use the closet and must sleep with the door open.

Daddo is on a work call in the hall while Mommy cleans under the bed. Bela is forced to take a nap, but she is “worked up” and scared.

The wind from the open window moves her T-shirts in the pile, making her wonder if something is hiding inside the clothes. She hears her parents whispering in the hall.

Bela eventually falls into a deep, tired sleep.

Key Moment: Mommy physically clears the closet to prove nothing is hiding there.

Chapter 16: The Voice of Other Mommy

Bela wakes in the dark to find “Mommy” sitting on her bed, confessing to cheating since before Bela was born. The voice says Daddo is “too easy” and that she wants “grit, spit, mud, and blood.”

The figure asks if Bela would “reincarnate” her and let her in. Suddenly, the real Mommy appears in the doorway, asking who Bela is talking to.

The entity on the bed reveals a “crazy” face and Mommy screams as she realizes what she is seeing. Mommy grabs Bela and flees the house, screaming for help.

They stand on the lawn, shaking and staring at Bela’s bedroom window.

Key Moment: The entity mimics Mommy’s voice to confess her secrets to Bela.

Chapter 17: No Room for Guests

The family flees to Amanda and Dan’s house. Amanda and Dan are visibly uncomfortable and scared by the “insane story” of an intruder.

Daddo returns to the house briefly and finds nothing, which frustrates Mommy. Mommy insists that what she saw was not a woman and was using her own voice.

Amanda and Dan suggest they stay somewhere else because they are “freaked out” for their baby. Daddo calls the police, but Mommy is “shaking” and “hysterical.”

They decide to go to Grandma Ruth’s house in the middle of the night.

Key Moment: The family’s friends turn them away out of fear.

Chapter 18: The Breath in the Living Room

While the adults sleep at Amanda and Dan’s, Bela hears a sound like someone taking a breath before speaking. She hides under a blanket and calls Daddo, who is filing a police report.

Dan wakes up and also hears the breathing at the entrance to the living room. He turns on the light, but no one is there.

Amanda suggests it was just her snoring, but the tension is high. Daddo returns and knocks on the door, startling everyone.

Key Moment: Dan, a skeptic, hears the entity’s breathing.

Chapter 19: The Difference of Fear

Daddo sits with Bela and discusses the different types of fear: scared, panicked, startled, and shook. He tells her that fear is for the unknown.

Dan interrupts, claiming he saw Ursula (Mommy) in his bedroom, even though she was outside. The couple is terrified and demands the family leave immediately.

On the drive to Grandma’s, they nearly hit two deer. They laugh hysterically in the car, a release of tension.

Key Moment: Dan sees an apparition of Mommy in his own bedroom.

Chapter 20: The Licking Dog

At Grandma Ruth’s, they lie about the power being out to explain their late arrival. Grandma is skeptical but lets them sleep in the living room.

Bela pets Grandma’s dog, Milky. She falls asleep and has a dream that Milky is licking her face, but the dog is as tall as the ceiling.

In the dream, the “dog” giggles. Bela realizes that tomorrow will be “meaner.”

Key Moment: Bela’s dream suggests the entity is already at Grandma Ruth’s.

Chapter 21: The Exorcist Suggestion

In the morning, Mommy and Daddo argue in the kitchen about burning their house down. Grandma Ruth overhears and tells them they need an “exorcist.”

She forces Bela to tell the truth about Other Mommy. Bela confesses that the entity has been seen “a hundred” times and asks to go into her heart.

Mommy and Daddo are shocked by the frequency of the visits. Grandma insists the police cannot help if the entity is not a person.

Key Moment: Grandma Ruth takes charge and demands a spiritual solution.

Chapter 22: The Walk in the Pines

Daddo takes Bela for a walk in the Loblolly Pines behind Grandma’s house. He tells her she is “tough” and asks if the entity ever touched her.

Bela admits they once held hands and Other Mommy’s face touched hers while floating. Daddo is upset and tells her she must always say “no” to the entity’s requests.

Grandma calls out that Mommy has left the house to see a friend. Bela feels that Other Mommy is near, watching from the trees.

