Come with Me: Book Quiz
About This Quiz
This 20-question quiz spans the entire novel Come with Me by Ronald Malfi. Questions are divided into four categories: Plot/Sequence (8 questions), Character Motivation (5 questions), Theme/Symbol (4 questions), and Synthesis (3 questions). Answer formats mix multiple-choice and short-answer. Use the answer key at the bottom to check your responses and read brief explanations.
If you need a refresher, visit the main book page or explore the questions and answers and the ending explained.
Quiz Questions
Plot/Sequence (Questions 1–8)
1. Why does Aaron Decker stay home on the morning his wife Allison dies? (Multiple choice)
A) He is sick with the flu.
B) He wants to finish work and avoids the Christmas crowds at the mall.
C) He is angry at Allison and refuses to go.
D) He has a hangover from the previous night.
2. What does Aaron discover in Allison’s hope chest after finding the key? (Short answer)
3. Where does the receipt for The Valentine Motel lead Aaron to investigate? (Multiple choice)
A) Woodvine, Pennsylvania
B) Chester, North Carolina
C) Furnace, West Virginia
D) Annapolis, Maryland
4. Which former police officer reveals that Chief Lovering planted evidence against Das Hillyard? (Short answer)
5. What object does Aaron find in Allison’s yearbook that reveals the truth about her sister’s death? (Multiple choice)
A) A photograph of James de Campo
B) A memorial page for Carol Thompson
C) A note from Peter Sloane
D) A drawing of the six-bar symbol
6. Where does Aaron finally confront Glenn Childress? (Short answer)
7. Who kills Aaron at the end of the novel? (Multiple choice)
A) Peter Sloane
B) Sheila Childress
C) James de Campo
D) Chief Lovering
8. In the final chapter, what does Aaron see when he plays the “Headlight Ghosts” game with Allison? (Short answer)
Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)
9. Why does Allison secretly investigate the murders of teenage girls across several states? (Multiple choice)
A) She works as a freelance journalist hoping for a big story.
B) She is seeking revenge for the murder of her sister Carol.
C) She is a police consultant.
D) She is trying to write a book about urban legends.
10. Why does Aaron continue Allison’s investigation even after Chief Lovering tells him the case is closed? (Short answer)
11. What is Glenn Childress’s stated motive for killing the girls? (Multiple choice)
A) He believes they are corrupt and needs to purify them.
B) He enjoys the thrill of the hunt.
C) He is paid by a secret organization.
D) He is trying to cover up his own crimes.
12. Why does James de Campo attack Allison when she visits him? (Short answer)
13. Why does Aaron shoot Glenn Childress even after Childress surrenders? (Multiple choice)
A) He is afraid Childress will escape.
B) He is overcome with rage and a desire for revenge.
C) He mistakes Childress’s movement for a weapon.
D) He is under the influence of a hallucination.
Theme/Symbol (Questions 14–17)
14. What does the locked hope chest symbolize in the novel? (Multiple choice)
A) Aaron’s desire to protect Allison’s memory
B) The secrets and hidden aspects of Allison’s life
C) The impossibility of moving on after grief
D) The financial security Allison kept from Aaron
15. The phrase “Come with me” recurs throughout the book. What does it primarily represent? (Short answer)
16. What is the “Gas Head” legend according to the people of Woodvine? (Multiple choice)
A) A ghost that appears at the refinery
B) A monster born from refinery toxins that causes harm
C) A nickname for the town’s corrupt sheriff
D) A type of car that stalked the roads
17. The “Headlight Ghosts” game is described as a test of ______. What word completes the idea? (Short answer)
Synthesis (Questions 18–20)
18. How does the novel use the motif of “light” (headlights, closet lights, lamp bursts) to connect the living and the dead? (Short answer)
19. Compare Aaron’s transformation by the end of the story to Allison’s earlier actions. What central idea does their parallel journey illustrate? (Multiple choice)
A) Justice always prevails.
B) Obsession can be passed from one person to another like a contagion.
C) The dead can physically return if summoned.
D) Small towns hide the worst evils.
