F.R. Tallis' The Passenger - Review

The Passenger by F.R. Tallis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A claustrophobic Second World War gothic thriller.

1941. Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Lorenz commands a German U-boat patrolling the north Atlantic. Receiving orders to rendezvous with another vessel, they take aboard two prisoners, a British submarine commander and a Norwegian professor.

The details of the SS mission involving the two prisoners are kept from Lorenz, but an act of rebellion soon results in both prisoners dead and Lorenz none the wiser as to the purpose of their transportation.

The crew’s duty-bound isolation amid the terrors of war is soon secondary to fears that something – or someone – is haunting the boat and the minds of all aboard.

‘The Passenger’ is an historical horror novel by F.R. Tallis, his fourth psychological gothic horror under this name (having written psychological crime fiction as Frank Tallis). A dark, sombre tale set during the Second World War, we embark on a journey with German Naval officers upon the ill-fated U-330, one that evokes the nature of life spent patrolling beneath the surface of the waves, and the terror and futility of war; the waiting and the watching, unemotionally carrying out orders even when not entirely sure what you’re fighting for or having any faith in whose names you are fighting. Amidst this fraught tension and isolation, an enemy soldier is shot dead, but his spirit remains very much with them – perhaps they are being haunted from beyond the grave, or are simply losing their minds.

Tallis documents the cursed voyage of boat and crew, a slow-burning, richly-detailed, noirish thriller in the gothic tradition. Drowning in an atmosphere of claustrophia and desolation, bleak to the point of nihilistic, weaving paranoia and depression, betrayal, tragedy and mystery, we accompany Lorenz and the soldiers under his command through two patrols spent at sea and the intervening furlough, the crew in peril every time they submerge and every time they surface.

Lorenz does not believe in the war they are fighting, disenchanted with the Führer and his goals. Somewhat a maverick and unwilling to display the blind loyalty expected of him, this causes much contention between his own morals and ethics and the duty and honour of his position. Lorenz’s disillusionment is perfectly juxtaposed with the radical indoctrination and dogmatic propaganda of Nazi ideology, as represented by a photographer who joins their mission for their second patrol, in order to document the heroism and patriotism of the naval officers of the Third Reich as they boldly go forth to defeat the enemy. The reality is, of course, in stark contrast.

Deprived and terrified, in mortal peril out at sea, following orders unaccompanied by explanation or justification, now they are seeing spectres move in the shadows. Little can be explained, as each day unfurls into the next. Lorenz makes some inquiries, hoping to uncover some explanation for the mission that descended into disaster. Answers remain illusive, with subtle hints of esoteric mysticism and the occult obsession of the SS offering scant clues.

Finding themselves frozen within the ice as they are sent further north, gazing out across the vast and desolate sea, it cannot help but remind one that they are – pitifully and powerlessly – merely human. In their confrontations with the enemy, it becomes evermore apparent how similar they are. British or German, fighting on behalf of Allied or Axis powers, soldiers are simply doing their jobs and sacrificing themselves for a country which claims to be on the side of the angels, and yet your orders are to slaughter fellow soldiers blindly.

Threatening a descent into madness as much as beneath the sea, the narrative submerges us in suspense, escalating towards a tense climax, the focus not so much on the supernatural haunting as the psychological impact and slow disintegration of the minds of the sailors. Is what haunts them a supernatural entity seeking vengeance, or their own misguided actions and guilty consciences preying on their souls?

Tallis was inspired to create U-330 by tales of real haunted German submarine UB-65. Deployed for a relatively short period during the First World War, seemingly cursed before it even set sail, multiple deaths and tales of ghosts on board were attached to the vessel, with many of the stories of the hauntings alleged to be false. After almost a century of speculation as to the boat’s loss, the wreck was discovered off the cost of Cornwall, its sinking concluded to be accidental. It remains where it sank, beneath the surface under protected status.

Haunting and immersive, ‘The Passenger’ is a chilling mariner’s tale coiled in nautical dread and psychological tension.



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