Incredible. I'm speechless. Absolute literary masterpiece.
I'm still sitting here processing the essence of this book, afraid that my words will scatter the enormous complex experience that is nestled and alive in me at this moment.

After reading the author's note too, I felt teary. This is such a heartfelt story, nestled amongst a darkly suspenseful psychological horror. I have discovered a new favourite author. The way Malfi writes is exquisite. It flows. The plot circumnavigates full circle in a clever poetic manner so that everything connects back up like a debrief. It's beautifully written. It's eerie. There were moments I was genuinely scared, or felt dread, or would read over paragraphs multiple times just to enjoy the haunting atmosphere. The layers of psychological exploration is incredible. I feel like this book was handled with great gentleness. It's difficult to describe. A great respect for death, grief, friendship and the complexity of human lives.

And also absolutely unputdownable. I fell asleep with the kindle in my hand at one point.
I have so much good to say about this book. It gave me amateur sleuth vibes of Gone Girl, the quiet dread of entering a radioactive town like in Silent Hill, philosophical layerings and red herrings of I'm Thinking of Ending Things, spooky horror scenes akin to Labyrinth of the Dolls, the loving tenderness and hauntings of The Haunting of Hill House and even the metaphysical undertones of movies like Interstellar .

I should probably address the plot: The recently widowed Aaron Decker, finds his late wife's secret stash of investigative info on the murders of six women, as well as the disturbing final page entry 'Gas Head will make you dead'. Aaron, still fuelled by grief, sets off to finish the project his wife started, on finding the answers to the murders, as well as finding answers to his wife's secret life. Throughout, he experiences eerie hauntings, as he careens himself obsessively across the country, interviewing leads, and confronting the ever-present darkness around his heart. The closer he gets to the core of his mission, the more terrifying and dreadful the impact of the sentient rot and decay that lurks in the corridors of the small town consciousness.

"..The longer you spend in darkness, the easier it is for that darkness to become reality. It takes form, it gains life. I've spent a lot of time in darkness, Aaron, so much so that I've churned it up and stirred it to the surface and made it this real, tangible thing. It lives alongside me. It moves when I move."

Please go out and read this book.

I received a digital advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley, Titan Books publishing and Ronald Malfi for an amazing read.

I will not forget this book, and I am stockpiling Malfi's other books as we speak.

One of my favourite reads of the year so far and definitely my book of the month.

Come With Me is part mystery part ghost story, a love letter and a journey through grief. It is haunting, often downright chilling but also packed full of emotion and featuring an ending that resonates and is also very clever.

I did not want to put this down. It is hugely addictive with classically beautiful prose, often offering up sentences so vivid you find yourself thinking about it in the dead of night.

Brilliant. Excuse me while I pop out and buy everything this author has ever written.

This mystery/horror follows widower Aaron Decker. His wife, Allison, dies suddenly in a mass shooting and one day in the months following her death, he starts to go through some of her things. He soon finds pieces of information that lead him to believe his late wife was hiding things from him and might not be who he thought she was. Picking up the breadcrumb trail, Aaron becomes obsessed with finding out what Allison was doing no matter the consequences.

TW/CW: mass shooting at a mall, drowning

The horror elements in this book were really interesting and weren't entirely what I was expecting. On NetGalley, this was listed in the General Fiction and Horror categories so I was expecting the horror to play a larger role in the story. I'm not sure what parts, exactly, the author/publisher thought put the book in that horror category, but I found the horror aspects to be the quiet, creeping sort. Personally, I thought this book fit better in the mystery category with some light supernatural horror elements to it. So if the horror tag is making anyone question if they want to read this book or not, I'd say to give it a go. There are numerous times in the story where lights are clicking on out of nowhere or Aaron thinks he sees Allison in his peripheral vision but none of those things really seem to scare Aaron. The story is told in first person so we are in his head the whole time. Since he wasn't scared of his closet light turning on randomly, I found myself equally unconcerned with it (despite the fact that if that happened to me, I'd be sleeping at least in another room if not in a hotel). The horror aspects really came in, for me, in the last 40% or so. We're following Aaron's investigation into these small, rural, towns were it felt like every town was the beginning of a horror movie where the town is a little run down and the inhabitants are just a little off-putting. It was a very atmospheric horror element instead of a more obvious body horror or haunting sort of horror. We also get some good ol' Appalachian folk lore which really heightened the spooky feelings the story had already set up. There is a supernatural ghost-y type element to the story which isn't clear at the beginning if ghosts are real or if Aaron is just imagining things.

