With a Vengeance

Good book keeps you reading! He is such a good author

LOVE Riley Sager. Every book of his is a HIT!

This book would make a terrific movie, the likes of which Alfred Hitchcock could do justice. The plot is masterful, the writing superb. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been so lost in a story that the other things I should have been doing were forgotten.

Smart, fresh story that kept my attention and didn’t reveal the end prematurely. Good read to be enjoyed riding a train

I LOVE Riley Sager and preordered this book! So excited for a new release from him!Opened the package and the paperback is large print. I didn’t realize that when I preordered. It says it in a small circle on the cover that wasn’t noticeable when ordering. I knew it was too good to be true for a paperback on release day.I’ll be returning and buying this on kindle. Don’t buy the paperback unless you want large print.

𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑉𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒.Sager "blew it off the tracks!" (See what I did there?) 🤪 I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I definitely had my suspicions, but I was wrong - several times - and I'm not made about it! If you love a fast-paced popcorn thriller- you'll love 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.

Riley Sager crushed it with this one! Packaging and delivery were perfect.

Full of twists and turns. Guessed right about a few things…clueless on others. And true to form a surprise ending

Anna has meticulously planned every last detail of her revenge, has lured them all aboard the Philadelphia Phoenix express train – a thirteen-hour non-stop rail journey from Philly to Chicago on a snowy mid-December night in 1954.But someone has other plans…Even though Riley Sager’s previous novels are essentially murder mysteries, and the majority of them are set last century, With a Vengeance utilised a straight-up traditional-style locked room format, lacking the horror and supernatural elements of his other books. As you would expect it paid tribute and shared some plot commonalities with Agatha Christie novels, particularly Murder on the Orient Express (1934), and And Then There Were None (1939). And even though this wasn’t technically a slasher novel, it did share similarities with the movie Terror Train (1983) in that an unknown killer was murdering people trapped on a locomotive who had no means of escape.Things started off ho-hum, a woman’s elaborate revenge plot to avenge those who destroyed her family when she was too young to do anything about it has been done to death, although respect to the author for coming up with an original concept relevant not only to the time period, but also involving the train they were travelling on, making it fairly engaging. But then came the bait and switch, which had me fully committed, intrigued and guessing. Anna thought she was the one in control, but it quickly became clear that she was as much of a puppet as those she was stuck on the train with, and that someone far more threatening and with deadlier intentions, was pulling the strings.Everything ran smoothly from my perspective in regard to the Philadelphia Phoenix setting. I loved how we were immediately given the layout of the train as we followed the character who helped design it boarding and walking through the various cars to his first-class room. The fact that this was set in the dead of winter with a snowstorm raging outside, and that the trip itself was an overnight one made the serious situation they were in even more ominous and claustrophobic.But during the last 30% things took a nosedive with the plot becoming absurd and hard to swallow, and by the end I was feeling ho-hum again. Sadly, there were too many outlandish twists, fake-outs, and over-the-top action scenes for With a Vengeance to be believable. I have a feeling this is intended to be the first in a series too. I’m sorry to say I have no desire to continue. I hope other mystery lovers enjoy the final twists more.I’d like to thank Netgalley UK, Hodder & Sloughton, and Riley Sager for the e-ARC.Out now!P.S: I love this cover!

Riley Sager is the master of twists. Believe me, this book has a lot of twists. There are so many twists in this book that you won't even have time to cook up your own guesses as to who the killer is!! I needed twenty minutes to process this one after I finished! Don't believe a single word in those 3 star reviews you probably keep seeing. I. Love. Riley Sager books. This one is great!! I'm sad I have to wait a year until his next which I've heard on a recent podcast is going to be creepy! Luckily I haven't read every Riley Sager book so far. I hope to get my hands on a copy of all of his books because I do have some catching up to do. At first I was think of 4.5 stars, but I was like "Oh no, no, no, this is FIVE STARS!!! Fabulous books! I literally can't express how much I love reading a good Riley Sager book! I'm reading The Only One Left next! Yay!

Twisty, turny & suspenseful. Well-written. Interesting, complex characters. Interesting thoughts on vengeance vs justice. Some humdingers of twists in this book.

Thanks to PRH Audio and Dutton Books, I received early access to this brand-new thriller release, and let me tell you: if you love classic locked-room mysteries with a modern twist, this book is for you. 🔪🚃🔎 What did I love the most?Sager’s newest novel reads like an homage to my favorite Agatha Christie whodunit, delivering all the classic murder mystery vibes. 🎉 Sure, the “who killed who” plot has been done before, but Sager breathes fresh life into it with a race against the clock and a suspenseful snowy train ride to Chicago. 🚂❄️ It’s a perfect pick if you’re craving a revenge mystery set on a train! 👀🎧 How was the audiobook?Honestly, the audiobook narration was a lifesaver. Erin Bennett’s performance made this locked-room thriller even more engaging; she brought every suspect and twisty turn to life exceptionally well. 🤩 If you’re looking for the best thriller audiobooks to add to your summer reading list, this one’s a strong contender!💡 What to expect in this new thriller release:🚃 A chilling train journey🔪 A tale of revenge🌀 Classic whodunit vibes with mild twists👀 Plenty of red herrings and suspense📊 Overall thoughts:While With a Vengeance didn’t dethrone my top Riley Sager pick, I still loved the classic locked room mystery feel. 😉 It wasn’t the most twisty of his novels (until the very end!), but it’s definitely a satisfying addition to the Riley Sager universe. 🙌

I like reading Sager’s books between heavier reads (because they’re really easy to read), but I went into this one expecting to not like it, solely because the Agatha Christie style whodunit in general doesn’t appeal to me. I trusted that Sager would make it more interesting and, to be honestly, he didn’t disappoint. This was a fun ride.I will say there was a lot of redundancy, especially in the earlier chapters, but I’ve come to expect that from Sager’s writing style so I wasn’t too surprised.I do still prefer his horror works but that’s just personal preference and not a negative reflection of this book.

