COME WITH ME
Which word you emphasize can change the meaning of these three little words.

“COME WITH ME” Allison suggests to her husband Aaron, “we can get breakfast ate ‘The Red Rooster’-a playful suggestion-a plea to join her? He had no idea when he turned her down that it would be the last morning he would see his wife alive.

COME WITH ME- Allison’s handprint could be seen on the inside of the car window as the sheen of fog across the windshield faded-beckoning Aaron to follow a trail she left behind with her unexpected death. A receipt, in the box of belongings packed up at work, showing a two night stay at the seedy Valentine motel, paid for in cash, starts his journey to uncover the secrets she left behind.

COME WITH ME-a command that had to be followed, one night in the past…..

I loved this ATMOSPHERIC mystery with its SUPERNATURAL vibes.

THINGS will happen which will make you wonder if Allison is indeed helping Aaron to discover her secrets, if she will be unable to rest until he does….

The ENDING made the hair on my arms stand up!

The AUTHOR’S NOTE brought a tear to my eye.

I don’t know how I have missed Ronald Malfi’s work in the past-

I WON’T make the mistake of missing it any longer!

NOW AVAILABLE (July 20, 2021)

Thank you to Titan books for my gifted copy! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Come With Me really pulled me in right from the start. It is written like nothing I’ve ever read before, Malfi has once again amazed me with one of his stories. Come With Me goes places that the reader just cannot see coming.

The premise of the story is one that no one wants to experience. The spouse of our protagonist is killed (the how and why – well, you’ll have to read the story for that shocker); then the avalanche of secrets start to tumble, one after the other. As a reader, I had to ask myself: How would I react? Could so many secrets be kept from me in my own home? Can you ever really know someone, completely?

Malfi is a magician with his words, it is these words and descriptions that kept me riveted to the pages. There is an art, a visualization of the world that he has that goes far beyond my own; to be able to take the mundane (a smoke detector) and make it sinister, Cyclopean. When you read it, you can see it, but it takes someone with an incredible vision of the world around us to illustrate the obvious.

The perspective of Come With Me stood out to me right from the start! It was so very personal, and it made Aaron Decker incredibly tangible, I was on his adventure right from the opening shot. I followed Aaron every step of the way to the end.

I kind of think that Come With Me breaks a few boundaries, and I loved the book for that.

​
*5 Stars

Come With Me, by Ronald Malfi

Short Take: Great. Now I’m destroyed.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Good morning duckies, and as ever, apologies for my absence. I have a really good reason this time though!! We have adopted a puppy. Jonesy is a half-bulldog, half-beagle, seven-pound tornado of love and energy that has thrown our house into an uproar. So I am behind on EVERYTHING - reading, writing reviews, cleaning the kitchen (ok, I’m not too worried about that one), and just general life stuff. But this guy is totally worth it,

And speaking of love, I just finished my first book by Ronald Malfi, and oh my heavens. Come With Me opens with a tragedy - Aaron Decker’s beloved wife, Allison, is killed in a mass shooting, a terrible, ordinary, all-American death. But then Aaron, half-crazy with grief, looks through her belongings, and he finds something shocking. While Allison was a journalist known for writing puff pieces about local bake sales and charitable works, she was also investigating something horrific in her own time.

Of course Aaron becomes obsessed with following Allison’s cryptic notes, and of course a lot of craziness ensues, because this book is squarely in the horror/thriller box, but oh, my beloved nerdlings, that’s not even the point. Yeah, Come With Me has plenty of action and creepiness and a strange little rhyme that sticks with you when you turn the lights out, but that’s not even close to the point. I mean, yes, there’s a story here, and it’s a really freakin good one, but the story is almost unimportant.

Because what Mr. Malfi has created here is actually a rather beautiful meditation on love, and loss. The author’s choice to frame the narration as Aaron talking to Allison is just… wow. Because everyone who has lost a loved one does that exact thing. We might never speak the words out loud, but there’s a kind of running, one-sided conversation in our minds, speaking the words and asking the questions we didn’t get to. Telling the no-longer-here person about our day, thinking “you would have loved this”.

And that ending. That. Ending. You guys. My heart. I’m pretty sure there’s a screenshot of the last page in the encyclopedia (remember those?) under “bittersweet”.