I really enjoyed how Aaron's grief was handled in this story and I think this book ranks right up with Stephen King's Pet Sematary for me for how well it articulated and explored grief. Since we are in Aaron's POV throughout the whole book, we are really in the nitty-gritty emotions with him as well. Everything from that feeling of having the rug pulled out from under him after the shooting to being frustrated and a little angry over the secrets Allison kept from him and never being able to get an answer as to why. There are also multiple instances where the narrative shifts to a second person-ish POV with Aaron speaking directly to his Allison. We get passages where he's telling her things directly or asking her things. It always came as a bit of a shock reading along and then suddenly being talked to directly. Despite Aaron usually throwing in his wife's name when the switch happened (for example, "you, Allison, would always wear your hair like that"), him addressing his wife as 'you' always pulled me into the story more. These moments where he is talking directly to his dead wife really highlighted the emotional journey Aaron was on as well as the impact of his investigation. I do wish we would have gotten some more scenes with people who knew both Aaron and Allison in order to get a hint of an outside perspective of how he was holding up while going through all this investigating.

My only complaint is that the pacing and investigation thread lost me at bit in the middle. I understand that Aaron's grief and curiosity are what got him started following his wife's footsteps at the time and I can see at the end when all the puzzle pieces were coming together that he'd want to finish what he'd started, but I didn't get a very strong sense of his drive or reasoning in the middle of the story. There are mentions about him still missing Allison, but every time he has to explain to a new person what happened to her, it seems to hurt him more and more. I just didn't understand what he was getting out of this investigation that was greater than the pain it was causing him. The investigation pacing in the middle was also a little strange. We know Aaron is driving all around, trying to figure out what his wife was doing and why she kept it a secret but I didn't have any really good time-frames for all of these stops in all of these towns. There were a few times where it mentioned Aaron went back home but then it seemed he left the next day to a new place. In the beginning of the story, we got some time-frames but it seemed like those went away once Aaron started investigating. And, of course, this could be entirely on purpose because Aaron could be so obsessed with finding the truth that he doesn't notice how long he's been away. But as a reader, I needed a few more mile-markers thrown in to help with my mental pacing. We find out toward the end that his investigation was only a couple months long which looking back makes sense but if the book had said it had been a year, I also could believe that.

I overall enjoyed the investigation thread and thought the reveals were well integrated into the story. I thought the overall premise of the story was really intriguing and I could see myself reading a whole bunch of different mystery/thrillers that are spins on the general concept. I liked how the investigation started off as Aaron trying to find out about his wife, then it changed focus to information Aaron found, but it turned back to focus on Allison at the end. The fact that Aaron was mostly following in his wife's footsteps means that there was a lot of information that we technically already knew but we would get just a little more context for that information when Aaron went to that place. In the last half of the story, Aaron is making more original discoveries but it still had a weird feeling of just following Allison and almost like Aaron didn't have much agency on his own. I also didn't love how there were a certain number of places to visit but it seemed like Aaron only visited a few of them so it made the investigation, to me, feel a little unfinished. I also didn't love how most of the investigation was just Aaron talking to people and them happening to remember something or Aaron reading through his wife's files and finding what he needed. Again, it made it feel like Aaron didn't have much agency or drive in the investigation. All that being said, the individual plot threads came together really well at the end and I enjoyed how Allison's life story connected back in as well since the whole point of this journey for Aaron was getting to know his wife.

Overall, this was a really great mystery that dealt with death and grief and secrets in a very gritty yet overall uplifting manner. I loved the quiet, creeping horror and how the investigation played out. The pacing got a little iffy for me in the middle, but it got right back on track and finished strong.

Thanks NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for review.

Publication date: July 20, 2021.

The nitty-gritty: Careful plotting, creeping suspense and raw emotion make Come With Me the standout, can't miss thriller of 2021.

I want to know where Robert Malfi has been hiding, because I can’t believe I haven’t run across his books before. Come With Me is one of the best thrillers I’ve ever read, and Malfi is an absolutely superb writer. On the surface, this is a story about the hunt for a serial killer, which doesn’t sound like anything special, but dig a little deeper and you’ll see that this book is oh so much more. Malfi takes his idea and adds in some tantalizing elements, like domestic secrets, urban legends, and even the possibility of ghosts. All of this adds up to a stellar mystery that both horror and thriller fans will love.