3.75/5Okay, finally. A new genre for Sager and he pulled it off. Historical fiction revenge story? I was all in. After his last few flops, I was fully expecting to side-eye my way through this, but I stayed locked in the whole time. The setup was so messy. In a good way. Just shady people doing shady things that snowballed into absolute chaos for Anna’s family. Locked in.There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and some were more interesting than others *cough* Dante* but the overall story kept the tension going. And I loved the revenge angle. Especially when it started hitting back at people who thought they were off the hook.Of course, in true Sager fashion, the ending went twist-twist-TWIST, but surprisingly, it didn’t lose me. It was satisfying, and honestly? I’d read a sequel if he made one. Definitely better than his last few. Not perfect, but fun, fast-paced, and actually delivered what it promised.

Locked door thrillers are some of my favourite reads. I often enjoy them and find myself flying through them whenever I pick one up. Though I did fly through this one, I definitely did not enjoy it as much. The book was a little slow to start with the introduction of characters. However, I didn't mind that too much as it helped set the tone.When things got going, though, it was non-stop action, suspense, and thrill. There were times when I was immersed in this book, and other times, I found myself rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. For the life of me, I couldn't get behind Annie or see the logic in her plan. Her character was very conflicting at times, and I couldn't connect or sympathize with her. At times, I also forgot that this was set in the 50s. I think that has a lot to do with the dialogue, though.Around that 50% mark, I was no longer invested and had at least one of the twists figured out. The ending was a series of revelations after revelation that just felt way too overwhelming for me. There was way too much happening that didn't need to be. I feel like there was definitely some Agatha Christie inspiration here, but it just didn't work as well for me. I'll still continue to read Sager's work. Though I may not always love it, you can't make me hate him.

I have always looked forward to Sager books and this one was no exception. Then I read it. If you bother to make that same mistake, you are wasting your time that could be better used. Sager expects the reader to turn off their intelligence and suspend their total disbelief through the entire book. The plot is flawed and foolish. The reader is expected to accept the characters’ actions no matter how ridiculous. Who runs across the icy roof of a moving train in a blizzard with bare feet? I only finished it because I wanted to see how totally ridiculous the end would be and, in that, I was not disappointed. This book is a huge Sager joke at best and it’s an insult to readers who have enjoyed his prior works. I simply cannot fathom why anyone should read this book unless you want to toss it in a roaring fire when you finish it!

With a Vengeance is Riley Sager channeling Agatha Christie! It's set on a train, that has no stops, limited riders, and a character with revenge on the mind! I loved the trapped feeling that Sager created in this book. Once the riders boarded and the train departed from the station, there was no way off the train!!! Plus, this book had a very nostalgic feel as it is set around 1954, a time where riders got dressed up to ride!Anna Matheson’s family was destroyed in every way imaginable in 1942 with the help of six people. Fourteen years later, she has invited the six people she holds responsible to take a train from Philadelphia to Chicago. They have no idea who has invited them to ride the train, but all have been lured by her handwritten messages on the back of the invitations! As the train makes its way toward Chicago, a passenger is dead! Anna is not responsible. All she wanted was confessions from all of them, but someone on board is a killer!!!!!The search is soon on to catch a killer before anyone else turns up dead! But whodunit? Who is the killer and who will be next?????? The book soon becomes a cat-and-mouse game where anyone could be the killer. All the passengers have something to hide, all are suspects, and nowhere on board is safe!I enjoyed the vibe of this book. It does have a very old movie feel to it. I could see this playing out in my mind. As I mentioned, all the characters have secrets and have done something which brought about the downfall of Anna's family. I also enjoyed how Riley Sager showed how Anna's guest for revenge and retribution affected her life. How it was so consuming it was all she had to hold onto. I found this to be very well done.I enjoyed the atmosphere, the train setting, the cast of characters, the nostalgic feel, the tension, shocking twists, and the mystery in this book.

Wow! What a read! I was immediately sucked into this locked room murder mystery! I loved the 1950s train setting and the overall vibes of this one.I usually struggle to get into locked room style mystery thrillers because of all of the characters, but they wasn’t the case with this one. I think it’s because you were learning what brought each person on the train at the same time you were being introduced to them. It kept it interesting.There were so many twists in the plot throughout this story that shocked me and had me constantly guessing who did what and what their motivations were. It’s because of this that I literally couldn’t put this book down.This book was amazing, but I expected nothing less from this author. It deserves all the stars.

Product arrived from Amazon dirty and damaged because they do not care how they ship books and just toss them in a box to get banged up. My other issue is the printing itself on this copy - I preordered this and was so excited to have it delivered only to find multiple pages with seriously low ink

With A Vengeance by Riley SagerRating: 3 starsPub date: 6/10With a Vengeance takes place in 1942, where Anna Matheson has gathered the six people who ruined her life years earlier on a train ride to Chicago. Her plan is to get them to confess to their crimes so she can turn them over to the FBI. But when one of them turns up dead, her plan falls apart.The setting is perfect for a locked-room mystery. There’s nowhere to run, and the tension rises as the hours tick by. The historical elements add some nice detail, and it’s fun knowing Anna’s plan right from the start, and watching it unravel adds to the suspense.That said, the story does start to feel repetitive, and once the main motive is revealed, there aren't a ton of surprises left. The twists didn’t hit the way I hoped, especially coming from Sager. It’s a fast, entertaining read for fans of murder mysteries that take place on a train, but unfortunately, it wasn’t my favorite of his.