This was a fun read! I loved the historical aspect, and the pacing was great. I honestly kept wanting to pick this up to keep the story going.

Set in 1954, this book is about a woman who lost her family twelve years ago and is looking for justice. She has invited the people responsible for her family’s ruin on a train ride, but her plan goes off the rail (pun intended?) when one person ends up dead.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this novel. The train setting was entertaining, and I always enjoy a good locked room mystery. There were a lot of twists and turns, and towards the end it felt a little chaotic but I think it worked overall. I didn’t feel super invested in the characters, which brings this down to four stars. And this isn’t my very favorite Riley Sager book (my personal fave is The Only One Left). But I would definitely recommend this one. I was very entertained!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Dutton/Penguin Random House, for this advanced reader copy.

I was excited to receive an ARC from NetGalley but this one fell really flat for me. Anna Matheson attempts to avenge her family’s deaths and misfortune by bringing the culprits to justice. The story takes place entirely on a train and moves very slow. The twists were lackluster: very predictable and lacked excitement. Really disappointing new release from Riley Sager.

Annie is a woman out for vengeance. Her family was destroyed when a train built by her father's company explodes on its first journey, killing many of the troops including her own brother. Her father is ruined, her mother loses her will to live and only Annie is left to mourn. When she discovers that her father was framed for the whole incident she determines to bring all the people involved to justice. Part Strangers on a Train, part Orient Express, With a Vengeance is a high-speed rollercoaster ride with numerous twists that will keep you turning the pages to the end.

I loved this book! It had all the nostalgia of Murder on the Orient Express/Death on the Nile/Strangers on a Train, and I loved that! The writing felt a bit different than Sager’s previous books, and I think he did a great job of capturing the feel of the era. I felt so immersed in this train ride and the mystery kept me guessing until the very end!

Book Review 🔪🚂
Thank you so much partner @duttonbooks @netgalleyfor the gifted copy!

With a Vengeance
by Riley Sager

About the book 👇🏽

One train. No stops. A deadly game of survival and revenge.

In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson's family. Twelve years later, she's ready for retribution.

Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family's downfall onto a luxury train from Philadelphia to Chicago, an overnight journey of fourteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who've wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served.

But Anna's plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge-and that they won't stop until everyone else is dead.

With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them-even though it means putting her own life at risk.

🚂 My thoughts:

I will literally read ANYTHING Riley Sager writes. This includes his grocery list (like my cousin likes to say). But seriously. He can do no wrong. This was giving Agatha Christie but with Sager’s dance on the line of paranormal. Ghost sightings perhaps? I will say not a ton of it but it’s still there if you’re looking for it. The twists and claustrophobic feel will have you racing against the clock (or destination). That’s just to say that you’ll want to binge it. It felt like a classic train mystery, paced just right, and full of the good stuff as it nears toward the end! I definitely recommend giving this book a read, just go add it to your summer TBR because With a Vengeance is out 6/10/25!!

Happy reading 📖🔪🚂

Riley Sager knows his way around the thriller genre quite expertly. This one certainly threw me to start with as we entered a more locked room whodunnit. A stark contrast from his usual dark suspenseful thrillers.

But as the scene was set and the backstories rolled in, the concept of the novel and the impending sense of doom kept me strapped in. And wowza.

Sager took this seemingly straight forward train journey and planted the most complicated mix of characters with a heavy lather of his aforementioned dark and suspenseful writing. It was twisty and gobsmacking and delightfully emotion packed. It all fits I promise.

Once again I have been utterly addicted to his writing and desperate for answers. This is one for the masses. I dare say it is in second place for me to his title “The Only One Left” and that is no easy task.

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” - Confucius
In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family. Twelve years later she gathers them on an express train from Philadelphia to Chicago, a moving locked room mystery that gathers speed and dead bodies as it races to its destination. This thrilling mystery was a tension filled, hard to put down tale that rates a worthy comparison to "Murder on the Orient Express". As the layers of the story were revealed another conflict would develop causing me to keep reading very late into the night. Will Anna's vengeful journey to bring these six people to justice succeed or destroy her? I highly recommend this intriguing, engrossing deadly game of survival!

I'm a huge Riley Sager fan but this one missed the mark for me. It was very different from his other books. Think Murder on the Orient Express for the setting but And Then There Were None for the plot. I didn't find any of the character likable and that made me not care what happened to anyone. Another small thing that irked me was the constant use of everyone's full name. While this one wasn't for me this author will continue to be an auto buy and I look forward to whatever he writes next.