Aaron Decker is happily married to his wife Allison when the unthinkable happens: Allison decides to go shopping one morning, but soon after news reports of an active shooter at that very shopping center blast over the local TV news channels. Aaron is terrified that his wife might be one of the victims, and his worst fears are realized when Allison is confirmed as one of the dead. Aaron’s life is shattered, especially since they had only been married for five years and Aaron feels cheated that he didn’t get to spend more time with the love of his life.

But his grief is interrupted when a box of Allison’s personal items from work arrives at the house. Most of the items are nicknacks and such, but a loose piece of paper turns out to be a receipt for a motel, paid in cash, and corresponding with the dates that Aaron was away on business. Aaron’s mind immediately jumps to the conclusion that his wife might have been having an affair, but then he discovers something even stranger. Inside Allison's padlocked hope chest, Aaron uncovers a thick file filled with newspaper clippings, hastily scrawled notes, and old photographs, all of which appear to be research into the deaths of six young girls, deaths spread out over the past couple of decades. 

This odd discovery sets Aaron on a dangerous path as he tries to figure out just what Allison was up to. Clearly she’d been doing some investigating of her own, but why wouldn’t she share it with her husband? And of course the biggest question, why was she doing it in the first place?  Aaron is determined to get into his late wife’s head to try to understand her actions, and in the process he finds himself embroiled in a shocking mystery. He thought he knew Allison—but did he?

There’s a lot to unpack in Come With Me, but let’s start with the plot. Malfi masterfully sets up a couple of intriguing mysteries. First, you have the six dead girls and Aaron’s journey to track down the truth about how they died. Then you have the mystery of Allison and her secret life, a life Aaron had no inkling of, even though they were very close. Malfi weaves both of these plotlines together and shows how they relate to each other, and I loved the subtle way he drops clues and red herrings, all of which are completely believable, by the way. I was mesmerized by Malfi’s writing and Aaron’s compelling voice, and it was nearly impossible to put the book down.

And speaking of Aaron, he’s actually telling the story to Allison in second person, which was an unusual storytelling choice but one that ended up working really well. The story is dripping with emotion, as Aaron goes through the various stages of grief (losing his wife), anger and confusion (discovering Allison’s “other” life), determination (to complete her work) and fear (when he realizes he’s in too deep and has to see it through to the end). Aaron was just a normal, happy guy, and now his life has been upended in the worst possible way and he has to figure out how to move forward. Malfi adds even more emotion to his story when he dips back into the past, showing the early days of their relationship, and later in the story as Aaron interviews some people from Allison’s past, Allison’s damaged childhood and some other big secrets she was keeping from him.

This might not be a traditional ghost story—although there are certainly moments that make you wonder—but the story is filled with ghosts, in one form or another. Aaron experiences all sorts of eerie things after Allison is killed, like the closet light that flashes randomly, or the Alexa that comes on by itself and blares Allison’s favorite 80s playlist. Aaron is so desperate to see or talk to his wife again, even if it’s only her ghost, that his mind convinces him that she’s trying to communicate with him. It’s up to the reader to decide if he’s actually being haunted or not—Malfi does present some believable explanations for these odd occurrences—but I certainly got goosebumps more than once while reading these passages. Aaron finds himself repeating a phrase that Allison once said to him: “We haunt ourselves,” and by the end of the story that phrase takes on new meaning.

But for readers who love suspenseful thrillers and aren’t too crazy about ghost stories, I urge you to give this book a try anyway. The supernatural elements are so subtle and mostly an afterthought; it's the murder mystery that's front and center, and I loved everything about it. Aaron is methodical in the way he tracks down the truth, going from one person to the next to get information, and along the way he uncovers more and more of Allison’s secrets. I wouldn’t say the story is scary, exactly, but the suspense was off the charts, and Malfi’s creepy setting and even creepier characters constantly had me on edge. And oh that ending! I was not expecting that, just saying...

I’m going so far as to say that Come With Me might end up in my top five favorite books of 2021, it’s that good. This is one of those books that I wish I could read again for the first time, and I’ll be pushing people to read it every chance I get.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Come With Me.

I've never read this author before but after finishing Come With Me, I'm definitely going to check out his previous novels.

Come With Me is a blend of genres; it's a mystery, it's a psychological thriller with horror-like elements, though I wouldn't categorize it as horror; I guess because I wasn't scared.

Aaron Decker is mourning the sudden death of his wife at the hands of a vicious gun-toting killer. As he is grieving, he discovers Allison had secrets of her own she kept close to her chest.