Now, I would love to write more, but Jonesy is in the process of destroying Vincent the cat’s favorite toy, and World War III is about to break out. Just read it.

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (send more squeaky toys, STAT!)

“Come with me.” Some of the last words Allison says to her husband Aaron, but he was busy, and Allison was shot in the head while shopping at the mall.
Overcome with grief, Aaron discovers that Allison has a hidden past. Teenage girls, all with a similar looks, have been murdered up and down the East Coast. Aaron believes that Allison was researching the murders, and that it may be a serial killer.
Aaron becomes interested in these cases and starts looking into them himself. Many suspects, many questions, and a killer still on the loose Will Aaron discover the killer or will he end up with Allison in a grave?
This was a compelling mystery and one that Malfi came up with after his friend was senselessly shot at work. He knew four people were dead but did not know their names. Imagine the hours of worry, then resignation, then the anger with the conformation.
With this book Ronald Malfi puts you through the emotional wringer. So many questions and doubts about how well you know someone. What lives are hidden behind the masks people wear? Do we ever know someone’s dark secrets?
You will be just as compelled as Aaron to solve Allison’s mystery. Come with me into this dark world.

This was my first time experiencing Ronald Malfi’s writing and I was not disappointed. As soon as I picked this up I was completely immersed and found it so hard to put down. Come With Me is a mystery story of grief, marital secrets and the ghosts that haunt us. It leaves you wondering how well you truly know your partner.

The story follows Aaron, a grieving widow who has been emotionally shattered since his wife Allison was killed in a horrific and senseless way. He finds out she was keeping secrets, living a separate life he didn’t know about. Aaron begins following the clues and is drawn into a mystery of unsolved crimes committed by what appears to be a serial killer.

Malfi’s storytelling is compelling and strong. He draws you right into the minds of your characters, making you feel like you’re experiencing their grief and tragedies with them. I felt like I was alongside Aaron during his grieving.

This is a slow burn but suspense builds slowly with Malfi providing plenty of hooks to keep you invested. He also makes you think you have it figured out, only to make you start questioning things again. The atmosphere in this felt palpable and the writing is beautiful in a haunting, lyrical way.
I look forward to reading more of Malfi’s work.

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance.

A dark obsession.

Allison kept some very dark secrets in her closet. Her husband, Aaron only thought he knew her. After she is tragically killed, he discovers what she has been hiding and he cannot let it go! Her cloak of deceit haunts him.

I could sense the tick, tick, of the cosmic clock as I turned the pages. The serial killer aspect made me uncomfortable and curious to find out more. In his quest to learn what his wife was up to, Aaron experiences haunting visions, visits seedy roadside motels, discovers her laptops search history has been deleted, half-dreams and hidden memories pop up.

The second person narration chmade the story even more affecting. I'm already excited to read more from this author.

An atmospheric, menacing story that kept me in suspense until the end.

This was a really enjoyable read! It almost flew under my radar at first as the description read more like a thriller to me, and it does seem to sit in that vein. However, there are definitely horror elements to this, and the way that they're woven in and throughout the story worked really well.

It's a fast-paced read that is hard to put down and very easy to pick back up. The story and revelations unfold in a way that make sense and leave the reader satisfied.

I've mentioned in past reviews that I'm a big fan of horror that deals with and explores grief in some way. That's very much the case with this book, and it's beautifully done. It not only deals with the grief of losing a loved one, but of the before and after of an abrupt loss, and of the fact that we can never truly know even those we love the most.

This is one I'd definitely recommend picking up! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ronald Malfi takes an age-old premise and imbues it with a sense of unease in his new novel "Come With Me." After his wife's death in a tragic shooting, Aaron is still haunted by her memory (maybe literally haunted as well.) Aaron discovers a motel receipt in his wife's belongings and decides to investigate. To say more would spoil too much, and this novel is a ride best experienced a little blindly.

This novel is less horror than the previous work of his I'd read, "Bone White," and could be more accurately classified as a mystery with some supernatural nods. Malfi's writing is breathtaking at times, with magnificent prose and plot structure. Once I was able to put my expectations for horror aside, I really enjoyed this novel. It's a literary mystery that packs a lot of surprises and had moments that thoroughly creeped me out. I recommend it!

