3.5 stars rounded up.)

This was a fun and propulsive read about a writer trapped on a train car in a blizzard, and had great tension and drama. Definitely worth a read! The ending hits you a bit like a punchline, but in a wry way that felt more suited to a short story.

What an roller-coaster. The author did a fantastic job of laying out just enough of the story to keep me hooked, but not too much that I know everything too soon. That said, I enjoyed the mystery very much. I haven't read nor seen Strangers on a Train, but I have a feeling there were elements of Eva Jurczyk's story that were a nod to the classic.
This was a fast read. I couldn't read fast enough! I wanted the answers right away, but I'm glad they were teased first.
Great book overall. I will look out for more books by this author.

6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk is a locked room-actually a locked train car mystery.Agatha is the author of a novel that was a bestselling surprise to her. Now she is struggling to follow up with her second novel.A health’ scare and marriage struggle are not helping.Her husband gave her train tickets as a Christmas gift so she is using this time to work on her novel and some other things!There is a snowstorm and the train-car she is in becomes locked.The series of events that take place are bizarre and kind of unbelievable.The characters are not very fleshed out .If you can suspend your ideas of reality you may enjoy this book.Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read this ARC.

2.5 stars rounded up. I was initially drawn to the cover art (and, well, I do love train travel). 6:40 to Montreal is a locked room mystery thriller in the first-class car on the way from Toronto to Montreal. Bestselling author Agatha is gifted a solo trip by her husband, ostensibly so she can get some writing done on her new novel. Agatha may have other plans though - but do they include murder? I liked the premise of this novel, though I found nearly all of the characters irritating. I did not see the final twist coming. While I have mixed feelings about the twist itself, definite bonus points for keeping me guessing.

The pace of this book started slow easing us into it, getting to know the characters and the setting a feel for how this story was going to go. As things picked up and everything started happening I could barely put this book down, wanting to devour every piece of the puzzle we were given to find out the mystery unfolding before us. Nothing could have prepared for me how this book finished and I loved every second of it.

I loved the main character and seeing her perspective through everything, despite what was happening around them she couldn't stop seeing it through her lens as a writer, how she would frame the story if she was writing it and little details to include about everything she saw and the people she passed. This was an engaging story with interesting characters and a thrilling mystery to follow along with.

A locked room mystery on a train with clear allusions to Agatha Christie! This was a fun quick read that kept me guessing!

#1. I am happy to enjoy a simplistic story as long as it has two things: a strong hook delivered early in the story and a fast pace. Sadly, this book has neither of those things. I am guessing Agatha's abrupt departure right at the beginning of the book was intended as a hook but the flat writing style does not provide any anchoring point of interest. The synopsis essentially describes the entire plot.

#2. I am just as happy to enjoy a small burn of a story as long as the author is able to build engagement and empathy. Now, it is not enough to give a character a terminal illness to build empathy from readers. Also, there have to be better ways to describe one of the key characters than just making repetitive references to their "bouncy hair". The entire cast of characters are essentially just names with labels.

As a plot driven story this book does not manage to build up any momentum or tension. As a slow burn, there is no one to care for. The author gave zero 'love' to any of the characters she populated her book with. Agatha clearly draws on the author's Polish/Canadian roots but her character is reduced to just a couple of names that have any significance in her life. None of this is elaborated to any meaningful extent. I mean, there has to be at least a scenery to describe in order to build the atmosphere. There are ways authors foreshadow plot developments by describing the weather or the surroundings. So many interesting possibilities could have been executed here to avoid this pedestrian, clinical, and very stilted writing.

And finally, it is 2025, I feel it is time authors stop using "no wifi" or "no reception" as anchoring points for their plots.

Rating: 🤗/4
Review: A cold winter locked room literary mystery. Fast paced with great chapter structure. Touches on living life, motherhood and marriage.
Format: 👩🏻‍💻
Source: #netgalley
Published on Goodreads 3/3/2025

A twisty claustrophobic book. Agatha is on the 6:40 train to Montreal, a gift from her husband. She is going to take the time to get her creative juices going and kick start her writing. Sounds lovely but there are so many layers that happen during this scenic train ride, so buckle in.
Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC. Enjoyed giving feedback.

