This started off really strong! I really loved the premise, however this really just fell flat for me. I felt like there were too many characters. It was a bit hard to pay attention and I thought it was boring. With that being said, I do not think this genre is really for me at the moment.

So good….a bit of a departure from past books, but I really enjoyed it. I don’t usually go for books set in the 1950’s, but this was well done. Makes me want to try out train travel! Great mystery with great ending.

Ever since I got back into reading years ago, Riley Sager has been one of my favorite thriller authors! His newest felt different than the typical Sager book, but I’m all for authors switching it up!

WITH A VENGEANCE is a twisty locked room revenge thriller! I was hooked right away. I was intrigued by Anna’s reasons for luring people onto the train.

There were a handful of characters with stories to keep track of, but Sager did a good job of introducing them and revealing details over time.

The twists kept coming and the many possible suspects made the guessing game fun.

I had a fun time with this book, but it felt like it took me a while to finish. It wasn’t one that I read in only a couple of sittings—I found myself wanting to take breaks every now and then.

It will rank somewhere towards the bottom of my favorite books by Riley Sager, but I still enjoyed the reading experience!

Riley Sager does it again. Great mystery read, full of twists and turns. What a surprise ending would have not expected any less from this author.

This book takes readers on a deadly train ride. I became engrossed with the plight of each of the characters attempting to guard their darkest secret. Each character has a dangerous secret and each one of them a motive to murder in this whodunnit novel. What extent would you go to in order to save yourself from life in prison? The fictional setting takes place in the early 1950's with ties to the war in the 40's and contains several historical references to the times. History buffs will enjoy this novel as well. This was a true to the time tale. Great job Mr Riley Sager with accurately depicting the era. I am a huge fan of the 50's. I was very delighted to see a strong female main character for this era. Anna did not disappoint. This fictional whodunnit tale has a little bit of everything for the thriller lover and dabbles on the line of horror for fans like me. There is family drama, a light tough of forbidden love, a whole lot of crime, absolute betrayal, so much exciting MURDER, light gore (thank goodness), and last but not least good ole REVENGE. Oh the delightful revenge toward the middle and the end of this novel was so satisfying. There was a lot of building up in the begging to support the grand finale. The twists and turns in this book had me feeling more like this book took place on a roller coaster rather than a train! Every single time I rolled my eyes thinking I had it all figured out had identified the true killer, Riley Sager literally slapped me in the face with another possible murder suspect!

Another success by Mr. Sager!

Although this book is a bit different than his usual twisty, dark thrillers, I still found myself having so much with this whodunnit mystery story. Definitely an Agatha Christie feel (and come on, who doesn’t love Agatha?), I found myself turning page after page trying to figure out what was going on! I had a few guesses and turned out to be wrong on all accounts! If you love trains and a good locked room mystery, then look no further! Pick this book up asap!

Included on June issue of the BookTrib Chill Quill: Beach Reads with a Body Count: https://booktrib.com/2025/06/17/the-chill-quill-beach-reads-with-a-body-count/

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!