The comparisons to an Agatha Christie novel are glaring. It starts with the narrators name, the title that is so close to the 4:50 to Paddington, and a snow storm that stops a train.
The narrator had a plan. Well, a couple of plans. Her husband has bought her a ticket to a train that has no cell service. She can ride it to Montrea and then come home. Plenty of time for Agatha to write the five thousand words needed to follow up her best selling novel. She's going to use it for a different plan that the reader (listener) wont know for most of the book. Agatha purposely chose a seat that wasn't near anyone else. So she's surprised when Finch sits down next to her. He wants her seat and is determined to get it. So, Agatha moves. As she does, she notices that Cyan (sp?), her stalker/ex-something, is also on the train. That would have been bad enough, but then the train stops. And someone dies.
We go back and forth between the past and the present and see how Agatha got to this place, what her plans really are for the train ride, and why this day is so important for her.
The beginning was a bit slow and the ending didn't make sense with the tone of the rest of the book, but I really enjoyed the middle.
Three stars
This book came out October 28, 2025
Borrowed as audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own