This is such a haunting and atmospheric thriller that I found myself holding my breath at times. Really well written with a direct way of telling the story to the reader, it has a horror vibe with a smidgeon of ghost story as well.

Aaron Decker and his wife Allison were very much in love when she was tragically killed in a shopping mall shooting. Going through her belongings after the police returned them to him, he found a receipt for a two day stay in a motel some 300 miles away. Aaron had been away on business at the time but Allison hadn't mentioned going anywhere. Although he thought he knew everything about his wife, Aaron soon discovered she had dark secrets she had been keeping from him and feels compelled to follow her tracks to solve the mystery. What he finds not only astonishes him but puts him into danger.

It's a dark story, very creepy and brooding. Aaron's profound grief has him imaging Allison is still around and he can't rest until he's found out what was haunting her. A stunning thriller, brilliantly written. I'll definitely be checking out more of Malfi's novels.

Deceitfully stunning!

Malfi is a new to me author, this is the first of his work I've read. Not disappointed at all. This novel was so intriguing, I couldn't put it down. It was like watching an episode of Criminal Minds and Supernatural rolled up into one.

What happens when the unexpected happens? Do you truly know your other half, your partner? And if you didn't and you learned a dark side to them, would you pick up their mission and finish it yourself?

These are all questions that Aaron Decker faces after his wife is shot and killed in a spree shooting. The way this book unfolds is a journey full of confusion, grief and determination. Join Aaron as his discovers who his wife truly was and just how far he'd go to discover just who he truly is.

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for the chance to review this early.

Aaron Decker is grief stricken when his wife Allison is murdered in a mass shooting. Shortly after her death he finds something which makes little sense to him and he realises that you never really know a person, only what they choose to show you. His discovery becomes an obsession to learn more about what his journalist wife has secretly been working on for years before her death. His quest is to pursue the truth for himself and for her.

First of all, the way this is written is absolutely brilliant as it’s as if Aaron is talking throughout with Allison. This works so well as you follow the huge emotional rollercoaster mission which also examines the duality of personality in actions and in words. People, places and events are described so well that you get uneasy hints of creepiness, chills on the back of your neck and some images that are so powerful I feel as if they are burned into my brain! Boy, oh boy, this man can write. The storyline that emerges is very dark, there are ghostly, supernatural elements that infuse the shocking discoveries that Aaron makes and it feels like he’s trying to pin back a gas like fog to get to the elusive truth. This goes backwards and forwards so cleverly as we go on a car journey with Aaron to prove his wife’s theories correct. The ending is excellent and really clever as it dawns on you that’s exactly where all this has been heading.

Overall, the author has had me glued to my seat and his every word for several hours. I don’t think this is horror per se but it certainly has hints of the ghostly and the storyline is darkly gritty. It’s well worth reading the authors notes at the end to appreciate how this book came about and what he has produced is high quality writing.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Titan Books for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review. .

A supernatural mystery that is ultimately about a man contending with heartbreaking grief over his wife's untimely death and attempting to find closure. I loved the author's facility with language and especially liked the layered storytelling and uncovering of revelations at every corner. In particular, I appreciated the ending which doesn't neatly tie up things. Recommended read for a rainy weekend!

This was my first book by Ronald Malfi, but it most certainly won’t be my last.

Aaron Decker has just lost his wife Allison in an unimaginable tragedy. He’s wading through life shifting between grief and autopilot when he stumbles upon a clue that his wife was hiding something from him. As he ventures down into a rabbit hole trying to discover what Allison had been up to and why she had seemed so distant prior to her death, he realizes that not only was she keeping secrets from him about what she was up to, but perhaps about who she was fundamentally as a person.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. Both the writing and character development are phenomenal. The story was fantastic, containing a mystery that was wonderfully twisty, and thank goodness, plausible* (so many mysteries and thrillers are not). I read a lot in the mystery and suspense genre and this struck me as an elevated version of that, and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to people regardless of what genre they enjoy.

*When I say plausible, I am referring to the general way events unfold. There are some supernatural and “ghost” elements here, and normally that isn’t my thing, but I felt it was really well done in this book. It was a creepy atmosphere that also was grounded enough in reality and “is this just a symptom of grief?” uncertainty that I feel fans of the paranormal and cynics alike will find they are enjoying themselves.

