I’m usually a fairly big Riley Sager fan but I fell off for a little—this one brought me back in! It’s very much like Murder on the Orient Express meets Clue, and while that bothered some readers, I found it fun and engaging. As always, Sager had twists coming throughout and I found myself wanting to connect all the dots as quickly as possible. I’d give this a solid 4-4.5/5 stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is by far my favorite Riley sager book. The premise of the book, the characters, twists and turns. So spectacular.

Screaming THANK YOU from the rooftops to Netgalley & Penguin for approving me for one of my most anticipated of 2025! There is just something about being able to read one of my comfort author's new books early.

The book follows Anna Matheson, whose life and family have been destroyed by six people whom she thought she and her family could trust. She has, under false pretenses, lured these six people aboard a train, ready for her retribution. She wants these people to confess to their crimes, and deliver them to the authorities at the end of the trip. Her plan is quickly dissolved when one of the six ends up murdered on the train, and it seems the killer won't stop until everyone is dead. Anna is crunched with time, being forced to find the killer and keeping all of these people safe.

Let me start off by saying that this Sager book will definitely not be for everyone. It doesn't give off the feeling that it's one of his books as much I miss the writing style of his previous books, but I still did enjoy this one. It throws off an Agatha Christie vibe, which I am not a fan of, but Sager puts his own twist on the train adventure aspect. Also, the setting is the 1950s, and you honestly can't tell throughout the book what time period it was. It could have been set in any place during any time, and it wouldn't have made a difference.

As usual with Sager's books, I absolutely loved the book's flashbacks and how each character plays a part in Anna's life and what happened that made Anna get her revenge on all of them. I was not a huge fan of the ending though. For me, there was a red herring throughout the book that I was so sure was going to play a part in who the killer was, and how it was going to end, but I was so disappointed when we found out who the true killer was. I really thought my ending was so much better 😅

Overall, this is a fun do-dun-it mystery book, and I can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts about this book when it officially drops this upcoming June!

I love Riley Sager and everything he’s done. He makes very interesting characters and even if you don’t like them, you’re intrigued to see what happens. That being said, closed room mysteries and closed room train mysteries are a trope I am over. Sager adds more interesting elements such as loss, tragedy, historical and World War II elements that I think historical fiction readers will enjoy. This will not be my first Sager book to recommend, but with an eye-catching cover and a nice description, readers of classic mysteries (Hitchcock, Christie) will enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Publishing for the ARC of With a Vengeance by Riley Sager. Wow, this was a fun read.! Very nostalgic of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, but a bit more modernized and with more twists. I loved the concept of this story and am happy to see Sager stretching from his typical plot line.

This book was very engaging right from the start! I loved the train setting and the twists and turns around every corner. I also enjoyed the cozy mystery vibes throughout the book. I would recommend this book for fans of Murder on the Orient Express.

Um. Where do I begin. There is a train, a murder and that’s about it. I’ve read this trope many times and enjoyed it until this book. It was just not interesting or compelling in any way. The last three books by Sager have been complete misses for me. He is trying different genres but nothing compares to his first two books. It really seems like he is writing books much too fast. A new book every year is a lot. Anyway, thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Think clue, but on a train. A main character set on revenge, six guilty passengers and two unexpected characters, this book is full of twists and turns till the end. However, our main character seemed to lack personality beyond wanting vengeance which wasn’t enough to move the story along for me. I will recommend this book because I usually love Riley sager and just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean it won’t be someone else’s.

This book feels like it's been done before, but Sager's version had several additional twists.
That being said, it just didn't hit for me. There were so many plot lines to untangle that it felt excessively messy. Everyone seems to be trying to kill everyone else and it got really difficult to sort out who actually did the murdering.
I know it's fiction and that in itself is the only reason the plot makes any sense. I just can't imagine a world where people who have destroyed lives the way this cast of characters has would be assembled for a forced journey. What was Anna's goal of having them together? What was she planning to do with everyone while they were there? Sit and stare at them? That was a big hole for me, but there were others which I won't elaborate on so as not to spoil the book.
I guess this book hits on the who dunnit and red herring suspense lines but it wasn't as well executed as I'd hoped.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a bit of a wild goose chase! LOL

A bit different from his other novels, but Riley Sager delivers again with a twisty, action packed novel. I wouldn’t necessarily categorize this as a thriller—it’s more of mystery and suspense. But that doesn’t make it any less good.

This book is definitely full of unexpected scandals for the time period it’s set in which was a nice touch to the plot.

If you like a good old fashioned whodunnit—this one’s for you!

I love Riley Sager, but this one was a major miss for me. I didn’t find the story engaging and it took me way too long to get into this.

I don't know how to feel about this book. I love some of Riley Sager's writing, but this one wasn't clicking with me to well with the digital formatting. I'm hoping to get my hands on the physical book when it comes out.