Key Moment: Bela admits to previous physical contact with the entity.

Chapter 23: The Barking Dog

Daddo calls the police again to report a possible intruder in the woods. He is frustrated and confused by Bela’s description of “dark hair on the backs of her arms.”

Milky barks in the bedroom, and Bela screams, thinking the entity is there. Daddo paces and makes stressed sounds.

Grandma insists he call someone who “knows more” than the police.

Key Moment: Daddo realizes the police are useless against Bela’s specific descriptions.

Chapter 24: The Big Boy Meeting

The family meets Lois Anthony at a Big Boy restaurant. Lois says she has a “group” that can help. She asks Bela if the entity makes “deals” with her.

Bela explains the trade: Other Mommy gets the heart, and Bela goes where the entity comes from. Lois calls this “possession” and tells Bela she must “never, never, never” say yes.

They plan to meet the entity and tell it to stay away.

Key Moment: Lois identifies the threat as an attempt at possession.

Chapter 25: The Motel Watch

They stay at a wood-paneled motel because Grandma’s house is no longer safe. Daddo asks if some problems are just unsolved mysteries.

Grandma and Lois talk on the balcony. Grandma asks if Other Mommy has ever hurt anyone, and Bela thinks of the entity’s “mean” potential.

Grandma takes the “first watch” as they practice facing the threat.

Key Moment: The family admits they are now in a “survival” situation.

Chapter 26: The Failed Séance

The family visits Lois’s house for a meeting with her “Sensitive” friends. They sit in a circle with candles and “spiritual telephones” like crystals and an old phone.

The group tries to “thin the veil” and tell Other Mommy to leave Bela alone. A man named Kyle whispers to Bela that the entity “gave you a present.”

Mommy arrives and announces that a man named Frank Doherty is dead in a closet. Bela realizes the “present” might be the man’s death.

Key Moment: Kyle receives a direct message from the entity about a “present.”

Chapter 27: The Dead Man’s Key

In the car, Daddo is nervous and Mommy is crying. They have nowhere left to go: their house, Grandma’s, and the friends’ houses are all compromised.

Mommy admits she has a key to Frank’s house. Daddo turns the car around to go there.

Bela thinks about Other Mommy’s warnings that she might “get mean” if she is left outside too long.

Key Moment: The family decides to hide in the house of the man the entity just killed.

Chapter 28: The Ghost of Frank’s House

Frank’s house smells like another person. They turn on every light in the house to feel safer. Bela listens for creaks and realizes she can sometimes smell the entity (like a “dead mouse”).

Mommy and Daddo argue about staying in the place where Mommy’s lover died. Bela yells that she thinks the entity is in the house right now.

They flee the house in a panic and drive away into the dark.

Key Moment: Bela senses the entity in the dead man’s house.

Chapter 29: The Gas Station Face

They sleep in the car at a gas station. Bela recalls the “Peekaboo” games Other Mommy used to play in the closet.

She watches a man wash his car window and thinks she sees an upside-down face in the soapy water. Bela wonders if her parents are scared of each other.

She realizes that friends shouldn’t be this scared of one another.

Key Moment: Bela sees the entity’s face reflected in a stranger’s car window.

Chapter 30: The Silent Priests

Mommy and Grandma talk to priests at a church, but they are turned away. The priests ask if they use drugs or are “zealous.”

Mommy is furious and says they have to “kill it” themselves. Bela wonders if they can kill it with a gun.

The sound of the priests walking away feels like the “whole world” is leaving them.

Key Moment: The formal religious institution refuses to help the family.

Chapter 31: The House at the Edge of Goblin

They drive through Goblin, visiting psychics and headshops but find no help. Grandma calls an old friend, Evelyn, who has a huge house.

Evelyn welcomes them and shows them many rooms, including a “wardrobe” and guest beds. Bela notices a closet door is slightly open in the yellow room.

Key Moment: The family finds temporary shelter in a large, unfamiliar mansion.