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly knows I’m a notorious ending hater. Even for books I really enjoy, I often find myself unsatisfied with the conclusion. It’s a big deal when I like an ending, and let me just say this one left me in awe. I’d already decided this was going to be a 5 star for me, and now I wish I could give it more.

You can get your hands on this one July 20, 2021. And I highly recommend that you do.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Titan books for an advance copy of this book for review.

Aaron and Allison Decker are happily married. They're a great match. Life is good. One December morning, as Allison heads out to a local shopping mall, she says to her husband, "come with me." Aaron, feeling a little too comfortable lounging around, declines her offer.

That's the last time he sees his wife. Allison's senseless death brings Aaron's world crashing down around him. Overwhelmed with grief, he tries to take it one day at a time, but even basic things are taxing. He's drowning. Sifting through some of Allison's belongings, Aaron discovers a motel receipt from North Carolina, paid in cash with Allison's name on it.

They live in Maryland. He has no idea why she would have been at the motel for a two night stay; two nights that happen to coincide with a time Aaron was out of town on business. He's sure Allison never told him she left home.

Aaron's mind immediately goes to where yours may have when you read that last paragraph. He wonders if Allison was possibly having an affair. Immediately he feels guilty. That couldn't possibly be true. Allison wasn't like that, was she?

The receipt gives Aaron something to focus on. He's also insanely curious, thus he sets out on a journey to discover why Allison would have gone there. What exactly was she doing?

Y'all, I think this is my favorite book that I have read so far this year!!! The more I think about, the more I appreciate just how incredibly well-crafted this story is. Every moment of Aaron's journey brings darker discoveries and new information that will ultimately lead him to the truth behind Allison's secret life.

I was constantly floored by what was happening. The reveals, the connections, the red herrings; they just kept coming. Aaron becomes completely obsessed with his task, risking life and limb in order to solve it. I love how Malfi beautifully wove together the exploration of grief, the supernatural and a tense and brutal mystery. Yes, it's a legit mystery, which I had no idea when I started.

I had barely heard anything about this one, Malfi's name is what made me pick it up and I'm so happy that I did. I will be shouting from the rooftops about this for a long time to come. It's incredible. Come With Me releases next Tuesday, July 20th, so make sure you add it to you TBR!

Thank you so, so much to the publisher, Titan Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to read it early and provide my thoughts.

All the stars in the universe!!!

Come With Me was a great read, I don’t want to give anything away with my review …. The book was intriguing from the start!
Aaron finds a receipt, amongst his wife’s belongings, for a two-night stay in a motel when from when he was out of town some months earlier. Thinking the worst, and struggling to cope, he suspects his wife was having an affair, however, the plot is much more intricate than that with Malfi developing the plot very slowly as Aaron begins to investigate his wife. Lurking in the background is the question, did he really know his wife?

From that moment on, the story takes off and we are a part of Aaron finding out some things and also being outside of his comfort zone.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Come with Me is written in the 2nd person narrative through Aaron's perspective as he tells his recently deceased wife, Allison, a story of events that transpired after her death. Aaron is grieving and finds out that he has no idea who the woman he was married to for 5 years actually was as her secrets begin to unravel. Out of town visits, a hidden past, shadows of a haunted woman that would creep out every now and again all shine brightly as Aaron begins to dig into the mystery that was Allison's life. He's afraid to find out the extent of her secrets and wonders if maybe some things are best left in the past as an obsession for truth consumes him.

Wow, this book was fantastic! Definitely one of the best books I've read this year. I went in with no expectation and was blown away. Isn't that the best? I don't want to reveal too much but the story is essentially about grief and how it haunts you. I truly sympathized for Aaron and enjoyed the flashbacks of his relationship with Allison, giving glimpes of her truth that he never saw before.I loved the supernatural elements throughout and how one secret continuously led to another. It felt like a slow burn and a page turner all at once. Malfi did a great job on the execution of this story. He left no stone unturned! I couldn't have dreamed of a better ending. I cannot believe this is the first Malfi book I've read. All I can say is damn, the man can write! I'm surprised I haven't heard much chatter about this one. Highly recommend to fans of psychological thrillers, murder mysteries, and dark literary fiction.

