[.ca] Passenger to Frankfurt (ISBN 0312981708)

Christie's worst book:
I have adored Agatha Christie for many years and have read everything she's every written at least several times. This is the only Christie book that I can ever remember hating while I was reading it. It pains me to say this but this is definitely her worst book ever, hands down. Even Postern of Fate and Elephants Can Remember had some redeeming qualities but not this book. I should probably give it one star but I just cannot bring myself to do that to Agatha. Part of the problem with this book is that Christie evidently got herself caught up in the late 1960's spy/conspiracy craze and got carried away by a genre she had no business dealing with. The other problem is that Agatha's writing skills had declined significantly when this book was published and it shows in this book. If there are any readers out there who are not familiar with Christie or who are only casual fans, please do not read this book until you have read every other Christie availabled. I would suggest reading any of her works written prior to 1958 first (preferably reading the 1920's and 30's first)and only then begin reading her later stuff.

Not a typical Christie but still great:
This 1970 novel is definitely not one of Christie's usual cozy style of mystery. It is, instead, a thriller type of story involving a world-wide conspiracy of Neo Nazis that has much more in common with James Bond than Hercule Poirot. While returning from a trip to far east for the Foreign Office, Sir Stafford Nye was approached by a young woman who had an interesting request. She wanted to borrow his passport and distinctive traveling cloak to escape killers who were stalking her. Sir Stafford agreed to help her which set a strange and exciting adventure in motion. Within a few weeks Sir Stafford found himself on a trail that lead throughout England, to Germany and beyond. His fellow travelers included the beautiful woman that set things in motion, scientists, diplomats, mystery men and his Great Aunt Matilda and one of her old school mates. Even though this is a departure from Christie's usual work it is still a well crafted story, full of red herrings and interesting quirky characters as one would expect from Dame Agatha. We are also treated to a visit from Mr. Robinson, the shadowy figure of international intrigue that has appeared in some earlier works.

Not a Thriller:
I agree with those reviewers that believe that this is not Agathat's best work, far from it. Her foray is mystery and this books attempts to be a thriller, which doesn't work at all. I cannot say that the writing is bad but this entire book is just not interesting. Her other books that have to do with world organizations are much better although also couldn't be compared to her regular setting of a family murder. So much of the plot just doesn't make sense and apart from the three main characters everyone else remain hazy, which is never the case in any of her other books. I have the entire collection and must say that this is her most unsuccessful literary attempt.

I don't know what you all are talking about!:
I am now on my third time reading this book in its entirety, and I still love it. Maybe it's my affection for the name Sir Stafford Nye, or maybe it's my fascination with the concept of political uprising, but I think this story is brilliantly written. I do agree that parts of it can be slow, and what makes it tedious is that every seemingly meaningless conversation is just the opposite. There is always a clue, or a hint, as to what is to come that you can't skip over. The beginning is extremely intruiging and the ending satisfies the twists and turns the novel give us. This is the type of story that you have to read again, and then again, because there are always subtle clues and passages that are important to the story that you may have missed the first time. Everyone should at the very least give this book a try. I'm sure most will love it.

A terrible mess:
At the Frankfurt airport the diplomat Sir Stafford Nye takes an enormous risk when he gives, without questions, his flamboyant cloak and his passport to a young woman who slightly resembles himself. But the woman is desperate and tells him that it truly is a matter of life and death. She must take a seat in the airplane from Frankfurt to London and no one must know who she really is, because that would mean certain death. Later he understands that she did not exaggerate a bit when he learns who she is and what her real purpose was. Passenger to Frankfurt has nothing to recommend it; except for the study it provides of an author in declining years trying to concoct a plot that involves topics like world domination and fascism. The novel subsequently stays always one pace removed from reality and the characters seem to be as lost as any reader would be. Agatha Christie wrote this book as a birthday treat in 1970, the year she became eighty. Fans deserved a somewhat nicer present, I think. Even the publisher realized that the story would be hard to sell to the readers and insisted on the subtitle "An Extravaganza".