On his quest to find out who his wife really was and what she was searching for, as well as continue an investigation Allison had been pursuing for over a decade, he will find out that things are not always what they appear to be, especially the ones we love.

First, the writing was great. The character development and how Aaron and Allison met and fell in love was just right; not too wordy, not too much description.

The author described Aaron's grieving process well (not surprisingly since the author explains in his afterword that this book was a product of a personal tragedy he suffered) and how walking in Allison's path helped him understand her better.

I enjoyed going along for the ride with Aaron as he probed the deaths of these young girls; walking in the footsteps of a serial killer Allison was tracking as well as dealing with his own sorrow.

There are science fiction elements which the author wove well into the narrative; it gave the disturbing story an additional creepy touch but also helped explain the kind of relationship Aaron and Allison had.

The narrative couldn't have ended any other way; I foresaw it and no, I'm not psychic. It was just a feeling I had.

I did love how the author explained the phenomena Aaron witnessed, circling back to Allison's earlier statements about how ghosts can travel through time and space, while the rest of us live in this one pocket of time until we're ghosts too.

This was a very good read, engrossing and intriguing, with likable and relatable characters that kept me reading long past when I should have been catching up on my beauty sleep.

Aaron thought he knew everything there was to know about his wife Allison. She was smart, she was interesting, she was a journalist who worked a safe job at a small paper and he loved her very much. Except on the day she died, he started to feel like there was something more going on in their lives, a certain distance and with it a darkness that had begun to divide them in the final days of their marriage, a shadow that eventually led him to turn the key on her chest of keepsakes and opened a door that would lead him to the truth. Allison had been living a double life and with it, she had been seeking her own truth.

A nicely paced and well-written thriller about the hidden things in a person's life, Come With Me manages to do quite a bit with a premise that could very well have been wasted with its familiar themes and edges of the supernatural. and instead manages to have some very nicely turned twists and unexpected outcomes. While there were times Aaron felt a bit possessive of his wife and her life in the early pages of the book, he soon grew on me and I was happy with where things went by the end.

https://lynns-books.com/2021/07/26/come-with-me-by-ronald-malfi/
5 of 5 stars

My Five Word TL:DR Review : I absolutely loved this book

This book just blew me away. I couldn’t get enough of it to be honest, I loved the way it was written, I was instantly hooked and it took me down a number of routes that had me twisting and turning before finding myself at a dead end. Seriously, I could read this book again right now and in fact I think I’d probably enjoy it as much if not more than my initial read.

This is going to be a gushing, chaotic, crazy rambling review. I don’t think I can do justice to the book to be honest because it gave me the chills, it had a ghostly-type horror vibe at the same time as coming across as a dark murder mystery, it looks at relationships and how well you know the person you’re living with and more than that the inspiration for the book is an emotional gut punch.

Where to start. I’m going to avoid spoilers because I really don’t want to give anything away but the story is told by Aaron Decker. Aaron’s wife was recently killed in a shopping mall shooting incident. He finds himself, as you may imagine, a bit untethered, unable to settle and constantly second guessing with a string of ‘what ifs?’ – what if he’d accompanied his wife that fateful morning when she actually asked ‘Come with me?’ Of course, there’s no turning back the clock and Aaron, led by a strange series of weird occurences, all that can be written off as forgetfulness or other random hiccups, begins to go through his wife things – almost as though he is being guided to do so. In doing so he uncovers a secret side to his wife, something that leads him to start his own investigations and before he knows it his world has changed irrevocably and he finds himself becoming equally obsessed with the desire to find answers.

At its heart this is a gripping murder mystery, dark, creepy, twisted and intelligent. It also manages to throw in a scattering of paranormal-style occurences that create a spooky atmosphere and add to the tension. I love the way the author pulls this off by giving us a central character who is level headed enough not to become ‘spooked’ at the same time as realising that he might be putting himself, and others, in danger. It’s a fantastic balancing act that I have to applaud. I mean, if this had been me, I would have been running in the opposite direction to Aaron – literally running as fast as my little legs could carry me away from the goosebump inducing scariness.

We join Aaron as he follows in his wife footsteps, working his way backwards, speaking to people she herself spoke to and uncovering a different side to her that he would never have imagined. It’s brilliant because we go through the same thought processes at the same time as he does, feeling mystified, betrayed, scared or overwhelmed, having our ideas teased out and then finding that we’ve gone astray somewhere along the line.