Summary: Anna Matheson boards a nonstop luxury train with the people who destroyed her family, determined to expose their crimes and see justice served. But when one of them turns up dead, Anna must unravel a deadly mystery and protect her enemies before the killer strikes again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another gripping read from an auto-read author of mine. While The Only One Left still holds the top spot as my favorite thriller of his, this one delivered a tense, Agatha Christie-esque “closed room” mystery aboard a nonstop train, where the clock is ticking and no one can be trusted. I was constantly guessing, at one point, I suspected everyone and trusted no one. Though the pace dragged at times and the cast of self-righteous, business-type characters felt unlikable (perhaps intentionally so), the suspense and high-stakes setup kept me hooked. I’m giving it 4 stars.

A great twist and homage on Agatha Christie’s novel Murder on the Orient Express.

With a Vengeance follows Anna who invites 6 guests (who are responsible to a past event that destroyed her family and life) on board a 13 hour train ride to get her revenge and a confession to bring justice to her family. She didn’t predict that there would be murder and she has no idea who the killer is.

Another great mystery/thriller novel from Sager with many twists and turns that keeps you guessing. I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Sager for allowing me to read this ARC.

With a Vengeance
by Riley Sager
Pub Date: Jun 10 2025
I wasn't sure about this one at first, but then once I got into it, I couldn't put it down.
Anna once had it all, a rich, loving family, a (secret) boyfriend a la Romeo & Juliet, and a bright future thanks to her father's amazing luxury train dreams. Then her world shattered. Her brother and many other American soldiers were killed in a train accident the country blames her father for. The incident looks to be an act of terrorism and her entire family is ripped apart with Anna being the last member standing. Lonely, heartbroken, and thrust from high society, Anna moves in with her hateful aunt. It's not until years later Anna learns the truth about that night. Her loneliness has turned bitter and her revenge on those who destroyed her family has been her only focus.
Inviting those who did her family wrong on the old luxury train that started it all for a one way non-stop trip is the first step in her plan. Getting them all to confess while she watches them squirm is next. What she didn't plan on is murder, but some of them will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
#netgalley
#WithaVengeance
#RileySager

Riley Sager's newest release, WITH A VENGEANCE, pays homage to the queen of mystery, Agatha Christie! Taking place in the 1942, Anna Matheson boards a luxury travel train with a plan for revenge—but when a passenger is murdered, the hunter becomes the hunted. Now, to get justice, she must protect the very people she came to destroy.

WITH A VENGEANCE is a revenge-fueled locked-room mystery set on a luxury train with only six passengers—and one deadly plan. Anna lures the people who ruined her life onto a 14-hour ride to deliver them to the FBI, but when one of them is murdered, her plan spirals out of control. I loved the intense, claustrophobic atmosphere and the race against time, even if the twists didn’t fully surprise me. This book is a bit repetitive and takes a while to get into, but overall its a solid locked-room mystery that readers will enjoy. Old school Sager is not back, but he's still a good time.

RANKINGS:
1. Lock Every Door
2. Final Girls
3. Survive the Night
4. Home Before Dark
5. The Last Time I Lied
6. The House Across the Lake
7. The Only One Left
8. Middle of the Night

A Riley Sager historical mystery set on a train? Did I somehow manifest my ideal thriller concept?

Jokes aside, I loved how atmospheric this book was, and I am a big fan of a revenge plot. At no point during this book did I trust a single character, and I loved that uneasy feeling of constantly being suspicious of everyone. While I wouldn't go as far as to say this feels like an Agatha Christie novel, I will say that I loved how grounded this mystery felt, despite how many twists and turns Sager threw our way. I understood Anna's rage, and I really enjoyed seeing how that played out as her revenge plans changed. The small cast of characters were all so flawed, and I even understood their motivations, even if I didn't agree with them throughout the story.

My only real complaint is that I felt like this story was so fast paced that I felt overwhelmed towards the end. As I said before, it still felt grounded, but I did feel like I was getting twist after twist towards the end, and it had my head spinning some. I still really enjoyed it, but if you're going into this expecting cozy or Christie vibes, it's definitely more intense than that.

