I love a riley sager and this was such a fun read! I was hooked in immediately and could not put my kindle down until the story was done. A tale set on a train told over the span of one day. Fun characters and I enjoyed the revenge aspect.

This was such a fun murder mystery , anything Riley sager writes I’m here to read , This book was very slow and that would be my only negative

3.5🌟s rounded down.

There were things I liked about this book, but there were also things I didn't like.

I really liked how Sager introduced us to the characters in the first few chapters! I liked Anna's character and learning about the role everyone played in what happened to her family. The locked room trope over a couple of hours is one of my favorite thriller tropes, so I really liked that about this book! And I was a fan of the ending, which is one I can see people either loving or hating.

I just think the pacing was a little off. The first third of the book was pretty fast, the middle was very slow, and then the last third picked up again. BUT it felt like everything was shoved into the last third with all of the reveals and twists. I would've loved getting a reveal here and there starting a little sooner rather than having it all revealed so close to the end.

This is definitely still one I would recommend to others because Riley Sager is one of my favorite authors and I love the way he crafts a thriller!

a fast paced murder mystery with a tight through-line that is neatly tied up at the end—this book is a great beach read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this title!

I liked this a lot more than I liked Sager's other recent titles--it felt like a return to form for me and I found it a ton more enjoyable because of that! I genuinely think Sager's work is at its best when he's doing a bonkers locked room mystery. To me the supernatural elements muddy everything and the surprises sometimes lose some of their impact.

I liked the setting and how different the characters were in their behaviors, and I liked that it was a quick, punchy read. I was able to finish it basically on my own train ride home from work! Some of the surprises were guess-able, but I think that's okay, because I certainly didn't guess all of them.

3.5, but I'll round it up because I'm excited that I liked it more than the last couple releases.

While this was undoubtedly a fun read, it did not really feel like a Riley Sager book. None of the twists were as shocking or out of left field as in his other books but they were enjoyable regardless. It really felt like Riley Sager was trying to branch out of his normal genre or writing style and into more of a book the reader can solve along with the main character which is not bad. However, as much fun as the book was the main character Anne fell a little flat. She constantly knew just the right amount about anything to get the job done, but it was poorly explained/poorly reasoned as to how she gained that knowledge. 10/10 would ride this train again.

I've read and enjoyed all of Mr. Sager's books and this one was a miss for me. His plots are always entertaining and in my opinion, quick moving, but this book was a bit of a slog. The first several chapters were an introduction to each character with their back stories so by the time we got to the first murder I was disengaged. I didn't emotionally connect with the main character so there was no investment in the outcome.
I did appreciate his inclusion of WWII history but it wasn't enough to keep me turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read though.

This was okay. I feel like the Agatha Christie route was a safe way to go. I really wanted to love this. I think we need to stop with the mystery on the train stories. I am still a Sager fan but this one fell short to me.

Perfect for Agatha Christie fans, With a Vengeance is a closed door murder mystery with endless twists and turns. I couldn’t help but be suspicious of everyone while rooting for most of their redemptions. What a unique take on a classic structure.

I loved the premise of this book, but it fell a little bit flat to me. I was not invested in any of the characters. It was still a great thriller though. I loved how the whole book took place on a train. Overall, I would still recommend!

I’m not usually a fan of the one by one trope, but this book had me entertained! I absolutely loved the 1950s post-World War II setting. I love that it took place on a train. I thought that was a very unique location for a book like this. It was fast paced. I really couldn’t figure out who the killer was. This is the way I felt for the first 75% of the book.

Then the last 25% came and it totally lost me. I did not love the way this wrapped up at all. It got very chaotic. It became outrageous and really, really unbelievable. So much happened in such a short amount of time that it was very confusing and I just didn’t love the end. This one could’ve been four stars with a different ending.

Unlike anything Riley sager has ever written! The story did star off a little slow, but I think only because it was setting the stage and introducing all the characters. Once it got going, this was a wild ride!