Excellent example of what a great horror book should be!

This book is part ghost story, part murder mystery, and an all around fast-paced atmospherically creepy book that will both freak you out and entertain you while you're reading it.

Loved this one and I highly recommend it to all horror fans.

I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish this book even though I had to be awake again at 7 a.m. because I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing how it would end! It’s one of those books that just has everything. It’s not only heartbreaking and meaningful, but also suspenseful, chilling, and heart pounding. I literally got chills from the creepiness. Best of all, this story comes full circle perfectly. Such a well done book!
Don’t miss out on this one!

Huge thank you to Netgalley, Titan Books and Ronald Malfi for letting me take an early read of this novel.
I'm honestly stumped as to how to even start this review.

Over the past year or so I've had the fortune to message a bit with Ronald, and even interview him for Kendall Reviews, but up until this book, I'd only managed to read 'Mr. Cables,' his novella that was re-released last year. That novella was stunning.

But every single person kept telling me - read his novels, read his novels.It's also interesting, because I had a few people tell me that if I love Andrew Pyper so much, I'd love Malfi's writing, because they are quite similar. After reading this one, I can see that.

What I liked: 'Come With Me' is, truthfully, one of the best books I've ever read. Not just this month, or this year, but in my reading experience. This book hooks you from the first, heart-wrenching chapter, and dragged me along for 300+ more pages of heartbreak, mystery, intrigue and layer upon layer of grief and missing the one you loved the most. Even if you don't fully know all of them.

The story opens with our main character, Aaron Decker, who declines an invitation from his wife, Allison, to join her that morning as she heads to a local shopping center. She never makes it home. That first chapter could've been the entire book. Malfi based it on a true event that tragically happened in his life, and he could've simply expanded small events from each paragraph and I would've devoured it and sobbed and cursed him for breaking my heart.

As the next few weeks go by and Aaron tries to continue on as best he can with his life, he begins to find little things, things that suggest his wife was living a secondary life that he had no inkling that even existed. From this point, Malfi takes us on a grief-filled roller coaster where Aaron keeps following the clues gathered at each place he's led. 

Malfi writes as only the masters can, each sentence expanding the story but also keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, all the while creating that little nagging suggestion somewhere in the back of your mind that not all is what it appears to be and that at any moment the bottom will fall out.

Decker is a fantastic main character, one that you instantly feel for and root for but also someone you feel like you've known your whole life.And by the end of the book, Allison will be a character you know and understand, even if she truthfully only appears living, within the first 50 pages or so.

What I didn't like: It's an interesting thing, but one of the minor subplots within this story is gun violence and I think this aspect will hit people differently based on what country they live in. I've never once even been near an active shooter event. We do have some gun violence here in Canada, but it doesn't even hold a candle to the rampant carnage that happens on a daily basis in the US. When I read about some specific things, I was absolutely gutted. But for those who just shrug their shoulders or shout "2nd Amendment!" that aspect won't have as much emotional weight.

Why you should buy this: If you're a fan of Malfi, you're a fan of Malfi. You'll be buying this and loving every single paragraph. This book is sublime.If you've never read Malfi before - this would be a perfect entry point. A book filled to the brim with grief, a husband's desire to discover his wife and see her final task fulfilled, but also a story that lives and breathes and holds your attention until you've finished and you wish to God you'd never entered this world. When I finished this, I was in tears and just felt gut punched. I actually messaged Ronald and shared how much I'd enjoyed it. It took me another half hour or so to regain my composure and even now, writing this the following day, I'm still thinking about this story and on the verge of tears. 

Malfi is releasing one of the best written books out there, a book that will feature prominently on many year-end "Best of Lists" and if we're lucky, we'll be seeing this one on the screen at some point.

Simply outstanding.

** This review will feature on Kendall Reviews**

This was my first book by Ronald Malfi and I received a digital copy thanks to Titan Books.

What an outstanding storyteller, the characters, the plot and interactions made it feel real. I could picture myself there seeing it play out.

I really enjoyed Come With Me and I can certainly see myself looking into more of Malfi's books as a result of a great story.