With a Vengeance by Riley Sager
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
While this is my lowest rated Riley Sager novel to date, I did still find it quite entertaining. I can’t lie about that. With a Vengeance takes us on a cross-country train journey with a handful of questionable characters.
The full set of individuals was lured onto the trip by a young woman named Anna, who is hoping over the course of the journey from Philadelphia to Chicago, she can get them all to confess their crimes, and the ways they’ve wronged her.
Anna finds out that even the simplest plans can go awry though, when one of the passengers is killed. There’s no stopping now, they’re on a non-stop express to Chicago, trapped with a killer.
What progresses from there is a fairly classic Locked Room Murder Mystery, with a few twists, as well as many revelations involving the various characters.
I listened to the audiobook for this one and did enjoy it in that format. I felt like it kept it moving and helped it to play out in my mind like a movie.
I find this with all of Sager’s writing. The delivery always makes it easy for me to picture everything that’s happening. I also feel like his writing has a touch of a film noir quality to it that I adore.
For this one in particular, I think maybe because of the time period, I couldn’t help but think of Hitchcock, and it perhaps being shown in black and white. The way the characters interacted and their dramatic motivations gave it an air of a classic film.
Overall, this might not be a new favorite for me, but I still had a fun time reading it, and as always, I look forward to whatever Sager is going to grace us with next!!
Earlier:
Denied again for an ARC. Riley, your people hate me.
It makes me so sad. I received the first six of his books early, I believe, but the last two, no way. I used to love getting them early and screaming how much I love them from the rooftops. Sadly, those days are gone.
Problems of a bookworm…
Original:
❤️🖤💙❤️🖤💙❤️🖤💙❤️
Pack your bags. Sager’s taking us on a train journey!