I would highly recommend this to Sager or thriller fans alike. 4/5 stars. Now excuse me as I go research train trips.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and Sager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a longtime fan of Riley Sager, I went into With a Vengeance with high expectations—and an immediate fascination with its striking title & cover and intriguing premise. A locked-room thriller set aboard a nonstop 13-hour train ride in the 1950s? Yes, please. The setting was easily one of my favorite aspects of the book: snowy, atmospheric, and classic in a way that felt like a nod to Murder on the Orient Express.

The book follows eight passengers on this isolated journey, and while I enjoyed the main character and appreciated her moral integrity, overall the story felt bogged down by an overabundance of twists. Instead of building tension naturally, the narrative began to feel convoluted—like it was trying too hard to surprise the reader at every turn. By the end, some of the plot developments felt outlandish and unrealistic, making it difficult to stay fully immersed in the story.

The pacing was mostly steady, if a little sluggish at times. The writing style itself is true to Sager’s previous work—compelling, with sharp descriptions and suspenseful beats—but the execution of this particular plot didn’t quite land for me. It felt like too much was crammed into one book, which ultimately lessened the impact of the mystery.

That said, readers who are already fans of Sager or avid thriller readers may still enjoy this for the atmosphere alone. If you're newer to the genre or to his work, I might recommend starting with one of his earlier novels, which I found more grounded and satisfying.

This review is posted on my Goodreads account and we will be discussing it on our podcast that has a release date of June 3rd

What does Riley Sager put in his books that makes them so addictive? I feel bad for reading them so quickly when I know a lot of hard work goes into writing! First rule of a Sager book: trust no one. Riley sends us on an atmospheric train joinery where everyone has a guilty conscious.

I love this book. The suspense was nail bitting. Another great book by Riley. The way Riley described the characters and flipped through them so effortlessly was amazing. One of my favorite thriller book authors. I feel blessed getting an arc of this book. Definitely recommend. It’s fast paced, suspenseful and a great read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with this ARC.

As a longtime Riley Sager fan who's read all of his books, I was excited to dive into With a Vengeance. It's well-written and leans heavily into Agatha Christie territory, with a closed-circle mystery, an ensemble cast, and plenty of secrets simmering beneath the surface.

The setup is solid, and the story has a cinematic feel that would translate really well to film. But as a novel, it felt like something was missing. The pacing dragged in places, and while the plot kept me curious, it lacked the transportive quality I've come to expect from Sager.

That said, it's still a fun, stylish mystery that fans of classic whodunits will likely enjoy. Not my favorite from Sager's catalog, but I'll definitely be picking up whatever he writes next.

3/5 stars - for me pretty quickly as the twists and turns revealed themselves, and I think Sager's twists are always so meh when they finally come to light. Very Scooby-Doo. Also, too long. Did not need some of the action scenes to get the point across. You've seen how short Christie's books were and they landed themselves into the foundational grain of mystery authors and books out there. A bit more editing could have made this one more ultimately enjoyable.

I spent thelast couple of days reading an arc of Riley Sager’s upcoming novel, With a Vengeance. This was clearly Sager’s homage to Agatha Christie and the locked room mystery, specifically Murder on the Orient Express. The premise is several strangers who may have been involved in a crime years before are invited on a luxury train trip by an unknown person who is looking for revenge.

I imagine this book will appeal to a lot of people, but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. I loved the book Murder on the Orient Express and the 1974 film version starring Albert Finney and Ingrid Bergman is amongst my all time favorite movies. Dark, serious and atmospheric, it is perfection. In contrast, I hated the most recent version with Kenneth Branagh- campy and over the top it felt ridiculous. I feel the same way about the Knives Out franchise. This book reads like one of those. Implausible premise, over the top characters and plot holes galore. A ridiculous twist in almost every chapter. I could almost hear the organ chords chiming! In all honesty, if I wasn’t a Sager fan, I likely wouldn’t have finished this one. Thanks to @netgalley and @duttonbooks for an arc of this book.

*Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

3.5 rounding up
Riley Sager is one of my favorite writers, so I will always read what he writes. However, this one was a bit of a miss for me. I loved the Agatha Christie vibes of this book, the setting and time where elegant and the world set up was enjoyable. I did find some aspects to be a bit predictable to me which is why my score is lower. While still a very entertaining read, it was not in my opinion the best Riley Sager book. I look forward to whatever he writes next!