The Passenger

By F. R. Tallis

Eerie, and full of suspense, The Passenger is a supernatural thriller by F. R. Tallis, author of the Vienna Blood series.

1941. A German submarine, U-330, patrols the stormy inhospitable waters of the North Atlantic. It is commanded by Siegfried Lorenz, a maverick naval officer who does not believe in the war he is bound by duty and honour to fight in.

U-330 receives a triple-encoded message with instructions to collect two prisoners from a vessel located off the Icelandic coast and transport them to the base at Brest, and British submarine commander, Sutherland, and an Norwegian academic, Professor Bjørnar Grimstad, are taken on board. Contact between the prisoners and Lorenz has been forbidden, and it transpires that this special mission has been ordered by an unknown source, high up in the SS. It is rumoured that Grimstad is working on a secret weapon that could change the course of the war . . .

Then, Sutherland goes rogue, and a series of shocking, brutal events occurs. In the aftermath, disturbing things start happening on the boat. It seems that a lethal, supernatural force is stalking the crew, wrestling with Lorenz for control.

A thousand feet under the dark, icy waves, it doesn't matter how loud you scream . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Nov 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9780230770560

F. R. Tallis

F.R.Tallis is a writer and clinical psychologist. He has written self-help manuals, non-fiction for the general reader, academic text books, over thirty academic papers in international journals and several novels. Between 1999 and 2013 he has received or been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the New London Writers’ Award, the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Elle Prix de Letrice, and two Edgars. His critically acclaimed Liebermann series (written as Frank Tallis) has been translated into fourteen languages and optioned for TV adaptation. The Forbidden, his ninth novel, is a horror story set in nineteenth-century Paris and this, The Sleep Room, is his tenth.

Reviews for The Passenger

[dianekeenoy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this book tedious to read. Decided to listen on audio, the narrators were amazing so I was able to finish this book. Cormac McCarthy is an incredible writer but this book was not enjoyable for me.

[brianinbuffalo · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I admit that it feels like literary blasphemy to assign a 2-star rating to the long-awaited work of a Pulitzer Prize-winner regarded by many as one of America’s greatest living authors. Having loved McCarthy’s last novel 16 years ago (“The Road”), I eagerly awaited my turn in the library queue for “The Passenger.” To put it bluntly: I hated it. It was one of only a handful of books within the past couple years that I stopped reading about two-thirds of the way through. I can do “weird” if the plot is riveting and the characters are relatable. “The Passenger” didn’t work for me at any level. The humor seemed contrived. The storyline was meandering. The only thing that stopped me from assigning 1 star to this tome is McCarthy’s undeniable skill as a word merchant. What are the chances of me reading the second installment? Zero.

[kcshankd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Still digesting a week later. I am going to have to re-read, especially for the dialogues. I am not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. Sitting with it a while.

[thiscatsabroad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to love this so much - & I partially did. But just partially. McCarthy´s prose is wondrously soul-bruising, but I found the narrative´s odd tangents - its forays into quantum physics, for example, both self-indulgent and over the top, compelling me to skim much of it. Perhaps that says more about me than him.