COME WITH ME by Ronald Malfi – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi
Published by Titan Books on July 20 2021
Genres: Adult, Horror, Thriller
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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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.