I wish I liked this book as much as I liked the cover. I was immediately drawn to the setting and characters, but the plot (or lack thereof) was a bit of a let down. I absolutely love locked room mysteries by this one did not keep me entertained throughout. Yes, there were times I was very intrigued and couldn’t read fast enough, but there were also times that I felt bored and was ready for it to be over.

6:40 to Montreal: A Review

During that weird, quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s, Agatha—an author struggling with writer’s block—gets an unexpected gift from her husband: a first-class train ticket from Toronto to Montreal. She boards the 6:40 expecting a peaceful trip, but things quickly take a turn. When the train breaks down in the middle of nowhere and a passenger dies, the cozy first-class cabin turns into something much darker.

The book isn’t a straightforward murder mystery. Instead, it’s more about what happens when a small group of strangers is trapped together under intense circumstances. Tensions rise, secrets come out, and survival instincts kick in.

Agatha herself is a tough character to like at first. She spends a lot of time complaining—about her husband, her kid, and just life in general—which makes her feel self-absorbed and distant from what’s happening around her. But as things get worse, we start to see cracks in her tough exterior, making her a little more interesting.

The book does a good job building tension, and the claustrophobic train setting adds to the unease. That said, a few details don’t fully add up, which makes certain parts of the story less effective. It’s still a decent read, but it doesn’t quite stick the landing.

Overall, 6:40 to Montreal is an okay thriller. It’s a quick, suspenseful read, but some plot holes hold it back from being great. I’d rate it three stars (★★★☆☆).

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

Agatha St. Clair should be happy. She has a handsome and doting husband, an adorable three-year old son, and a lovely home she bought with the proceeds of her best-selling novel. She should be, but she’s not. Her muse has gone silent, and some days she finds it hard to get out of bed. Her husband has given her what he thinks is the perfect Christmas gift: a first-class train ticket from Toronto to Montreal, where she will have several hours of uninterrupted time to work on her next novel. She has her own plans for what will happen when she arrives in Montreal, and it doesn’t involve writing.
There are only five other passengers in her cabin: a mother and teenage son, a gentle giant, an obnoxious and entitled businessman, and, to her shock, a former friend who now hates her guts. The crew members are one cheery, competent customer-service agent and a hapless male trainee.
They set out in a blinding blizzard, and halfway to Montreal the train gets stuck in the snow. As the hours pass, tension builds in the cabin. When they realize a sleeping passenger is, in fact, dead, murdered in a particularly brutal manner, alliances are formed and broken, and paranoia reaches a deadly level.
This novel is a brilliant combination of Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock’s best works.

Unfortountly, I have had to DNF this story at about 45%. I am not enjoying the story, it started out really interesting and I was getting into it, even with the chracters that fel flat and underdeveliped then is just slowed down and there became a serious lack of focus. I lost interest, and I feel like ther characters did as well. Maybe the story is just not for me. Bummer as I really love the idea of this read.

Tension builds from the beginning as we don't why the narrator, Agatha, is heading to Montreal or why she is is in such a hurry to get away from her husband. Ends up as a locked room or rather a locked train carriage mystery as things begin to turn rather bizarre. Information is revealed about the narrator and other passengers gradually but i was still not sure who to root for, apart from Rupinder. While i still have questions about the 'solution' overall an engaging read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Poisoned Pen Press for the e-copy.

Thanks to Eva Jurczyk, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an intriguing book. The author labels each chapter at a specific point in the timeline of the murder and developing situation, which I found unique and interesting. It helped create a sense of immediacy and presence as I moved through the story.

The story involves a set of characters trapped in a train car on a winter day in Canada and a murder takes place. I love this type of mystery when the characters are trapped. And the who and why remains solidly a mystery until the end. A good read but some plot choices keep it from a great read.

2.5 rounded up.

This book was neither thrilling, suspenseful, or mysterious.

