Incidents Around the House

This book is legitimately scary. The concept is great and the execution is there. I didn't care for these people all that much, outside of Bela, but I thought that Malerman was mining some pretty deep concepts through his stilted engagements between this oddly coupled couple while also doubling down on frightening sequences with just the right pitch and repetition. The ending wasn't perfect and not what I wanted, but was plausible, all things considered. Malerman's use of the word piqued about half dozen times in places that were suspect grated on me and piqued my interest about that artistic choice and what might have prompted it. Still, overall, the novel really marked a return to form for me with his work. Not since Birdbox have I found myself so invested.