Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie Review

Agatha Christie is currently a fave of mine! No matter the stack I take home with me from the library, there is always at least one Christie in the mix. My latest is Passenger to Frankfurt (PtF), a conspiracy story that would make a really great movie! World domination, overthrow, anarchy, youth in revolt, governments in confusion, all ingredients to really get you leaning in as both a viewer and a reader. I really leaned in with the introduction of Sir Stafford Nye; the personality and the penchant for trouble that makes a good lead character in a conspiracy plot. I found myself about halfway into the book without knowing what it was I should be trying to solve or pick up clues from the author for. With PtF, you can’t make any conclusions because you simply don’t know what specific mystery the book is unraveling. You feel like you’re still trying to figure out what you should be trying to figure out until a third in. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just isn’t what you expect for this type of book. PtF is more than a storyline though, it is crammed with political and social commentary from the author. I loved this fact in the first half of the book; Christie is aggressively witty and I found myself pausing just to really absorb and mull over her points. A “Yes! Exactly!” even escaped me a few times. So much of the content is incredibly relevant to the political situation here in the U.S. Considering this book was written in 1970 by an English woman, it’s a bit spooky. I’ll give you just a taste: “Youth chanting slogans, slogans that sound exciting, though they don’t always know what they mean.” In the second half of the book, large quantities of dialogue were given over to rehashing those same ideas and they actually got tedious. It felt as if the plot line was lost to the repeating of these same sentiments. This brings up my greatest issue with this book: the storyline seems to lose steam from the weight of the ideology and then seems to wrap up rather quickly, having lost its dynamic. I have read books in which the conclusion was such a letdown that it tainted the entire book for me, this is not one of those cases. Yes, I wish the ending was a bit different, but it can still be appreciated in its own right. The wonderful character Aunt Matilda has to be my favorite part of the entire book! An old woman who appears dotty at times is really an unassumingly brilliant and hilarious woman! I honestly wish I had an Aunt Matilda in my life! On the subject of interesting people, I was pleasantly surprised to come across some familiar characters in PtF. My first encounter with Colonal Pikeaway and Mr. Robinson had been in Christie's The Cat Among the Pigeons. I'm glad to say these men get much more time in Passenger to Frankfurt than they did in The Cat Among the Pigeons.  

Overall verdict: Read

Surprise: I never read Introductions, but for whatever reason, I read PtF’s intro and boy am I glad I did! A great glimpse into Christie herself, funny tidbits about her interaction with fans, and wonderful insight into her writing process make this short Introduction one to actually read.

Favorite Sentence: Honestly, there were so many great lines in this book, I can’t pick one favorite! Here are a few:

• ·         “And one can’t help coming to the conclusion that politicians have a feeling that they have a kind of divine right to tell lies in a good cause.”
• ·         “One remark you made interested me.” “Only one?” said Lady Matilda. “That’s rather poor measure considering how much I’ve been talking. What was it?"
•             “Charleston, Conway and Courtfold,” he said. “Fully trusted, vetted, and approved of. All beginning with C, all crooked as sin.”