Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for a copy of this book to review !

Come With Me
by Ronald Malfi

I have read many of this author's books and love them all, Come With Me is a terrifying novel which does not disappoint.

Aaron Decker's wife Allison is suddenly killed at a mall shooting. In his despair, Aaron believes his beloved may be haunting him. Strange sounds in the home, a closet light that comes on by itself and items out of place.
As he begins to go through her personal items, to his great surprise , he finds a hand gun and an unusual stack of files detailing murders that have taken place over the past 15 years. He is bewildered by his findings because Allison always refused to allow guns in the house and she never mentioned anything about her obvious and detailed research into horrific murders of the past.
Confusion and grief leads our protagonist on a twisting path to uncover his wife's secret life and what she was hiding all the years of their marriage. Does he really want to know?

I did NOT see the ending coming at all and was shocked. Great book. 5 stars.

Come With Me was a fantastic read.
I can't thank NetGalley, Titan Books and Malfi for the chance to read and review this amazing thriller.

Honestly this is my very first Malfi read. So I keep asking myself how in the hell have I not heard of this author sooner??? How have I not read his other books??? Wild! Well that all changes now because after reading and devouring Come With Me..... I've gotta read the other books!

I enjoyed and loved this book for so many reasons.....
The thriller in this book was phenomenal. I was hooked, I couldn't get enough of it!
The writing...... Holy Hell if was freaking fabulous. I loved how Aaron was giving his story but also how he was talking to his wife Allison I just thought that was cool! And very unique.
The story was great, the plot was interesting... The entire book was freaking amazing, you're going to have to read to see.

This was such a damn good book. I couldn't put my kindle down, I ignored adult life and that is why I love reading!
Bravo Ronald! You have gained a new follower and fan! 😘

Thank you for the chance to read this book! I absolutely loved it!

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Titan Book, and Ronald Malfi for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Aaron Decker has just lost his wife, Allison, in a random mall shooting. While dealing with the aftermath of his loss, he starts finding bits and pieces of his wife’s life, showing him that he probably knew nothing of the woman he married. What follows is a look into love, obsession, and how well you can honestly know someone.

I’m not going to give a lengthy description of this novel. There are just so many layers that 1.) any description will fall short or 2.) my big mouth will say something spoiler-y. This is a book you’d do well to go into with very few preconceptions. Come With Me was the perfect blend of subtle horror elements (sometimes the most horrific things we do to one another), supernatural touches, and some definite thriller aspects. There were a few lines here and there that felt kind of off, but that was my only slight issue reading this story. The ending was perfect and made me tear up a bit. All I can tell you is that you probably need to read this. I thought that this would be a 4-star read (I’ve read so many great books this year that a lot of my ratings are high), but that ending bumped it up to a 5.

This was my first venture into the writing of Ronald Malfi, and I’m pleased to say that it won’t be my last.

This was my first Ronald Malfi book and let me just say how phenomenal it was. The cover is eye-catching. Along with the opening, which reads like a domestic thriller, it immediately had me hooked. The writing quickly builds a slow, eerie sense of dread into the plotline that doesn't let up. I love how Malfi began with Aaron talking to Allison. It feels like he's talking to us, the reader in an almost stream-of-consciousness way. The author's writing style is descriptive, intriguing and poignant. It puts you right in the middle of the story. Through Aaron's eyes we get an intimate portrait of who Allison is as a reporter, wife and friend while at the same time developing curiosity over what she was researching and why. It makes her as fascinating to the reader as she is to Aaron; a touching manifesto on grief and an engrossing murder mystery. What secret was Allison keeping? As Aaron follows his dead wife's research down the rabbit hole in search of a serial killer, what will he find?