We travel up and down the country, the miles stacking up as Aaron seeks out more clues before eventually finding himself in the small town where his wife grew up. There’s a real horror vibe going on at certain points – not a blood-slashing trail of bodies horror type story so much as a Silence of the Lambs uncovering of a dark and twisted mind style tale.

I’m not sure what more I can add to this other than to say do yourself a favour and pick up a copy. I was gripped, I was tense, I couldn’t stop reading. I just loved it from start to finish and can’t recommend it enough.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks, the above is my own opinion.

When Aaron’s wife, Allison, dies his grief is soon overtaken by stumbling across a huge secret she’s been keeping. At first he assumes – understandably – that it was an affair, but when it turns out that she was investigating murders of teenage girls, it’s not long before his need to find out what she was doing turns into his own obsession with tracking down a possible serial killer. And the more he digs, the darker the secrets he uncovers…

I was a little concerned by the fact that this book is written in the second person – a rather unusual choice, probably because it can get super annoying really quickly. But here it is just done perfectly – in fact, the best example of the style I think I’ve seen. This is because while there are regular moments of “You..”, the narrator, Aaron, isn’t addressing the reader but rather his dead wife. The whole thing is his conversation with the ghostly memories he has of her, as he delves into both her obsessive investigation and the dark tangles of her early life.

From this narration, we also get to experience a lot of slightly spooky goings on, all the while never sure if Aaron is really being haunted or if his grief is manifesting itself into wishful thinking. Now, I’m a huge wuss when it comes to creepy, so I was very pleased that while things here are spooky, I wasn’t freaked out at all. Perhaps it’s because Aaron would welcome a sign of his wife’s continued existence, and so is less scared of mysterious shadows, lights turning themselves on, music doing the same with very clue-driven titles, and more.

Some of that might sound a little cheesy, as I type it, but the atmosphere of the book is just spot on. It’s got that small town horror vibe, and all the supernatural possibilities are perfectly balanced with a very down to earth mystery.

The final reveal maybe didn’t quite reach the heights I hoped for from the gripping story telling, but it was still good, and with a certain something extra that made everything tie together wonderfully. Very recommended.

A haunting and atmospheric mystery.

Aaron and Allison were happily married until she was shot to death one winter day. Now, as he does his best to pick up the pieces of his life, he has a hard time moving on. For one thing, he can feel her presence with him. He also finds a receipt for a motel stay in her name from two months prior to her death.

Initially thinking she was having an affair, Aaron realizes her secret was actually something darker. He digs deeper and soon finds himself on a journey that Allison herself took. He wants answers, but every step closer he gets to the truth is a step closer to danger.

First, I’d like to thank my fab GR friends for making me aware of Ronald Malfi’s novels. I had never heard of him before, but the reviews for this one really made me take notice.

This book oozes with atmosphere and apprehension. There were moments that were genuinely spine-tingling. Although there’s a supernatural element, I’d put this one in the mystery genre. The leads are fantastically fleshed out. Aaron’s grief is palpable, and I was consumed with following him on his journey of ghastly discovery and numerous revelations.

While I found the majority of the story compelling, I did think it dragged on a bit towards the end. I started forgetting who some of the side characters were because it took awhile to get to the denouement. I also didn’t LOVE the ending...but apparently I’m the only one with that issue.

Overall, this is a tense and gripping read, and I highly recommend it. It would also make a great film. The author’s note is moving and relevant, so please make sure you read that too. I look forward to digging into Malfi’s previous novels, and highly anticipate his next offering.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Now available.

Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com

To put it simply, this book is phenomenal.

At first, I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. Is it a murder mystery? Is it a supernatural thriller? Is it a suspense thriller?
It's safe to say, it's all three & it is extremely well done. I'm not usually a fan of anything involving the supernatural, but this was so well written & entwined into the story that I felt it was completely plausible.

Books written in first person, for me at least, can be hit or miss. This one hit every mark and then some. I've never read a book where I've felt like I'm physically with the character on every step of their journey, where they aren't talking to an audience but they're talking to me directly, as if I'm involved in the story. It was fantastic. I was so drawn in there would be points I'd be holding my breath.

The story itself is one of the best thrillers I've read in a very long time. It kept me guessing right up until the final page. There were so many twists & turns throughout, making you reevaluate what you knew about the various characters involved. For every one question that was answered, another dozen would be unearthed, which made it impossible to put the book down.

Nothing I write will do this book justice enough so if there's one book you should definitely pick up this year, it's this. It's my first Ronald Malfi book but it certainly won't be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free book to review!

