My next read was 6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk. This is a new author for me but I was not disappointed!
Agatha’s husband has bought her a first-class ticket on the scenic six-hour train from Toronto to Montreal as a gift―a one-day writing retreat so she can get some serious work done on her new book, a highly-anticipated follow-up to Agatha’s runaway bestseller debut novel. The first-class car is the perfect place to be productive, with only a handful of other passengers, plenty of snacks and drinks, and beautiful views flying by outside the window.
But Agatha has other plans for her day out… plans that are unexpectedly derailed when the train breaks down in the middle of the frigid Canadian woods and one of Agatha’s fellow passengers dies quietly in his seat. Soon, a pleasant morning in transit turns into a fight for survival against an unknown and unseen enemy. Will Agatha―or any of the passengers―make it out alive?
I went into this one expecting a mystery, but it quickly turned into a tense survival thriller. Once the train stops and things start going wrong, the pace really picks up. I found myself wanting to read “just one more chapter” to figure out what was happening.
The setting was one of my favorite parts of the book. Being stranded on a train in the middle of a freezing Canadian forest made everything feel isolated and unsettling. It was easy to picture the snowy landscape outside while the tension kept building inside the train.
Agatha was an interesting main character. She’s far from perfect, but that made her feel realistic. I enjoyed seeing how she handled the unexpected twists and the pressure of trying to figure out who could be trusted.
While I guessed a couple of the smaller reveals along the way, the story still kept me engaged, and there were enough surprises to keep me turning the pages. The mix of mystery, suspense, and survival worked really well together.
Overall, I really enjoyed 6:40 to Montreal. It was a fast, entertaining read with a unique setting and plenty of suspense. If you enjoy locked-room mysteries, psychological suspense, or stories where everyone is a suspect, this is definitely one to add to your reading list.