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  • Passenger to Frankfurt

  • By: Agatha Christie
  • Narrated by: Hugh Fraser
  • Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (168 ratings)
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Passenger to Frankfurt cover art

Passenger to Frankfurt

By: Agatha Christie
Narrated by: Hugh Fraser
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Summary

A classic Christie story read by Hugh Fraser, who plays Captain Hastings in the popular TV series.

Sir Stafford Nye’s journey home from Malaya to London takes an unexpected twist in the passnger loungs at Frankfurt – a young woman confides in him that someone is trying to kill her.

Yet their paths are to cross again and again – and each time the mystery woman is introduced as a different person. Equally at home in any guise in any society she draws Sir Stafford into a game of political intrigue more dangerous than he could possibly imagine.

In an arena where no-one can be sure of anyone, Nye must do battle with a well-armed, well-financed, well-trained – and invisble – enemy…

‘It is not an impossible story – it is only a fantastic one’ Agatha Christie

©1970 Agatha Christie Limited, a Chorion Company. All rights reserved (P)2003 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London UK

Critic reviews

‘Marvellously entertaining’ Observer

What listeners say about Passenger to Frankfurt

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • R
  • 18-10-12

Not a traditional Agatha Christie

If you are after a traditional Agatha Christie murder mystery then this audiobook is not for you. Passenger to Frankfurt is a thriller that focuses on concepts of youth revolution, and, whilst as well written as all Agatha Christie works are, it does at times get bogged down in expounding theories of international politics. It came across to me more as the personal musings of an 80 year old woman trying to make sense of the 1970s world around her, than as a fast-paced thriller. More theory and concept, than action and adventure. Not a bad book by any means, but just don't expect a cosy Poirot country house murder mystery.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

Somebody in need of sleep.

Would you ever listen to anything by Agatha Christie again?

Yes, I have quite a few of her books, both audio, Kindle, and in paperback.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Hugh Fraser?

I love Hugh Fraser, he is almost as good as Ian Carmichael, which is high praise from me.

What character would you cut from Passenger to Frankfurt?

All of them.

Any additional comments?

I gave up at the half way mark, so am asking for a refund.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not a clue.

A very different Christie story. I was totally confused from beginning till end. Good Narrator though.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What an absolute clunker!

I started this book so excited to find an Agatha Christie I had not already read, but that feeling soon fled... (I hasten to add this was not Hugh Fraser's fault! His narration was great as always.) This story started out quite intriguing although I much prefer old fashioned murder to espionage, but then it got progressively odder and odder.
The more bizarre features included the following sticking points:

- The hero's attraction to a woman who reminded him of his dead sister!
- Rioting students and idealistic youth turning out to be neo-nazis…(huh?)
- Cabinet ministers sat around debating how to selectively 'nuke' the young people of their respective countries! (with straight faces!)
- the whole idea of a tear gas that makes people nice. For life.
-The disjointed ending which skips what actually happened...

I've decided to just forget this whole book. The sole redeeming feature was Great Aunt Mathilda who deserved a better setting. Sadly, I think I will remember all those blonde young men swaggering around that banqueting hall waving their swords and singing Wagner... Ugh.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

tedious plot

I love Christie but struggled to get to the end of this one. The plot was so far fetched it simply was too unbelievable and I didn't engage with the characters. Rather disappointing.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

World Domination!

I read this book when it was first published, and I've just enjoyed It again but listening this time. Hugh Fraser is brilliant. When Agatha Christie wrote this book the world was completely different from what It is now. It was a time when people were living in an insecure world; fear for the future of Mankind made them apprehensive as rumours of unrest, civil and otherwise, were spread by the media (not a term used much at that time). Home-grown spies were coming out of the woodwork and defecting, before they could be arrested as the traitors they were, to the countries who'd paid them to betray their country. And this was happening in other parts of the world, too. Scientists disappeared in what the newspapers called 'The Brain Drain'. Where they went or who they worked for or what they were doing, we had no idea but it all added to the unrest. It really was an era of great suspicion. Who or what could you trust? And I think the reader has to take this into account when reading or listening to the book. Yes, our flamboyant central figure is a bit over the top but it got him noticed which I think was his goal; a character to be taken with a pinch of salt and not considered a threat. A good book and I wonder, with the world in the turmoil it is today, if Miss Christie had had a vision of the future.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

GREAT BUCHAN TYPE SPY TALE FROM AGATHA CHRISTIE!

Without having checked that this title did not feature either Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple as the work's central figure, instead I found I enjoyed the book without either of the two aforementioned private or amateur detectives. The deliciously familiar voice of narrator, Hugh Fraser provided a link with Agatha Christie. The author demonstrates her immense versatility with this spy thriller. I can unreservedly recommend 'PASSENGER TO FRANKFURT'. From the start the book pulled me in and needed no fantastic gadgets or other escapology to aid the hero and heroine, not to help prop up the story. Christie's work certainly stands the test of time, and part of her genius lies in the pace and sense of anticipation that give her books the hypnotic power over almost countless millions of readers. I found the protagonists sympathetic, and interesting enough for my continued listening. It might have been the less than usual genre for Agatha Christie, or possibly the lack of swearing, fruity descriptions of dead bodies, or fantastic methods of killing that have become an expected feature in much contemporary work of this sort. but the plot is terrific and leaves the narrative flow unimpeded. It might, in a strange way, have worked in a counter-intuitive way, I am impervious to the bloody descriptions and flow of filthy language provided it is in context. Whatever the formula, Agatha Christie's 'Passenger to Frankfurt' is a delicious treat. I give the book full marks in every respect, story, narrator and a Christie weaving her usual magic allowing me a the treat of forgetting the world except the one in which this excellent plot unfolds.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Very tedious cold war espionage plot - i think

I love Agatha Christie and have most of the audio books. High Fraser is a great narrator. But this book is tedious. I've tried listening twice but just can't keep any interest. The plot starts well, with a mystery lady who is a spy. But then meanders around being very waffly and long drawn out for an eternity. Got no idea if it comes together at the end. Seems to be about double and trip!e agents post the kim philby era. published 1970. Sad to say, not a classic!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The Worst Agatha Christie story.

I didn't listen beyond the three - quarter mark. Never have I listened to anything so tedious. The actors performances were excellent, sadly they were let down by the story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Bonkers from start to finish

This one is completely daft, but if you approach it on its own terms, it's good fun (and the more tedious passenges are great for falling asleep to if you suffer from insomnia). While the story is nonsensical, characters aren't great, and the whole thing rambles on, it's a fascinating insight into what was on the minds of people of Christie's age and background around 1970s--civil unrest, youth movements, spies and defections, weaponized science, and somehow Hitler still comes into it! Hugh Fraser's reading is marvellous as always. As I said, it's a great one if you have insomnia; the plot is so surreal it will never make sense anyway, so you may as well drift in and out of sleep while you listen. I have a soft spot for this one.

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