With a Vengeance by Riley Sager
🚂 With a Vengeance by Riley Sager – A Twisty Train Wreck (In the Best Way) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Okay but… why is this sitting at a 3.38 average on Goodreads right now?! 🤯 Because I picked this up expecting “solid thriller” and instead got “accidentally inhaled the entire book in one sitting.”
I genuinely cannot remember the last time I read a book this fast. Was it because it was amazing? Yes.
Was it also because there were approximately 8 suspects on a moving train and I thought if I just read faster, people would die and simplify my life? Also yes. 😌
(That strategy did not work. Because in this book, the dead refuse to stay dead.)
Let’s talk about it.
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
This book contains:
Graphic violence
Murder (multiple)
Death by suicide
Stabbing / strangulation / smothering
Poisoning
Substance use
Emotional abuse
Antigay bias
War trauma
This is not cozy mystery territory. This is “everyone on this train has blood on their hands” territory. 🚨
🚨 Spoiler Warning 🚨
This review contains a FULL plot summary including the ending and all twists.
If you don’t want to know who lives, who dies, who fakes dying, who jumps off a train, and who turns out to be someone’s secret father… stop now.
🚂 Overview: Classic Christie Chaos Meets Riley Sager Revenge
With a Vengeance (2025) is Riley Sager’s locked-room-on-a-train revenge thriller. If you loved:
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
…this will absolutely scratch that itch.
We’re on the Philadelphia Phoenix, a restored luxury train traveling from Philadelphia to Chicago. No stops. No outside interference. Just:
One railroad heiress.
Six alleged conspirators.
A mysterious “insurance salesman.”
A revenge plan.
And 13 hours of absolute chaos.
Anna Matheson lures the people she believes destroyed her family onto her father’s former train. Her goal? Force them to confront their crimes before the FBI arrests them in Chicago.
Her mistake? Thinking she was the only one on board seeking vengeance.
🧨 The Backstory: How Anna’s Family Was Destroyed
In 1942, a Union Atlantic train exploded, killing 37 soldiers — including Anna’s brother Tommy and Seamus’s brother Sean.
Anna’s father, Arthur Matheson, was blamed for the explosion and jailed. Before trial, he was stabbed 37 times in prison. (Yes. Once per victim. 😳)
Anna’s mother later died by suicide.
Anna has spent years gathering evidence proving that six people conspired to destroy her father’s company and reputation — orchestrated by rival railroad tycoon Kenneth Wentworth.
Her plan is dramatic, theatrical, and honestly? Kind of iconic.
💀 And Then… The Bodies Start Dropping
Here’s where I thought I had things figured out.
“It’s a Christie homage,” I told myself.
“People will die one by one.”
“Fewer characters. Easier to track.”
LOL. No.
First death: Judd
He appears poisoned via cocktail.
Except… he faked it. With a blood capsule.
Because of course he did.
Then Edith
Smothered. Staged to look like strangulation to frame Anna.
Then Herb
Throat slashed.
Then Sal
Shot.
Seamus?
Smothers Jack… then confesses to killing one person… then jumps off the moving train.
Yes. Jumps. Off. The. Train. 🚂
I had whiplash.
🕵️♂️ The FBI Agent Twist
The random insurance salesman “Reggie Davis”?
Not random. Not insurance.
He’s FBI agent Reggie Davis, sent to ensure Anna’s revenge plot doesn’t turn deadly.
Except… plot twist:
Reggie’s father was the engineer killed in the 1942 explosion.
He wants vengeance too.
He teams up with fake-dead Judd and starts eliminating conspirators. He stages his own stabbing. Switches shirts. Moves bodies.
When Anna realizes his wound placement doesn't make sense because Judd is righthanded? That was SUCH a satisfying clue reveal. 🔥
😱 The Biggest Twist: Tommy
Just when I thought we were done?
KENNETH WENTWORTH reveals:
Tommy wasn’t Arthur’s son.
Tommy was his son.
Anna’s mother had been engaged to Kenneth before leaving him for Arthur — and she was already pregnant.
Arthur raised Tommy as his own.
Kenneth destroyed Arthur’s company out of revenge.
He never meant for Tommy to die in the explosion.
When this dropped? I did not see it coming.
That is a clean, shocking twist done right.
And Tommy? He’d been appearing throughout the book as a vision/hallucination - makes total sense since he's Dante's half-brother. In the dark, Anna was mistaking Dante for Tommy! That psychological layer worked beautifully.
🔫 The Final Showdown
Reggie and Anna fight on the roof of the train.
She lures him onto the glass observation car ceiling.
Shoots the glass.
They crash through.
Absolute cinema. 🎬
In the end:
Reggie is shot in the leg.
Kenneth is exposed.
Jack and Sal are arrested.
Reggie confesses to killing Herb and Judd.
Seamus is dead.
Dante (Kenneth’s son) and Anna decide to stay connected.
And Anna?
She accepts a job with the FBI.
From revenge-seeking heiress to federal agent.
Honestly? I loved that arc.
🤯 Why This Worked For Me
Locked-room train setting 🚂
Constant shifting alliances
Fake deaths
Secret parentage
Revenge vs. justice themes
Twists that actually surprised me
High pacing that forces you to read faster
Was it chaotic? Yes.
Did I struggle with the character list at first? Absolutely.
Did I think reading faster would help? Also yes. 😂
But once the twists started stacking up, I was fully locked in.
🎭 Themes: Revenge vs. Justice
This book asks:
When does justice become vengeance?
Does pain justify violence?
What happens when multiple people believe they’re the righteous one?
No one on this train is innocent.
Not even Anna.
And I loved that moral grayness.
⭐ Final Thoughts – 5/5 Stars
I know the Goodreads average is sitting at 3.38, but I genuinely don’t understand it.
This was:
Entertaining
Dramatic
Twisty
Theatrical
And wildly fun
It’s not subtle literary fiction.
It’s not quiet suspense.
It’s full-throttle train chaos.
And I ate it up.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📚 If You Loved This, Try:
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Okay tell me — did you love this as much as I did, or are you one of the 3.38-star voters? 👀🚂
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