20. In what way does the author’s note about Wendi Winters inform the themes of the novel? (Short answer)
Answer Key
Plot/Sequence Answers
1. B) He wants to finish work and avoids the Christmas crowds at the mall. (Chapter One: Aaron declines Allison’s invitation to go to the mall because he plans to get work done and does not want to deal with last-minute shoppers.)
2. A revolver, a doll, and an accordion folder containing files on six murdered teenage girls. (Chapter Four: Aaron opens the hope chest and finds these items, indicating Allison’s secret investigation.)
3. B) Chester, North Carolina. (Chapter Three: The receipt from The Valentine Motel in Chester leads Aaron there to investigate.)
4. Chip Zacks. (Chapter Ten: Chip reveals that Chief Lovering took Holly’s pink sweatshirt from her bedroom and planted it in Das Hillyard’s home.)
5. B) A memorial page for Carol Thompson. (Chapter Twelve: In Allison’s high school yearbook, Aaron finds a memorial for her sister Carol, who did not drown but was murdered.)
6. At The Valentine Motel. (Chapter Eighteen: Aaron confronts Glenn Childress in the garage of the motel.)
7. B) Sheila Childress. (Chapter Nineteen: Glenn Childress’s wife shoots Aaron at his home after he returns from the motel.)
8. Two figures holding hands, then gone. (Chapter Four flashback: Allison tells Aaron she saw two figures holding hands “just for a moment—there and then gone.”)
Character Motivation Answers
9. B) She is seeking revenge for the murder of her sister Carol. (Allison’s sister Carol was strangled and left in a river in 2004; Allison’s investigation was personal, not journalistic.)
10. Because he believes Das Hillyard was not the real killer, and he becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth that Allison was pursuing. (Aaron is driven by grief, guilt, and a growing obsession that mirrors Allison’s.)
11. A) He believes they are corrupt and needs to purify them. (Chapter Eighteen: Childress tells Aaron he “purified” the girls, acting on a delusion of moral cleansing.)
12. Because Allison attacked him first. (Chapter Fourteen: James de Campo is partially paralyzed; he tells Aaron that Allison attacked him twice, once with a knife and later with a crowbar.)
13. B) He is overcome with rage and a desire for revenge. (Aaron admits to himself that he shot Childress in anger, despite Childress having surrendered.)
Theme/Symbol Answers
14. B) The secrets and hidden aspects of Allison’s life. (The locked chest represents what Aaron did not know about his wife: her past trauma, her investigation, and her hidden purpose.)
15. The invitation to join someone in death or danger, reflecting the pull of fate and the bond between Aaron and Allison. (Allison says it before leaving for the mall; Denise hears it from the predator; Aaron and Allison say it to each other in the afterlife.)
16. B) A monster born from refinery toxins that causes harm. (Chapter Seventeen: Eric Whitney explains the Gas Head legend as a creature created by pollution that drove people to suicide and illness.)
17. Perception. (Allison tells Aaron: “It has nothing to do with ghosts. It’s a game all about the power of perception.”)
Synthesis Answers
18. Light serves as a bridge between the living and the dead: the closet light turns on by itself, the headlights game conjures visions, the lamp bursts, and the red light at the motel marks supernatural occurrences. These moments suggest that the dead can influence the physical world and guide the living. (Supported by multiple chapters: closet light in Chapter Two, handprint in Chapter Four, lamp burst in Chapter Eleven, red light in Chapter Eighteen.)
19. B) Obsession can be passed from one person to another like a contagion. (Aaron begins by investigating for Allison, but by the end, her obsession has fully transferred to him, culminating in his death and reunion with her.)
20. The author’s note reveals that Malfi wrote the novel as a therapeutic response to the murder of his friend Wendi Winters, a reporter. This parallels how the book uses grief, investigation, and storytelling to cope with loss, making the novel a meditation on mourning and the desire to understand the dead. (Author’s Note: Malfi describes Wendi Winters’s death and how the book became an outlet for his grief.)
Quiz created for readers who want to deepen their understanding of Come with Me. For further discussion, see the ending explained.