I really enjoyed this book by Eva Jurczyk. Loved the familiar Canadian setting and the locked-room mystery. I ended up reading this while travelling, which was super fun.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. Contrary to some of the other reviews, I really liked the ending, but I do wish the author went into a bit more detail at the end.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy. Watch for this one in September 2025.

A successful mystery author with writer's block is gifted a long train ride by her husband so she can have uninterrupted time to work on her next book. But the train runs into a blizzard and is stopped along the way, and one of the passengers mysteriously dies in his sleep. And suddenly her focus is on the other people trapped in the car with her, and is one of them a murderer?
This is more psychological suspense a la Ruth Rendell than a mystery. While there is murder, the impetus to solve it is about survival as much as justice. And when the long wait sets a young diabetic man into crisis, a murderer is not the only concern. The story starts off fairly slow to introduce the characters, carefully setting the stage, but it steadily gains in intensity, and builds to a harrowing climax. Fascinating story on what makes people tick, and how far some will go in love or fear. Highly recommended.

This is a very clever murder mystery that you would likely want to include in a book club. The story is dark but the characters are very colorful with the main character being the most complex. The author acknowledges the flaws in a human's character and challenges unconditional love.

6:40 to Montreal is like a roller coaster ride. The drops are stunning revelations of a character or a scene. The story starts with the ill main character , Agatha, in the depths of depression succumbing to her fate and slowly unravelling. She decides to take up a gift from her husband: a train trip to Montreal, which she would use as mini-writers' retreat for her next book. A book she hopes is as successful as her first. However, Agatha has plans in the city unbeknownst to her husband, Jurczyk craftily incorporates clues along the way. However, whatever she had planned changes when her train comes to a halt and she soon learns of her seat mates murder.

Quite honestly, I didn't know what to think. I thought the main character was a psychopath for awhile. A murder happens and here she is jotting down every detail on her laptop. The book does offer a lesson in holding back judgment. After a while, I wondered if parts of the story were true. I would have loved to discuss what was occurring with someone else reading the book at the same time and chat about the crazy characters onboard, especially Dorcas. Fortunately, Jurczyk gives you a peek into her story development in the books' final pages.

If you love murder mysteries, definitely pick this up. It took me about a week to read but the twists and turns may have you indulge in it more and turn it into a quick read. Enjoy.

As a gift from her doting husband, Agatha is on the 6:40 train to Montreal for the weekend to write her second novel in peace, or so she thinks. Meanwhile, Agatha, having been diagnosed with a terminal cancer, is plotting to spend her free time having an affair to finally feel some sort of emotion after crashing out from treatment, resentment, and fear. And you know what they say about the best laid plans…
Suddenly trapped with a handful of eccentric passengers, Agatha realizes her train, and her writing, are going to have to wait when faced with several emergencies in a matter of hours. While attempting to put out each fire as it appears, we watch relationships crumble, alliances form, and the catalyst of it all being too close for comfort.
While I found the ending chapters to be a little disappointing from how the plot developed, I still enjoyed this read of suspense and terror. The train proves to be every bit of claustrophobic and exciting of a scene as you can imagine when things go awry very suddenly and without warning. A quick thanks to NetGalley for this ARC for review, I enjoyed this nod from Jurczyk to Agatha Christie.

Agatha sets out on the train to Montreal for a day of writing unbothered by wifi or phone distractions. Her husband bought the ticket to allow her to focus on writing her second novel. A quiet, relaxing ride through the snow covered landscape turns into a murder mystery when her fellow passenger dies in his seat. The train ends up stopping on the tracks and the passengers have a slow, unraveling descent into madness.

I recommend this book for mystery readers. The pacing is quite clever to give clues to Agatha’s life and the fellow passengers all have roles to play in the trapped room murder mystery. The novel is a psychological thriller with suspenseful plot twists all the way until the end.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

A murder in a broken-down, isolated train is always a good premise, and I enjoyed the Canadian setting. However, the book needed a strong edit to pare all of the extraneous details and plot lines. The pace was too slow for my taste with confusing plot points, and I didn't really like the main character. In the range of 2-3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC.

Agatha is heading to a gifted writing retreat from her husband. From there, the plot really takes off. The train breaks down, a dead body is found and there is seemingly no way to escape the danger. Interesting characters a propulsion storyline and innovative writing makes this a not to be missed thriller.

This was a really great book, one thing I like about a good mystery is when it keeps you on your toes. Every time I thought I'd figured something out the next chapter I was proven wrong. I was hooked, I read this so quickly! This is not a predicable mystery, I loved it - great work!

Prepare to be utterly captivated by Eva Jurczyk's "6:40 to Montreal." This novel is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling and intricate character development, weaving a narrative that pulls you in from the very first page and doesn't let go.

Jurczyk's prose is as elegant as it is evocative, painting vivid scenes and exploring profound human connections with remarkable depth. It's a beautifully crafted journey that resonates long after you've turned the final page. It left me with a sense of wonder and a deep appreciation for the artistry within. A truly exceptional read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I couldn’t finish this book. It just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t bring myself to care about any character or plot lines.. there was just nothing here to interest me.

Stick with this one, the first of the book is pretty rocky, but it was interesting to see what an actual author thinks about when they start writing a book for the audience they expect the book to entice. I had never really thought about that concept.
It was quite confusing to go between writing a book and keeping track of the present happenings. But, keep on reading, the style changes and we start dealing with quite the twist and turns of a murder/mystery I found thoroughly entertaining.
The storyline is good after the early initial confusion part. We have multiple motives, multiple suspects and some inconsistencies, and the author keeps us guessing. I am going to have to take a half star off for the ending. Not that it was a truly bad ending, but I was a bit disappointed. There was so much to choose from with all the possibilities of motives but for me, maybe not all the other readers, she chooses the lease likely.
Comes in with 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Well worth reading.
This is my own opinion expressed in this review. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press.