According to a brief glance at Malfi's website, I have read around half of his novels. Furthermore, I have never reviewed a Malfi book, and I probably should have by now. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. When readers discuss great coming-of-age novels, December Park seems to be rarely mentioned. Also, 2011's Floating Staircase is a superb ghost story that has been lost in the shuffle of "Hey! Read this! It's good because it's NEW!"

What I'm getting at is: Come With Me is more high-quality fiction from a consistently good writer. It's part mystery, part ghost story (?), and part family drama. There is a very deliberate slow-burn pace that really vibes with the subject matter. And he really nails the ending.

The hype is real!

I loved this book, it was creepy & kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what exactly was happening. I recommend it for thriller lovers!

This book was, quite simply, stunning! It was a love story, a ghost story, a mystery, a whodunit and a thriller. Aaron Decker’s life falls apart when he loses his wife of five years, Allison, in a shooting incident at a local mall. His grief knows no bounds. He hears Allison, he sees her, he talks to her and it seems like she is still there with him as his town house lights and music system seem to have a mind of their own. He sees her ghostly hand print on the windscreen of their car. He can only get through the days by relying on ‘other-Aaron’ an alter ego that does his work and ensures he eats. Other Aaron seems to operate effectively without much input from Aaron.

One day a parcel arrives for Allison, when Aaron finally gets to open it he finds, among all her work things, a receipt for a two night stay at the Valentine Motel in another state. Aaron is confused, he doesn’t remember her being away. Aaron goes through the rest of Allison’s things. She keeps some mementos in a hope chest at the bottom of her wardrobe. Under the Christmas gifts she had already wrapped for him he finds….a gun. Wow! And right at the bottom, a folder containing details of crimes Allison had been secretly investigating for years. It seems there is a lot he didn’t know about Allison.

Aaron feels compelled to follow in Allison’s investigative footsteps and so begins his odyssey across the eastern states. It makes him feel closer to Allison to walk where she walked, to speak to the people she spoke to and slowly he pieces together a rather horrific story that had its roots in Allison’s very own childhood. I don’t normally like paranormal elements in books but it was done with such a very light touch here it just felt right.

It hard for me to do this book justice in my review but this one really gave me the all ‘the feels’. Aaron was such a well done character. He felt so real. The sense of creeping menace got more and more pervasive as the book progressed. It wasn’t creepy per se but very unsettling, or haunting - in a good way. It had a sort of otherworldly quality about it which I find very rare in books. The supporting cast all played their parts to perfection. It almost felt like I was there, walking alongside these characters. The ending was perfect. I really loved this book! Thanks to Netgalley, Titan Books and Ronald Malfi for providing a free copy of the book that I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

**4.5

When I was browsing through the books on NetGalley to request, I came across Come With Me and immediately knew I wanted to read it.
I’ve heard the name Ronald Malfi mentioned in the horror community, but had yet to read one of his books.
So, when I saw the cover for this one and who it was by, I skimmed the synopsis and hit request.

I went into this story not knowing much, I like to do that when reading a new author, that way I don’t have any preconceived thoughts about the writing or the story.

Immediately the writing leaped out at me. This story is beautifully written, the grief is laced through each word, each paragraph, each sentence. The grief flowing on the page grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go until that last page.
Stories that have to do with the grief of losing a significant other hit me extremely hard, I’ve never experienced that pain, but it’s a sorrow that terrifies me to my core.
So from the moment I started this story, I felt that tightness in my chest and that lump in my throat, those feelings stayed until I read that last word on the last page.

Like I said, I didn’t really know what this story was about. I knew it was about Aaron Decker losing his wife and slowly learning that she was hiding things, hiding secrets, from him.
This book surprised me at every turn. It was so much more than I expected it to be.
So much more than I anticipated.
I devoured this book, I read at lightning speed because I just needed to know what was going to happen next.
I teared up so many times that I lost count. Although, I am a crybaby and this book sure knew how to tug at my heart, so take that with a grain of salt.

I would say my one thing, my one gripe, with this story is that I wish it was a little more horror leaning.
I know this story is labeled horror, and while I do agree to a point, I feel like it teeters in between both thriller and horror.
At times, I could see it labeled as both. I think both labels work for it because it does fall in the middle of the two genres.

Overall, I really truly love this story. I’m so thankful I was able to get an arc of it, but I definitely think I need a physical copy in my life asap.

