“Do you want to see a magic trick?”

One freaking chapter into the dang thing I threw my head back and yelled, “god DAMNIT” to an empty apartment and my newly startled cat. After thumps from my upstairs neighbors subsided, I buried my nose back between the pages and settled in for what quickly became one of my favorite books I’ve read this year, and quite possibly, the Malfi elite. (“Come With Me” is on hold at the library so this is subject to change.) Exceptional pacing and form, exquisite tension and terror, and just solid horror writing fill the pages of this novel. There’s also the…magic.

I tend to steer clear of coming-of-age stories as they’re not my bag but that theme was so far sidecar to this story, it was sort of pleasant when that factor appeared as it became a break of the NEVER ENDING HORROR of the plot concept itself. Malfi is excruciatingly good at convincing readers to drop their guard, just to reach down and lift the house, walls and all, from around us: we’re never as safe as we think we are with his books in our hands.

5/5 Ronald Malfi books are like being on a subway and sometimes the doors open and it’s scary and bloody and gross and then sometimes they open and boom it’s so fucking sad? Do you want to see a magic trick? Here are the five stages of grief.