If you enjoy murder mysteries with a mild side of ghost creepiness you'll like this one. I would put it in the same conversation as Simone St James novel 'The Sun Down Motel' and Alex North's 'The Shadows' for pacing, vibe and quality. For some reason Aaron's character reminds me of Michael Keaton's portrayal of Jonathan Rivers in the 2005 movie 'White Noise'. His grief was palpable in that movie and we have a similar outline here. However, if you're buying this looking for horror, although it gets weird it doesn't quite get to the horrifying stage. All in all though I feel very fortunate to have received an advance copy. I found it engaging and enjoyable. I'll definitely be reading Malfi's other novels.

“When you spend so much of your life sifting through dark and terrible things, you give those things the power to become real. The ghosts don’t leave you alone.”

Playlist: "Come Go With Me" by the Del-Vikings, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" by Culture Club, "Oh Carol" by Neil Sedaka, "Don't Kill it Carol" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band

My 5 star review will be up on my Bookstagram (@AprilsBookishLife) all year as well as under the highlight for '5 Star Books', Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook (in the Books of Horror reader group - which has 12k members) and after publication on Amazon. Thanks again for approving me.

Come with me - Review
What an absolutely fantastic mystery thriller this was to read. Also, as a bonus, with just enough of a supernatural twist to satisfy any horror lover.
From the moment I started the first chapter until right up to the end, I was just captivated. This novel was truly unputdownable. If I had more time to read in the day, I would have easily finished this in one to two sittings.
Loved the storyline, loved the protagonist and the journey he took me on and love, love, loved those nail-biting final chapters! Did not love that final ending too much though, but it did make a lot of sense. Ties the whole novel neatly together with one vital and common thread (which you only recognize until the very end) running through the whole book.
Come with Me is an excellent example of why I adore Ronald Malfi so much as an author. He has a fabulous writing style that does not intimidate nor bore you to death. You are always kept on your toes. I have a couple of his novels in my bookshelves, but this one, by far, outshines the rest (in my opinion anyway).
It was such a privilege to read his latest novel and I would just like to thank NetGalley and Titan Books for giving me this opportunity.
I am truly excited for this latest novel. Not only because I cannot fault it on any level (and I am a rather picky reader) but also because it seems that Malfi’s only getting better with time. He is already great, just imagine what we’ll have 20 years’ from now. Exciting? I Think so yes!
Somebody should give this man a medal because I give Come with Me 10/10 and it will come highly recommended by me.
A true Malfi fangirl
Karien

Oh man, this was good. Having only read one previous novel by Malfi, Bone White(which I loved) I was really hoping this would keep up the standard and boy does it and some.

Aaron Deckers life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a mass shooting at a mall.
Consumed with grief and haunted by his wife(literally?) when eventually going through her belongings he finds a receipt for 2 nights in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. It has her name on it and was when he was away on business. The nights she said she was at home.

Confused by this and fearing his wife may have been having an affair, he begins to investigate and visits the small town where the hotel is. He slowly finds that his wife has a lot more secrets she kept as she led an alternative life, secret from him.

That’s as much as I’d say about the story. I went in blind having got the book on the authors name alone.

This one really delivers and has a same vibe as Bone White. It’s hard to pinpoint a genre for this. A whodunnit, mystery, thriller, supernatural story, a story of grief, a story of the mind, a story of time.

The story is beautifully written and oozes atmosphere from start to finish. Like Bone White this is light on crash bang wallop and goes at its own pace with a constant sense of foreboding.

The supernatural elements are hinted at and blurred with dream states that lets you make up your own mind about them. It’s just all beautifully suggestive and subtle and so satisfying to read.

Of course there is a hell of an interesting story here too and it’s very well told and plotted but, it’s the writing as much as the story that is to be admired.

I really loved this one. I started off giving this four stars but as I recount the story here I’ve changed my mind and upped it to five.

This book I hope gets to more readers than those who read thrillers. There is so much more here.

A fantastic book. Do yourself and get a copy and let it draw you in. You won’t regret it.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

The title, has instantly attracted me, I felt the urge to turn the pages and uncover the mystery. This was a feel good book for me.