This one started off so strong for me! I’ll always be a Riley Sager auto-read, and this book immediately grabbed my attention. I’ll admit, things got a little too twisty toward the end—it felt a bit heavy on the gotcha moments—but I still really enjoyed the story overall. The mystery kept me fully engaged, and I had fun trying to piece together the clues and figure out the whodunit. Another solid Sager read!

*2.5 stars rounded up*
I’m disappointed to say this one just didn’t work for me. Riley Sager is one of my go-to authors—I’ve really enjoyed his previous books and was especially excited for this one after reading the synopsis. A mystery-revenge story set on a 1950s train? Count me in!

Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with the story. The plot often felt overly explained, which took the tension out of some key twists and made them feel predictable. While things did pick up toward the end, by then I was already mentally checked out and ready to move on.

That said, I’m still a Riley Sager fan and will continue to read whatever he puts out. This particular book just wasn’t a hit for me.

*2.5 stars*

As a longtime Riley Sager fan, I was eagerly anticipating his 2025 release, With a Vengeance. From the description, it promised something a little different: a classic “whodunnit” mystery that was giving Murder on the Orient Express vibes. I was intrigued to see how Sager, known for blending suspense with eerie, would put his own spin on a locked-room-style murder mystery.

Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me.

To be fair, I’ll admit I’m not drawn to traditional “whodunnits,” but I went in optimistic, trusting Sager to do what he does best: twist genres and keep readers guessing. What I found instead was a story that felt more like a by-the-numbers mystery than something fresh or unexpected. Gone were the elements I love in his other books. I kept waiting for a curveball or something weird and unsettling to surface, but it never came.

The mystery itself felt over-the-top and, at times, downright implausible. There were several plot points that had me wondering if the book was meant to be a parody. The cast of characters was large, and because the story was so focused on the plot, we never really got the chance to connect with any of them, which just made it hard to care.

Honestly, I think this could’ve worked better as a thriller, where Sager’s strengths, tense pacing, suspense, and eerie vibes, could’ve really shined.

While With a Vengeance wasn’t a hit for me, I’m still a loyal Riley Sager reader.

***Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review***

I can always count on Riley Sager for an atmospheric, tense read that has me turning pages about as fast as is humanly possible. (Luckily, this time it was on my Kindle, so I didn't risk any papercuts.) "With a Vengeance" is a little bit of a departure from Sager's usual fare, as it takes us back to the 1950s, just on the heels of World War II, and while some of the vocabulary used in the prose is more modern, the voices of the characters fit neatly into the lexicon of the era. As Anna Matheson, the daughter of a disgraced former railroad owner, crafts a thorough revenge plot against those she deems guilty of her father's humiliation and death, gathering the sextet on an express train once owned by her family, the plot hurtles forward just as the train does. While it veers into spaces that go beyond suspension of disbelief into the utterly improbable, it's still enjoyable for what it is. A tightly-crafted, claustrophobic whodunnit that was a breeze to read. Is it perfect? Nope. Are there better locked-room mysteries out there? Sure are. But this was fun, and I'll be recommending it this summer.

While I am a huge Riley Sager fan, this book was not one of my favorites by him. I found myself a bit bored with this storyline and feel it’s a bit overdone. The characters were a little hard to follow and the story was a bit confusing.

The plot gets a little confusing and muddled. For fans of Clue the musical but the storyline is fairly guessable.

Clever whodunnit with lots of twists and turns. I loved the fact that they were on a non-stop train, and there was no escape. Riley Sager always delivers a good story, and this one is no different.

Anna has lured the six people responsible for ruining her family and her life aboard a luxury train to Chicago. She plans to confront the six and get them to confess to their motives and crimes. But her plans are derailed when one of the passengers drops dead....and then another. Are the six turning on each other? Or is there someone on this train with more sinister plans?

This book was different from what I am used to seeing from Riley. It was not my favorite by him, but I still enjoyed it!
Liked: Anna was a strong protagonist and I kept rooting for her to figure out the killer.
Disliked: Some of the scenes while atmospheric, were difficult to follow. It also was more of a slow burn than I expected.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.