Chapter 32: The Bathroom Trap

After a night of heavy drinking and dancing, Mommy and Daddo pass out in the yellow room. Bela has to pee and goes to the bathroom alone.

She thinks she sees Evelyn behind the shower curtain, but it is a black shape. As she sits on the toilet, she feels “other legs” beneath her own—hairy, wet legs.

Other Mommy is in the room with no face. Evelyn and Grandma rescue Bela, and Evelyn screams for them to leave her house. They flee as the entity “bunches” on the ceiling.

Key Moment: The entity physically manifests beneath Bela in the bathroom.

Chapter 33: Fortifying the Home

The family returns home and installs massive amounts of alarms and cameras. Daddo is “fortifying” the house.

They order two “Cane Corso” guard dogs. Mommy warns Bela that the dogs are “not puppies” and “not pets.”

Neighbors watch the house, which has become the “talk of the town.”

Key Moment: The family chooses to turn their home into a high-security prison for protection.

Chapter 34: Kami and Kamael

The trainers bring the dogs, Kami and Kamael. They are trained to “accept” the family’s scents.

The trainers say the dogs will guard against any “intruder” but are confused by Mommy’s questions about “ghosts.” The dogs are not trained for the second floor but will react to a struggle.

Key Moment: The guard dogs are introduced to the domestic defense.

Chapter 35: The Silent House

The house is silent because they want the dogs to be able to hear everything. Daddo moves his desk to the living room so they are never apart.

The dogs growl at a neighbor passing by. Bela feels it is her fault the family is so “trapped.”

Daddo watches the camera footage on his phone constantly.

Key Moment: The family enters a state of perpetual surveillance.

Chapter 36: Corners of the Eyes

Bela wakes up to pee and Daddo takes her, watching the hall for “creaks.” Mommy wakes up and says she heard them laughing in the kitchen, but they were in the bathroom.

Mommy says she doesn’t want to stare at one place because it creates “corners of the eyes.”

Kamael growls at the kitchen.

Key Moment: Mommy hears phantom laughter, indicating the entity’s mimicry is ongoing.

Chapter 37: The False Kelvin

Bela falls asleep and wakes up in her own bed. A voice that sounds like Kelvin talks to her from the closet.

“Kelvin” tells her he can fix her parents’ marriage if they “switch places” for a day. Bela notices the figure has hairy fingers.

She runs downstairs and realizes the real Kelvin is not there. Daddo calls Kelvin, who is at his own home.

Key Moment: The entity mimics Kelvin to trick Bela into saying “yes.”

Chapter 38: Brian the Pest Control

A man named Brian, who dresses in all black, arrives to “exterminate” the threat. He doesn’t believe in “ghosts” and calls it a “pest.”

He tours the house and wants to be alone to investigate. Mommy doesn’t trust him, but Daddo is “desperate.”

Brian says he plans to “trick it.”

Key Moment: A professional “pest” expert is hired to handle the supernatural.

Chapter 39: The Tape Recorder

Grandma Ruth arrives and Brian is in the dining room eating chips. Bela watches him through the window and sees him looking at the ceiling.

Brian goes upstairs with a tape recorder and then comes back down. He claims to have “something on tape.”

Key Moment: Brian begins gathering “evidence” while the family waits outside.

Chapter 40: The Earthquake Yell

In the middle of the night, Other Mommy appears on her knees in the dining room. Brian is thrilled and tries to touch her.

Other Mommy lets out a yell like an earthquake, and a cold wind throws everyone back. Brian is ecstatic because he “touched it,” but then he immediately packs his things and leaves.

He tells them it’s “bigger than you” and he only wanted to see one. Daddo punches Brian as he drives away.

Key Moment: The entity attacks Brian and the family, but Brian leaves them abandoned.

Chapter 41: The Knife Decision

Mommy and Daddo decide they must kill the entity themselves since no one else will help. They talk about staying up in “shifts” and using kitchen knives.

Daddo is crying but Mommy tells him they are a “team.” They realize the entity can look like other people, so they have to be “sure” before they strike.

Key Moment: The parents commit to a physical confrontation with the supernatural.