This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.
There is a small handful of authors who I sometimes forget just what wonderful writers they are until I begin reading another of their books, and Ronald Malfi is one of them. Just when I thought he couldn't get any better at writing than he already has, he puts out Come With Me. If he hasn't done so already, with this book he proves to be an absolute master wordsmith.
In Come With Me, Malfi merges the depths of grief he explored in The Ascent with the finely layered mystery he wove in December Park. The tale is told by Aaron Decker, a man swallowed by misery from the untimely death of his wife, Allison, in a narrative directed at her, or possibly her ghost. After Allison, a reporter for a small town paper, tragically dies, Aaron discovers she was keeping secrets from him. What at first appears to possibly be infidelity soon proves to be extensive research into a series of seemingly unrelated but similar deaths - a story way beyond the purview of her daily job. As he copes with grief, Aaron begins following up on Allison's research and realizes she may have been on the track of a serial killer.
This book kept me riveted right from the start, eagerly yet hesitantly moving forward, both wanting to know what happens next while at the same time dreading it. The story is a perfectly paced mystery with hints of the paranormal, and while it may have you yelling at the protagonist at times for his poor decisions, will ultimately make you not want to stop reading until you've finished the last page.

I’m a huge fan of Ronald Malfi. I’ve read (just counted) 15 of his books, which may not be all of them but is certainly an overwhelming majority, from his earliest amateurish stabs at fiction to the awesome scary epics he’s matured into. So when Malfi says Come With Me I do. No map, no questions asked.
Which is to say that having found his latest novel on Netgalley, I requested it immediately and read it as soon as approved, no plot summary, no page count, pure trust. And sure enough, it paid off. Mostly.
For how prevalent literary fights have featured in Malfi’s latest work, with this book he decided to revisit his thriller writing days, flex those muscles, test those waters. So genre wise the book is basically a serial killer thriller with supernatural undertones thrown in. The plot goes something like this…
Aaron Decker is a haunted man. Aaron’s comfortable life was brutally changed one day when his wife Allison was randomly gunned down by a crazed shooter at a mall (the most American of scenarios and most tragically inspired by a real life story death of the author’s friend). Now he’s become unmoored, unanchored and in his grief he goes over some of his late wife’s things and finds a side of her he didn’t know existed. Sure, she was always reticent to talk about her past, but he figured that was due to all the tragedies she left behind, a death of her father, a death of her sister. But turns out there was more, so much more. Turns out his late wife’s sister was actually murdered and Allison has spent years investigating that and other similar deaths. Evidence suggests a serial killer. And now Aaron finds himself compelled to take over where Allison left off, to follow the thread no matter what darkness it’ll lead to. It begins as the only way to understand Allison, to be close to her once again…but soon enough it turns terrifyingly real.
So there you go. An excellent dark psychological suspense thriller from a genre hopping master of literary scares. The ghostly ambiance throughout blends in smoothly with the very credible murder investigation straight down to the prerequisite (and unexpected) final plot twist. A combination sure to delight fans of both supernatural and murderously natural genres.
I said mostly earlier and that’s because at time (and really just that, only at times) the book seemed lightly overwritten and it used the title excessively in some many ways. But these are really very minor things, comparing to the most excellent sum total. Malfi’s writing is excellent in the way that it plays out (for me, anyway) cinematically, I find his words projecting a movie onto the screen of my mind. Such as his vivid imagery, the atmospheric darkness pervading this story, the eerie small towns shrouded in sadness, desperation and nightmares. Really, really good, completely immersive, profoundly engaging reading experience. Read in the dark if possible, but either way…read this book. It’s exciting, disturbing and hugely entertaining. This is a trip well worth taking. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Wow this was so good! I was on the edge of my seat from the start reading this book! Such a page turner. Can not wait for more by this author.
Thanks to the publisher and and NetGalley for allowing me to read this creepy read!