Come With Me - The Outstanding New Novel From Ronald Malfi
“One thing I know,” you said, “is that 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.”
Aaron and his wife Allison have been married for just over 5 years until one morning the unspeakable happens – Allison is shot dead in a mass shooting at a shopping mall. Aaron falls into his grief; the world is spinning around him as he moves in slow motion. Allison was a reporter, and after her death her office sent over a box of her belongings. One day Aaron looks through and finds a receipt for a two-night stay at a motel in another state. His grief pauses as his mind spins and fears the worst. What on earth was his wife doing staying at a motel out of state, while he was away from home for the weekend working in New York. Why did she never mention this stay? This trip? Was she with someone? And so, begins Come With Me the outstanding new novel by Ronald Malfi.
“I’m of the opinion that when it comes to secrets, there is no end to what we don’t know about a person. Even the person who sleeps next to us and shares our lives.”
I’ll keep this first part spoiler free so heed the warning below when I step into spoiler territory because I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS!
Come With Me is a twisted, emotional, fast paced, terrifying ride. We follow Aaron as he dives into his wife’s past and encounters twist after twist. But trust me, this is not as simple as it seems it would be. What Malfi has done here is write a complex and moving story around a young husband’s grief, a small town of secrets, and a deep mystery to be solved. This is the perfect novel for fans of Bag of Bones and I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
Malfi’s talent is on full display here as he handles a mass shooting and some pretty horrific deaths of young women without becoming too gratuitous or insensitive. Every moment of this book is handled with such love and care. In the Author’s Note he shares the story of his friend who was shot and killed in a mass shooting and that this story is what came out of him as he dealt with it. Trust me, Malfi handles this very relevant and sensitive subject matter with the utmost respect.
But don’t get me wrong, while this is an emotional read, this is a HORROR NOVEL. There is horror left, right, and center in this story and you will be chilled to the bone as you drive along with Aaron in the foggy darkness. One particular abandoned refinery will give you nightmares…
OKAY FULL SPOILERS TIME. TURN BACK! YOU’VE BEEN WARRRNNNNEEDDDD…..GO BUY THIS BOOK ON JULY 20TH, READ IT, THEN COME BACK HERE!
Book mood board - all images taken from weheartit.com
“Gas Head will make you dead”
Firstly, I loved this book so much you guys and I’m LOSING IT. The reason I compare this to I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is because Allison reminds me of Michelle McNamara so freakin’ much. We find out Allison was hunting a serial killer and hadn’t told anyone. This same killer that killed her own sister when she was a teenager. And it takes over her life. It’s an incredible character study of what lengths someone will go to for revenge but also the strength that is given to someone who is faced with a murder that goes unsolved. As Aaron follows in Allison’s tracks and becomes obsessed himself, I just kept thinking of the Golden State Killer case. I’d be curious to see if that was an inspiration for this.
Secondly, the handling of the mass shooting and the decision to make this the reason for Allison’s death is so sadly relevant but a smart addition to the story. Weekly we see on the news another mass shooting, another slew of victims with their lives cut short. And Malfi knows this firsthand. It feels incredibly personal reading this part of the story and I just have to commend him for this.
Thirdly, LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT ENDING. I mean….WOW. Malfi does this incredible job of dropping little pieces of the story that will come back to haunt you later. I wish I could show you the last 20 pages of this book because it just has me scribbling “oh shit” “omfg” “no fucking way” throughout. The story is just so damn smart! One moment in particular of course is the very ending, “Don’t. Open. The. Door.” I genuinely did not see that coming and it KILLED ME. No pun intended. And to find out that it wasn’t Allison haunting Aaron throughout this story, it’s Aaron haunting himself….I mean…come on Malfi, you hit me straight in the feelings with a very hard punch, not fair dude. What a freakin’ emotional twist.
Overall, this is such a smart and beautiful piece of writing that I hope all of you decide to pick up, and I hope Malfi gets all the accolades he deserves.
A BIG thankyou to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this outstanding novel in return for an honest review. I implore you to pick this up on July 20th!
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