Chapter 42: Dressed for the Fight

Daddo shaves and they all take showers together, never leaving each other’s sight. They dress in “nice clothes” because Mommy says it changes how you feel.

Bela wears her party clothes. Mommy and Daddo hold their knives and walk through the house with Bela in the middle.

Key Moment: The family “dresses up” to face their possible death.

Chapter 43: The Second Pantry

The family goes upstairs and searches the storage closet (second pantry). Daddo flips the light switch, but the light doesn’t work.

Other Mommy’s voice comes from the dark, asking why they would “do this to me.” The doorbell rings repeatedly, and the dogs bark downstairs.

They find Lois Anthony at the door, who says they can’t kill it with knives. She says it wants Bela’s innocence.

Key Moment: Lois interrupts a potential suicide/murder mission by the parents.

Chapter 44: The Lake Michigan Trip

They drive a hundred miles to Lake Michigan to get “distance.” Lois says the entity must have a “limit” to how far it can travel.

Mommy and Daddo are angry but have no other plan. Lois explains they must “revoke” Bela’s innocence by telling her the truth.

Key Moment: The family flees to a remote beach for a final ritual.

Chapter 45: The Skinny Dog

Bela and Lois stand by the water. Lois asks Bela about her relationship with Other Mommy. Bela admits the entity said “yes” would be as easy as “slipping into a dress.”

Bela sees a skinny “dog” crawling up the beach toward them, but it never gets closer. Mommy wakes up from a deep sleep under a white umbrella.

Key Moment: Bela sees the entity following them on the beach in the form of a crawling dog.

Chapter 46: The Square Around the Fire

They build a fire on the beach and sit in a square. Lois explains that innocence is “frightening” because it’s a target.

Mommy tells Bela she is going to hear a “story that isn’t good.” Bela sees Other Mommy’s upside-down face in the fire.

Key Moment: The parents begin the ritual of “revoking innocence” through truth-telling.

Chapter 47: The Paternity Truth

Mommy confesses that she was married to a man named Douglas Cain when she met Russ. She admits to a life of cheating and that Russ is not Bela’s biological father.

She describes a paternity test where Russ’s blood did not match Bela’s. Bela stands up and starts running into the waves.

She screams and sees Other Mommy’s legs in the water. Bela begins to lie to her parents, claiming Other Mommy is gone forever.

Key Moment: Bela learns that Daddo is not her biological father.

Chapter 48: The Shattered Glass

They prepare to go home, and Mommy hits Lois Anthony in the face. Bela is cold and wet and refuses to talk to “Daddo.”

Daddo says their lives are like “shattered glass.” Bela watches a wave that isn’t moving.

Key Moment: The family’s trust is completely broken by the ritual.

Chapter 49: The Trunk Fingertip

During the drive home, Mommy claims the haunting is her “retribution” for her sins. Bela sees a fingertip pushing through the backseat from the trunk.

Mommy laughs meanly and says she is “shit” as a mother. They pull into the driveway and see Grandma Ruth’s car is there.

Key Moment: Other Mommy is revealed to be inside the car during the drive.

Chapter 50: The Heart House

Grandma Ruth sits with Bela and compares the heart to a house with many rooms. She tells Bela to not let “statues” (heavy, unmovable feelings) take up space.

Mommy and Daddo are exhausted and take turns sleeping in the dining room. Bela and Grandma work on the Michigan puzzle.

Key Moment: Grandma Ruth provides a metaphorical framework for Bela’s upcoming choice.

Chapter 51: The Final Yes

Bela gets sleepy while doing the puzzle. She sees Grandma Ruth’s face change and realizes it’s Other Mommy. She hides in the foyer closet and hears Grandma screaming upstairs.

Mommy and Daddo run upstairs and Bela finds Grandma’s dead body in the closet with her. The house goes quiet.

Bela goes to her bed, and Other Mommy asks the question one last time. Bela says “Yes.”

Other Mommy takes over Bela’s life, and Bela finds herself in a vast, empty “room” that is not a house.

Key Moment: Bela finally says “Yes,” allowing the entity to take over her body.

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