Huge thanks to Poisoned Pen and NetGalley for the review copy. 6:40 to Montreal is set to publish September 2025.

I applied for this arc because the cover is to die for, the title is very intriguing, the premise promises a classic stuck-on-a-train murder mystery, what's not to love? That and also I have been a passenger on the Toronto-Montreal train once. I can confirm that the Wi-Fi and reception are spotty at best even in clear weather.

Agatha embarks on a business class trip from Toronto to Montreal, a gift from her husband. Not long into the journey, a snowstorm causes the train to get stuck on the track, trapping the unlucky travelers. Chaos ensues.

The book is quite boring until about 25% in, when the train does get stuck in the middle of a snowstorm. The protagonist sounds like a vicious, nasty person, self-absorbed beyond saving, and despite the events of the book taking place over a day, it reads incredibly slow and time seems to drag to no end. There's easily something to dislike about every character (perhaps not Jeff or Rupinder), but I find Agatha downright aggravating.

spoilers below

The pace picks up after 11:15 am, when the first death occurs. Definitely gets easier to read, like a fun little mystery treat. The constant inner monologue from Agatha is meant to reflect parallels to the situation at hand, but it only comes off as distracting, obnoxious, at best boring. The cancer storyline fails to tug at my heart, I actually find myself more sympathetic towards Cyanne.

Throughout the book, Cyanne is painted in an extremely misogynistic way. Agatha resents her, for reasons that are not quite cleared up (or maybe I missed it?). I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt in the characterization of Agatha as perfection when it comes to internalized misogyny — though I can't help but feel that Agatha is a poorly executed self-insert character. Cyanne turns out to be right though, when Agatha borderline delights in stealing her identity for her own book, only brushing it off as an oopsie when her novel becomes popular and negatively impacts Cyanne's life.

The twist is quite predictable, but still very much annoying. Everything that could go sideways absolutely does, which is why I'm not that impressed with the execution, suspense basically nonexistent. It ends up feeling like a caricature of a murder-mystery that falls flat when all is revealed.

All in all, it is quite entertaining towards the end, but the characters are too hard to root for, bringing the overall quality much lower than expected. A shame really, I was expecting so much more. I'm happy to be done with this slump.

I had a really good time with this book. From time to time I enjoy a good murder story on the train. I thought the ending could have been better, more exciting, more thrilling, but that's just me.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC of '6:40 To Montreal' by Eva Jurczyk - expected release date of 09/23/2025

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has such an interesting storyline, I couldn't wait to see how it played out. It was definitely a slow burn, reveals came toward the end and there was some repetitiveness and dragging on throughout. Each plot twist and reveal was a surprise though, I didn't predict any of them! Unless I missed it, the only loose end was why the FMCs frenemy was on the same random train.

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk is an intriguing tale of a group of people on a short train trip to Montreal. Agatha, a writer whose husband has gotten her the trip as a present so she can finish a book, is stranded with the few other passengers and crew during a snowstorm. As bodies mount up so do the tensions between passengers and crew. There is a lot of tension along with many twists and turns before the journey is over. This is a very enjoyable if gory read with a very twisty course and great characters.

There's a lot of good in this book and I applaud the author's attempt at creating an Christie-esque murder mystery on a train from Toronto to Montreal, but I didn't end up finishing. I think, perhaps, if the incredible number of digressions and asides and recollections were stripped out and the author had stuck closer to the propulsive mystery taking place – making this a novella rather than a novel – I'd have enjoyed it better? Instead, at critical moments, we leave the narrative to ruminate about the history of things in the lead character's life, memories from years past, and it all bogs down the underlying action in a way that I just didn't take to. Perhaps other readers will like this more contemplative journey to Montreal, but I wanted a high-speed train.

Another fabulous story plot by Eva Jurczyk. The story twists and turns at just the right moments. Just when you think you have it all figured out there is another fact revealed that sends the plot in a new direction.

The story of Agatha, a writer in a slump, is on the 6:40 train. She has the day planned out, when the train gets stuck in a snow storm. There are only a few people on this train car. The reader gets to know each of the characters very well. The first victim is a shocking surprise, then it is like sharks smelling blood in the water. In a closed car mystery, the murder must be one the people in the room and Jurczyk is practiced at pitting one against another. Will the train make it to its destination before there are more bodies? Only time will tell.

I found myself very confused and just didn't enjoy it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Eva Jurczyk and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a mess — plain and simple.

The main character is an author, and throughout the story she often describes how she would write the scenes happening around her. The irony? The actual author doesn’t follow through. Instead of making the scenes better, they're made more confusing or vague. It read like a first draft that never got polished. At times, I honestly questioned if two sentences on the same page were even part of the same thought.

The plot jumps all over the place, the suspense feels forced, and the writing leans so hard into being cryptic that it becomes frustrating. None of the characters felt real or well-developed — I didn’t care about them, and the story gave me no reason to.

The inclusion of cancer felt especially out of place. It didn’t deepen the story or help the character arc — it just felt like a heavy topic thrown in without purpose or care.

And the ending? Absolutely ridiculous. I closed the book wondering what I’d just read — and not in a good way.

A good tension, relatively slow pace, but the time jumps from the present to the past, and back to the present, was dizzying. With this premise, in theory this could have been the perfect time for Jurczyk to creater her own spin on a classic trope, however it feel flat and the plot twist ast the end just wasn't worth all this mediocre build-up. All in all, it was well-written and entertaining, and I might recommend it to fans of thrillers.