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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
what a mess, August 6, 2004
This review is from: Passenger to Frankfurt (Mass Market Paperback)
First off, let me say that i am a huge and dedicated fan of the great Dame Agatha Chrisite. I have read almost all her books, and i think she is the greatest mystery writer ever.
However, this rather fantastical effort is a departure from her usual murder mysteries into the murky world of espionage and the discovery of an anarchistic conspiracy run by neo-Nazis. The net effect is an amateurish and boring plot burdened by superfluous characters and a lack of exposition.
The main character seems to be likable Sir Stafford Nye, who is actually quite an interesting persona, until he is inexplicably dumped halfway through the book in favour of a fly-on-the-wall observation of various Cabinet meetings that are essentially redundant in telling the reader that the danger faced is very serious and mysterious. There are also long, abstract and irrelevant dialogues between mono-dimensional characters that make Agatha Christie seem at sea with a genre that is apparently too big for her.
When the mastermind behind the conspiracy is uncovered, we see a brief flash of the old Christie, as the culprit is someone whom the reader never suspects. However, the epilogue, instead of explaining the culprit's motives or the fates of the various conspirators is instead a humorous yet unsatisfactory marriage between Sir Stafford and another character.
Several times during the narrative, I found the courage and fortitude to continue only by telling myself that the ending would be as brilliant and fulfilling as all her previous novels, yet once again, I was thoroughly disappointed with this sad excuse for a novel
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another of Christie's Master Criminal Organization Novels, June 16, 2001
Agatha Christie wrote several novels that deal with international organizations trying to take over the world. While I prefer her works set in the cozy country estates with families full of suspects, this is an enjoyable foray into this type of her work. Tones of neo-Nazism, drug trafficking, international finance, and a scientific discovery that could change the world are some of the elements that make up this story. The characters are interesting: Sir Stafford Nye, an unambitious member of the British diplomatic corps caught up in this caper; his great-aunt Matilda, an aristocratic lady reminiscent of Miss Marple in that she has a remarkable memory of things that happened long ago; a young girl with three identities who fears for her life, and a young man rumored to be the son of Adolph Hitler are among the characters that come to life in this novel. If you like international intrigue, stories about spies and world domination, I think you will enjoy this book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hijacking the Plot, May 11, 2008
While Agatha Christie is best known for her mysteries featuring Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, she also tried her hand at other stories that weren't straightforward mysteries. Such is the case with "Passenger to Frankfurt", a novel that could more appropriately be termed a thriller, but also one that doesn't quite live up to Dame Christie's usual standards. From the very beginning, the novel has an unusual premise, but as the story progresses, the plot becomes too sidetracked with tangential stories and characters.
Sir Stafford Nye arrives at Frankfurt Airport due to a fog delay; as he sits waiting for his flight back to England, he speaks with a mysterious young woman who has a proposition for him - she needs to get into England unnoticed or she will be killed, and wishes to borrow his passport and cloak. Sir Stafford Nye, wishing for a little adventure, accepts the deal, only to come up against more questions than answers on his return. He seeks out this passenger to try to find out the truth, only to find himself swept up and recruited for some political intrigue. Always game, Sir Stafford Nye agrees to help out this mysterious woman, and his government, to unveil a plot that reeks of world domination.
And that is exactly where the plot of "Passenger to Frankfurt" gets sidetracked: the first portion of the book is excellently crafted and mysterious, a testament to Christie's ability to weave an opening that keeps you in suspense, but the story begins to fall apart after Sir Stafford Nye accepts his new role as a secret agent. The main problem is that these two characters who've been developed so far almost completely disappear from the book, and the reader becomes a third wheel at meetings of important government people as they try to discover the mastermind behind this conspiracy. Instead of her well-crafted and intricately ingenious mysteries, the last half of "Passenger to Frankfurt" lacks almost any intrigue, and reads like a convoluted castoff from the Cold War, with a plot that involves neo-Nazis living in Argentina and striking up the world's youth to invest in total anarchy.
There are some intriguing things that get said along the way: perhaps Christie just bit off more than she could chew with this novel, which reads too often like disparate storylines. The resolution comes too quickly, there is no build up to the epilogue, and very little to tie all of the threads together. I can very easily understand why many people do not like this book, but as a fan of Christie's writing, it is interesting to see her take on a different style.
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