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi is a horror/thriller about Aaron Decker and his pursuit of answers after his wife is killed. While going through her things, he realizes that she had been hiding things from him. So, he goes on a journey to find the answers that his wife had been seeking. This story is beautifully written, atmospheric, haunting, and very mysterious. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll leave it at that. I loved it! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

A poignant love letter and a achingly beautiful story of love, grief and loss. A clever mystery leading to a serial killer, questioning our morals and motives and our very sense of humanity. But most of all, a touching and passionate tale of a husband's love for his wife and his incapability of continuing living a seemingly normal life without her.

Aaron Decker has just lost his wife to a madman shooter and just because feeling any kind of alive will do, he starts to unravel an unknown side of his late wife. It is the start of a roadtrip, collecting clues to what seems to be a completely illogical quest to some unknown resolution, not only of a murder mystery, but to what it means to loose the most important person in your life, and what life means after such an impacting bereavement. I'm not going into more detail, as less you know going in, the better.

I hope that no-one will get scared-off by the fact that is has been classified as horror, as there is just a slight hint at what might be supernatural events, which I easily interpreted differently and within the realm of logic. It is so much more, a true tour-de-force in its intricate details and plot, beautifully written and just truly unputdownable. Every character is detailed and nuanced and Aaron will linger around my thoughts for a long time. I know for certain that my next book will be one of Mr. Malfi's many others.

Bravo !

A sincere thanks to Netgalley, Titan books and the author for an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Come With Me tells the story of Aaron Decker, a man struggling with the sudden and brutal death of his wife, Allison. Having chosen to stay home one morning when Allison goes shopping he's shocked when he learns that there's been a shooting in the local shopping precinct. Rushing down there he can't find his wife, and has to wait around for hours waiting for any news of her; unfortunately, when that news comes it's devastating. Trapped in the same shop as the shooter, Allison ran at him to try and draw attention away from the people trying to run to safety. Whilst this saved others lives, it cost Allison her own.

Struggling to figure out how to cope with such a tragic moment, Aaron retreats into his work, allowing himself to go onto autopilot as he loses himself in routine. This all changes one day, however, when he finds a receipt in Allison's belongings, a receipt for a motel out of state. Realising that this considered with one of his work trips he begins to question what it could mean. Was Allison away on work? Or was she perhaps having an affair?

Travelling to the motel to try and find answers Aaron comes away without any proof as to what Allison might have been doing there. He's about to give up on ever learning what was going on when he opens the locked trunk in Allison's closet and discovers files full of interviews and reports on a series of murders that have taken place over the last decade. Aaron realises that Allison has been tracking a serial killer in secret, a series of murders that not even the police realise are connected. Wanting to learn more, Aaron decides to carry on what his wife stared.

The blurb for Come With Me really doesn't do this book justice. Yes, it raises the mystery of what Allison was doing in this motel, but I think that by not mentioning the hunt for a serial killer it's really burring the most exciting part of this book. Okay, the relationship between Aaron and Allison is a huge part of the story, and the whole book is written from Aaron's point of view as if he's talking to his wife, but the most exciting part is this hunt for the killer.

The first several chapters of the book take their time in setting everything up, and even though when the book begins Allison has already been killed we get to know her through Aaron's memories of her, so that once he relives the day she died we're already invested in them; and it hurts to see him go through that pain. It's also sad as we watch Aaron searching for answers, beginning to question if perhaps his beloved wife was cheating on him; betraying him in the worst way possible. Getting to be inside his thought process we see how much it affects him, how the doubts begin to creep in and alter his perception of everything.

Malfi made a genius choice in presenting the book the way he does. This isn't a narrator talking to some random reader, it's a man in mourning talking to is departed wife. It makes everything he's going through feel so much more powerful. He's not just wondering if his wife cheated on him, he's opening up to her about what that possibility means to him. Aaron pours his everything into the narration of this book, and it feels incredibly personal, like we're looking in on something we shouldn't be.

We also get to see a lot of development in Aaron over the course of the book, and his search for the answers to the central mystery change him a lot. He goes from a man who'd never think to look into something like this to a man who's questioning everything he sees, unsure who to trust, but willing to walk into danger to find the answers he seeks. With so much of the story being focused on the hunt for this killer it's impressive how much time we spend with the characters too, and how well developed everyone feels.

There are a lot of spooky moments in the book too, times where you're not sure what's going on. Like Aaron you begin to wonder is Allison might still be around in some way, whether her spirit is watching over her husband, leading him along this journey as tiny little things that are just out of the ordinary seem to happen. The inclusion of these moments definitely change the narrative somewhat, and you're often left wondering if perhaps Aaron is losing him grip on reality a bit due to his grief and growing obsession with the case.

