ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Del Rey for the access to this ebook.

Holy shit!!! This is the best horror story I've read this year, hands down. I love a good haunted house, haunted child, haunted family story, and this DELIVERED.

I was immediately into this. This story is so compelling, so scary, so well-written, and so well-executed. I agree that the ending is expected, but that didn't take away from its impact. The way Malerman built tension, allowing it to ebb and flow, was masterful. I read a lot of this at night and I could feel my spine tingling, I could feel eyes on me as Bela talked about "Other Mommy" coming out of her closet. And when the shit started hitting the fan later on, I could feel the terror even more.

I thought this would be the sort of haunting only the child can see, but I'm glad other characters were brought into it. It made the whole thing feel even worse, seeing grown adults lose their minds at witnessing this creature. It was hard to stop reading and yet there were moments I didn't want to continue and just pull a blanket over my eyes.

I think that writing from the perspective of such a young child is always a bit risky, but Malerman knew exactly what to do with Bela. I'm guessing he's a parent cause he captured the innocence and naivete of her age without making her feel annoying or purposefully stupid to make up for other things.

That innocence and naivete, and the curiosity of being a child, made the suspense even better. She didn't perceive risk as an adult would, so she engaged with "Other Mommy" without fear and that just made me, the reader, feel twice as afraid.

This gave me that 5-star feeling all around!