We meet Agatha, an author struggling to write her second novel, whose husband bought her tickets on the train from Toronto to Montreal, and who has one of the more normal names in this book. The train takes off, and other than an incompetent trainee, other passengers who have the weirdest names ever that will definitely take you out of the reading experience, and an annoying main character, everything seems like it’s going well.

Of course, this couldn’t be a locked-room mystery on a train without a locked room, so the train gets stuck in a snow storm and everything goes to shit.

Now, I want to say that this could have been a very fun mystery! But the more I think about it, the less I’m convinced that there was actually a mystery at all. There is very little suspense (despite absolutely bonkers shit happening in the car), nobody actually tries to solve anything, and it feels like there are no stakes. It’s all actually quite boring. The ending makes no sense. There’s a cancer plot line thrown in for some reason I can’t figure out. I think the actual mystery elements need to be redone in order for it (being the book) to work. As it is, it feels rather blah.

Like the train in which the novel is set, the plot begins in a leisurely manner--and then picks up speed--long after the train has ground to a halt in a blizzard of epic proportions, the story races on. I enjoyed the opening but as the pace quickened, so did my interest until I could hardly put the book down. I was guessing at various solutions--although part of what I was guessing at was who these characters were, including (maybe especially) the narrator.

Agatha, the narrator, has had a one book sensation. Unexpectedly, after all her "serious" efforts were rejected, a throwaway light-weight mystery, featuring a yoga/life styles coach, took off and topped the charts. Now, Agatha has to produce a second book and, not surprisingly, has a severe case of writer's block. In addition, she's struggling with health issues that have pushed other needs to the side.

To give her a treat, a vacation, and a chance to write, her husband has purchased a ticket to, as the title tells us, Montreal. Just a one-day jaunt to break the monotony of her life as wife, mother to a young child, and blocked writer.

And although I knew this was a murder mystery, I was surprised at who got killed.

I love mysteries--particularly the cozy (or semi-cozy) ones, often featuring amateur sleuths. Agatha Christie (not the Agatha of this story) tops my list of favorites. I've read so many though that it can be a challenge to find one that excites me. And this one very much did. There are elements of a thriller--not usually my favorite genre but it works well here, keeping what could become a very claustrophobic, almost suffocating, space alive with threats and potential danger.

My favorite part though was the character of the narrator, who can't help but see the events in the light of a narrative dying to be exploited.

And yes, I do mean dying.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and the author for an advance copy of this ebook which will be published September 2025 for the opportunity to enjoy this roller coaster of a story.

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite enjoy 6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk as much as I had hoped. While the premise had great potential—a thrilling journey filled with suspense and unexpected twists—the execution didn’t quite land for me. The story relies heavily on twists, but unfortunately, many of them felt too far-fetched and unrealistic, which took me out of the experience.

While I appreciate the author’s attempt to craft a tense and gripping narrative, I found the plot’s direction to be a bit too contrived at times, leaving me struggling to suspend disbelief. The pacing, while steady, didn’t quite build the tension I was hoping for, and by the time the twists unfolded, they felt more improbable than intriguing.

Despite this, the writing style was solid, and the atmosphere was well-crafted, with Jurczyk managing to capture the setting effectively. While this book may appeal to readers who enjoy wildly unpredictable plots, it didn’t quite resonate with me.

The description of this book had me wanting to read it immediately, but actually getting through it unfortunately turned into a chore. I felt like I could never get a clear grasp of the characters or where the book was going, and then the ending just fell so flat. I'm sure if I went back I could see the hints to where the plot ended up, but none of it was compelling enough to even do that. I didn't care for any of the characters, and I also feel like Cyanne and Agatha should have had a more fleshed out backstory, as I don't think we even learned why they stopped being friends. The way Agatha narrated things felt like something much more sinister had happened, or was going to happen, but then nothing really did. It just felt sort of like a bunch of disjointed plots that could have been a first draft of a book, rather than a fully focused and cohesive story. I really wanted to enjoy this book but I'm honestly just glad I'm finally done with it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was fantastic. I really enjoyed reading it and diaadn’t want to put it down. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!