I honestly had a ton of fun with Come With Me, even if it's not the most uplifting book to read. It deals with grief, depression, and obsession in frank and honest ways; as well as throwing in a genuinely engaging mystery that will have you reading long after you know you should put the book down for a bit. Whether you're coming to the book hoping for a good character driven drama, or an interesting mystery thriller Come With Me will keep you hooked right up until the end.

Come With Me is a compulsively readable supernaturally tinged mystery from award-winning horror writer Ronald Malfi in which he explores how grief and longing fan the flames of obsession as a man uncovers his dead wife’s horrifying secrets. Translator Aaron Decker and his wife, Allison, have been married for just over 5 years when the unthinkable comes to pass. In a morning that begins exactly like any other, Allison, a columnist for a local Maryland newspaper, is killed in a mass shooting incident at a shopping mall. Aaron is devastated and descends into a pit of grief and despair unable to comprehend the tragedy, but this is also accompanied by survivor’s guilt as he had politely declined his wife’s request that he go with her on that fateful day. She had apparently died trying to save other people from the madman’s sights and had tried in vain to stop the carnage. A short time after her death, her office shipped a box containing her belongings to Aaron, but it leads to even more confusion and heartache than he was already feeling. He discovers a receipt for a two-night stay at a motel in North Carolina he had no idea about. It had coincided with his weekend stay in New York for business, and this naturally leads him to believe she was likely having an affair.

However, this fear is soon dispelled and he learns the real reason behind her clandestine out-of-state trips. Allison had seemingly been unofficially investigating the suspicious deaths of 6 women whose cases had not yet been connected by the police. Desperate to see exactly what his wife had gotten herself into before she died, Aaron begins to trace her footsteps by following the clues she left behind in her files and finds himself embroiled in a situation far more perilous than he could ever have expected. This is a compulsive and enthralling mix of mystery, thriller and minimal supernatural horror elements all complementing each other to create the perfect blend of danger, palpable tension, dark secrets and deeply emotional moments. It's twisted, pacey and terrifying and a haunting and nuanced exploration of grief with plausible thoughts, feelings and behaviours on display by the bereaved. The mass shooting is handled sensitively and authentically with no sensationalism and the denouement brings it all together to form a powerful conclusion. Immersive, chilling and unique ripped-from-the-headlines horror fiction complete with spectres, devastating secrets within a supposedly content marriage and pure page-turning brilliance. Highly recommended.

I came into this book not having even read the synopsis. I saw a very positive review on twitter and noticed that I had actually requested this book and been approved. Thank you to the Author and the publisher for allowing me to read this early.

I will keep this as spoiler-free as possible due to it not being published yet. I enjoyed the main protagonist, there were a few decisions that I felt weren't in line with what decision I thought he would make but that is more of a nitpick than a real criticism.

I liked where this book went and the imagery that it gave me, especially in the last third of the book. There were a few scenes that were definitely creepy that put you there with the protagonist. I was expecting this book to actually be scarier but it was more of a crime novel with some horror elements, I would have loved more horror elements that verged on the supernatural, as that is where I thought things were going, but I digress. it worked really well for this story. The ending was just perfect. and I will check out more from this author in the future. The writing instantly has you put into the story without skipping a beat, and didn't think the certain parts would have upset me like they did. Good job.

Overall...Go buy this book, Ronald Malfi has a talent and we need him to write more books.

"Every marriage has its secrets..."

"Every marriage has its secrets. I understand this, Allison. I get it. Secrets are what allow us to cling to our individual selves while also being one half of a matrimonial whole, and can be as vital as breathing."

Aaron doesn't realize just how little he knows he know he knows about his wife until she dies in a senseless shooting one day. Then her secrets start to come to light and he finds himself trying to find out who his wife really was because she definitely wasn't the person she had presented to him over the five years of their marriage.

He knew his wife had a dark side but as he backtracks over the last few months of her life he realizes that the darkness in her life plumbs depths he can't even imagine and she was on a quest she had never hinted at.

This is a chilling, darkly atmospheric suspense thriller journey with hints of the paranormal tossed in along the way spice up the travels. I appreciated the way the author portrayed Aaron's character in the throes of grief, questioning how well he ever knew his wife but determined to see the task through to the end.

The story was creepy, dark, sad, and a darn good story - just like I've come to expect from other books I've read by author Malfi. I highly recommend it.

I received this Advanced Reading Copy from Titan Books through Net Galley and Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.