Once again, summer has arrived and the pseudonymous Riley Sager has released another thriller.
With a Vengeance has a simple enough set up. Anna Matheson and her compatriot Seamus have invited 6 people she has evidence caused the downfall of her father and the deaths of her family. The trian leaves Philadelphia at 7PM and arrives in Chicago at 7AM, giving Anna 13 hours to confront those who did her wrong until they can be arrested by the FBI when the train arrives.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple. First up, the son of one of the invitees shows up instead of his dad, who was behind the conspiracy in the first place. That Anna and Dante dated before the fall only complicates things further. Then, during Anna's initial confrontation with the 6 conspirators, one dies of poisoning. And it turns out that, despite the train being otherwise empty, there is one other guest on board with a story of his own. Plus an engineer locked in the locomotive.
So, we essentially have two Agatha Christie novels going on here as conspirators start dropping like flies. And the There Were None and of course, Murder of the Orient Express are both obvious inspirations in here. On the positive side, Sager's pacing continues to improve, and the twists and surprises are so much better spaced than they have been in previous volumes. On the other hand, I called one of the major twists fairly early, but at least this time ALL the twists make much more logical sense than they have in previous volumes.
While once again not exactly undying literature, it remains good popcorn fodder, sucking you in for a while.
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