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Review by Lauryn Angel
The book is in stores now from Dutton. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://amzn.to/4dYXmFr
Summer reliably brings hot temperatures and a new Riley Sager novel, and while I’m not a fan of the first, I look forward to the second. Sager can be counted on to deliver a page-turner with at least one twist that I never saw coming – even though I’ve been trying to guess what that twist would be since page one.
This year’s offering is With a Vengeance, a novel that feels reminiscent of Agatha Christie classics like The Orient Express or And Then There Were None in its premise: it’s 1954, and a group of people are mysteriously summoned for a train voyage by someone who claims to know their secrets. When they arrive, the overnight voyage from Philadelphia to Chicago seems normal, as the cars are full of passengers settling in for the thirteen-hour trip. Once the train starts moving, however, the six special guests discover that everyone else has mysteriously disappeared, leaving them alone with their host: Anna Matheson, whose father these six people conspired to ruin twelve years before. Now Anna wants answers, but her plan quickly goes awry as one of her guests is murdered, and she has to figure out who among her guests is a murderer before the train reaches Chicago.
While the novel was entertaining and certainly serves its function as quick summer read, I have to say that this is not my favorite Riley Sager novel. In fact, it may be my least favorite, as it feels more than a little derivative of Christie – especially with the historical setting, even though this book is later than Christie’s time. I do applaud Sager for trying something a little different — one of the things I like about Sager is that he’s always trying something new – but this one just didn’t work for me.
