Marilyn's Mystery Reads

Anna Matheson, the only surviving member of her family, is about to make her years-long plan come true.  She will invite all those who are responsible for the deaths of her father, her brother, and her mother to take a trip on the train that belonged to her family for years, the Philadelphia Phoenix, and then take them to Chicago, where the FBI is waiting to arrest them.  Anna has the proof of their crimes; now she has to make certain they all arrive in one piece.

Twelve years before With A Vengeance opens, America had just entered World War II.  A train filled with young servicemen, accompanied by Anna’s father Arthur, president of the Union Atlantic Railroad, is on its way to the camp where the soldiers will start their basic training.  Tommy, Arthur’s son and Anna’s brother, is among them.  Then the Phoenix, the pride of the company, explodes; thirty-seven men are killed, including Tommy. 

Anna sends six people unsigned invitations to join her on the Philadelphia to Chicago journey, and whether because of curiosity or fear they all accept.  Sal Lawrence was Arthur’s personal secretary; Lt. Col. Jack Lapsford was in charge of giving contracts to various railroads; Kenneth Wentworth was Arthur’s business rival; Herb Pulanski was head of the railroad’s workforce; Edith Gerhardt was the Matheson family’s housekeeper and nanny; and Judd Dodge was the builder of the train’s engine.

One way or another, each was connected to the Mathesons, and each received a huge sum of money to help Kenneth Wentworth blow up the train and/or assist in the following coverup that sent Arthur to prison on the charge of deliberately engineering the explosion.  While imprisoned, he is killed by another inmate, and then Mrs. Matheson commits suicide.

The only person on Anna’s list who does not show up at the train station is Kenneth Wentworth.  His son Dante saw the invitation first and took it, having his own reasons to board the Phoenix.

Anna wants each passenger to confess why they did what they did; then she can rest assured that their admissions, in front of the entire group, will make certain that when they reach Chicago there will be no chance that they will escape justice.  But apparently one of the invited “guests” has a different plan in mind, and within a few minutes of the Phoenix pulling out of the station, a passenger will be dead.  And that is only the first death.

The trope of a mystery on a train is a familiar one to fans of crime fiction.  It’s the perfect setting for a “locked-door” mystery, when someone, in this novel’s case Anna Matheson, has made certain that the train is not stopping before it reaches the Windy City and thus no one can leave.  But sometimes even the best laid plans go awry.

Riley Sager has written a spellbinding thriller, with a protagonist who believes she has every right to punish those who killed her brother and destroyed her family.  The reader can understand Anna even while knowing that she’s getting retribution the wrong way.  She’s sympathetic and believable, the passengers are greedy and/or evil, and With A Vengeance will keep you on edge until the final page.

You can read more about the author at this website.