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A review by baechael
6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you to the publisher for the digital galley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was neither thrilling, suspenseful, or mysterious.
We meet Agatha, an author struggling to write her second novel, whose husband bought her tickets on the train from Toronto to Montreal, and who has one of the more normal names in this book. The train takes off, and other than an incompetent trainee, other passengers who have the weirdest names ever that will definitely take you out of the reading experience, and an annoying main character, everything seems like it’s going well.
Of course, this couldn’t be a locked-room mystery on a train without a locked room, so the train gets stuck in a snow storm and everything goes to shit.
Now, I want to say that this could have been a very fun mystery! But the more I think about it, the less I’m convinced that there was actually a mystery at all. There is very little suspense (despite absolutely bonkers shit happening in the car), nobody actually tries to solve anything, and it feels like there are no stakes. It’s all actually quite boring. The ending makes no sense. There’s a cancer plot line thrown in for some reason I can’t figure out. Ugh.
This book was neither thrilling, suspenseful, or mysterious.
We meet Agatha, an author struggling to write her second novel, whose husband bought her tickets on the train from Toronto to Montreal, and who has one of the more normal names in this book. The train takes off, and other than an incompetent trainee, other passengers who have the weirdest names ever that will definitely take you out of the reading experience, and an annoying main character, everything seems like it’s going well.
Of course, this couldn’t be a locked-room mystery on a train without a locked room, so the train gets stuck in a snow storm and everything goes to shit.
Now, I want to say that this could have been a very fun mystery! But the more I think about it, the less I’m convinced that there was actually a mystery at all. There is very little suspense (despite absolutely bonkers shit happening in the car), nobody actually tries to solve anything, and it feels like there are no stakes. It’s all actually quite boring. The ending makes no sense. There’s a cancer plot line thrown in for some reason I can’t figure out. Ugh.