I was very excited about this book because I've enjoyed all of Riley Sager's novels. While it started with a good plotline, the novel gave too many red herrings to have truly enjoyed it as a mystery. It was interesting that everyone had their motives, but I felt that this took away from the tragedy and revenge of the main character.

Sager is an auto-read author for me, even after a couple of his titles were underwhelming. I think this novel fits squarely in the middle of the spectrum of his work. While it doesn't have the same level of twists and turns as Lock Every Door, Home Before Dark, or Last Time I Lied, I enjoyed a lot about this book once I got a few chapters in. Initially I was worried that the story was going to be Anna constantly asking this group of people where they were at the time of various murders. Girl, these are conniving people who don't not want to be there. Playing Poirot is not going to get you far. Once that diminishes a little, it's interesting to spend time learning about Anna's history and what she hopes to achieve with this trip. I love that Anna already knew how to fight before an alliance with a guy. I'm bummed by the presence of a pro-Nazi character given all that's happening culturally today, but that's a small personal trigger.
One of the reveals will give you a pretty big ick, but overall I like how the novel ended, specifically in terms of Anna's future post- revenge plot.

Holy. Smokes. Where do I begin?!?! First, thank you to Penguin Group| Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. Riley Sager is always a force to be reckoned with. I impatiently wait for these novels to appear every year, and this was not a disappointment in the slightest. I was not sure what to expect as it felt a little different than a normal "Sager" novel, but he remained consistent in the twist and turns of this adventure. The characters were unsuspecting, and the structure of the text itself was genius. I didn't want it to end, yet I couldn't put it down!!! Thank you, Mr. Sager, for blessing us with another masterpiece!

Riley Sager’s newest novel achieves the ultimate goal of every thriller author: a train mystery. In a style reminiscent of Agatha Christie and enough dead bodies to rival Bullet Train, With a Vengeance captures the beauty of a 1950s whodunnit.

Determined to get revenge on the group of people who ruined her family, Anna has trapped six suspects on an express train to Chicago. With the FBI waiting on their arrival and no means of escape, Anna hopes to use their time to hear confessions of guilt and expressions of sorrow, but as each hour passes, more of her suspects are found murdered. In a race against the clock, Anna must determine a) who is the ultimate evil in a train full of complicit murderers, and b) how she wants to exact her revenge.

I’m a huge Riley Sager fan, and I must admit that this latest thriller strays from his usual style quite a bit. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Sager’s take on the train mystery, and thought he did a brilliant job capturing Anna’s grief and desire for vengeance while also imparting her need for proper justice. I loved the dips into the other characters POVs and the multitude of shocking twists that had me second-guessing everything and everyone.

Fans of Agatha Christie, Alice Feeney, Jason Rekulak, and the novel Bullet Train will enjoy this pulse-racing thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I haven't read all of Riley Sager's novels but I've read enough to say that this one is an interesting departure! His novels are typically suspense, as this one is, but this one is set in the 1950s aboard an all-night train. Very, Murder on the Orient Express. I was worried it would be too distracting, but I actually really enjoyed this novel. A woman bent on revenge gathers people who she feels are directly responsible for the tragedy in her life. But then things get tricky as those folks are picked off, one by one. There were enough twists here to keep it interesting and everyone had a detailed backstory.

Wow. Just wow. Riley Sager has completely outdone himself with With a Vengeance! I could not put this book down—it’s everything I love in a thriller. A locked-room mystery? Check. A revenge plot years in the making? Check. A tense, atmospheric setting on a gorgeous 1950s luxury train? Check, check, check!

From the start, I was hooked by Anna Matheson’s mission for justice. She’s spent over a decade planning the perfect takedown of the people who destroyed her family. But the moment one of them ends up dead, everything spirals out of control. Someone else on the train has their own score to settle, and suddenly, Anna isn’t just hunting the guilty—she’s trying to stay alive.

I absolutely loved the way Sager built the tension in this book. Every character felt real, layered, and unpredictable. I found myself second-guessing everyone’s motives, flipping pages as fast as I could to figure out who was behind it all. And the train setting made everything feel even more claustrophobic and high-stakes. The whole story felt like an old-school Agatha Christie novel but with Sager’s signature modern twists that left me breathless.

If you love a mystery that keeps you guessing, a setting that pulls you in, and a protagonist you can root for, With a Vengeance is a must-read. This book reminded me why I’ll always pick up anything Riley Sager writes—he just gets suspense. Do yourself a favor and read this one ASAP!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Riley Sager's latest suspense novel falls flat in that there is a lot of telling instead of showing with character development, plot, and emotion. I had a hard time connecting with or caring about any of the characters from the beginning. The attempt to create an Agatha Christie-like train mystery just didn't work for me.

This book is a thrill ride. So much happening in this train ride. Page turner and suspenseful. I enjoyed it and most of all Riley Sager books. I can't wait until it is released. Fun ride.