::READERS REVIEWS::

In Christie's top ten percent, (details) - Prospective buyers will first note that this one, (like many Christie books) has been released under two different titles, "There Is a Tide" and "Taken at the Flood," which is always very confusing for folks who are trying to acquire all the Agatha Christie books. Here, I'm reviewing the 1984 Berkley paperback which is the one I own. The work was originally published in 1948.

The Cloades are a quiet family, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews... including a doctor, a lawyer, and a farmer. They all reside in their cocoon of a sleepy English hamlet dubbed Warmsley Vale; but their financial stability and all their futures are rendered to a shambles when the generous family millionaire, Gordon Cloade, dies suddenly during a German bombing of London, just after he had taken a youthful Irish bride (Rosaleen) and after having additionally neglected to write out a new will to meet his numerous pecuniary promises to his blood relations.

Rosaleen and her disruptive and controlling brother settle in at the Warmsley Vale mansion alongside the numerous remaining Cloades who have every reason to wish the new Mrs. Gordon Cloade dead so that the estate would return to them under English law. Rosaleen's brother, David, enjoys the good life until an ominous man appears at the local inn and who may be Rosaleen's supposedly dead first husband. And so, here we have all the stereotypical ingredients for murder most foul! Murders do subsequently occur (no surprise there!) and the world's greatest detective, Mr. Hercule Poirot, involves himself in resolving the mystery. (I actually think that Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Upfield's Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte were both better but this is the lofty title which Poirot confers upon himself.)

Of her 80 or so books, (and I've read them all, most multiple times), this is one of Christie's best efforts. It has layers of atmosphere, colorful characters, and never-ending surprises. And while I think that her best work was her first one, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, this one is still very strong amongst all the mysteries ever written by anyone.

It's 231 pages in paperback and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Christie's Taken at the Flood Kindle download - An OK story by Agatha Christie, not one of her best in my opinion. Nice read for a lazy summer day. As usual, Agatha Christie has an array of interesting characters and subtle plot twists. I do enjoy Hercule Poirot mysteries and this was one that I had not seen or read before!

In the Affairs of Men - TAKEN AT THE FLOOD is one of the last, and almost the best, of Christie's run of "psychological" novels that she wrote during the 1940s, including SAD CYPRESS, SPARKLING CYANIDE, FIVE LITTLE PIGS, THE HOLLOW, and TOWARDS ZERO. In them you can see her making conscious effort to give her characters greater depth and emotional complexity, and in general these books, though not as fun perhaps as her earlier triumphs, repay the reader's attention with a rich array of situations in which life as it is actually lived rises to meet us as we go through each book.

FLOOD concerns the plight of one cosseted middleclass family, the Cloades, who are faced with a moral and financial emergency, when their leader, wealthy old Gordon Cloade perishes in a German sir raid in London during WWII, and leaves his money to a gorgeous young Irish girl whom none of them have ever met. Rosaleen is sweet and simpleminded, but her brother, nasty piece of work David Hunter, makes life miserable for the suddenly poor Cloade family.

Christie lets us see Rosaleen Cloade in all her dimensions--her beauty, her innocence, and coupled with those, her guilt and despair. In the opposite corner stands her opposite number, Lynn Marchmont, a country girl who's been overseas in the military and when she comes back home to her farmer fiance, suddenly finds him very humdrum, and David Hunter dangerously attractive. But it's not just the women that Christie writes well--David Hunter is as dashing a rogue as Tom Jones, and Rowley Cloade, the man Lynn left behind when war broke out, is also appealingly characterized. The plot is complicated, but when Poirot sorts it out, as dazzlingly simple as anything Christie ever concocted, all resting on one sinple trick of misdirection. The point is, it wouldn't even need the murder angle to succeed at being a first-rate story of passion and denial, upper class privilege and servant class resentment. But I have to say, every time I read it I fall for the same tricks over and over again. What is Lynn's choice? What does her choice of men say about her?

"I've Never Really Cared Very Much for Being Safe..." - During the WWII, Hercule Poirot sits out an air raid in a London Club, trying to distract his nerves from the bombing by listening to the waffling story of a club member, who recounts the marriage of his friend Robert Underhay and the young Rosaleen Hunter. A strange sort of fellow, his old friend considers out loud the possibility of Underhay faking his own death in order to free Rosaleen from her less-than-happy marriage. It is not until several years after this little anecdote that the story will reemerge in Poirot's life in surprising circumstances.

Gordon Cloade has always promised his assorted brothers, in-laws, nephews and nieces that they would be well looked after during their lifetimes, both before and after his death. However, after an impulsive marriage to a much younger woman, Cloade is killed in an air raid before getting the chance to alter his will in order to continue his financial support of the rest of the family. Without a new will, his entire fortune is automatically inherited by his new wife, Rosaleen (and by proxy, her brother David). Needless to say, the rest of the family is not impressed.

The title of the novel is taken from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar": "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune..." and it is certainly this inexorable pull toward fortune that makes up the primary motivation of the suspects in the novel. The Cloades dearly need the money, but although Rosaleen is something of a pushover, her brother David is certainly not about to give up his newfound fortune (and in the meantime is finding the uncomfortable situation of the family rather amusing).

In the middle of all this is young Lynn Marchmont, a demobilized Wren who is engaged to Rawley Cloade, but has her head turned by David. Bored with the return to her humdrum life and caught in the usual "all girls want bad boys" mindset, Lynn watches the mystery unfold with interest as Hercule Poirot arrives on the scene and begins to investigate the murder of the man known only as `Enoch Arden', who seems to have contacted certain family members with pertinent information regarding Cloade's legacy and Rosaleen's marital status...

What unfolds is one of Christie's most sophisticated and complex plots, one that includes blackmail, mistaken identity, family secrets, conspiracies, lies and murder most foul. Although this is certainly a strong story, it does have somewhat weaker characterization, the suspects are thinly drawn stereotypes and even Poirot himself feels somewhat subdued this time around. As for Lynn Marchmont...well, by the end of the story I was wondering if perhaps she has some sort of mental disorder considering her taste in men. You'll know what I mean when you read the final pages (and no, I haven't given anything away).

Christie seldom made commentaries on the war, and yet here takes the chance to explore some of the problems of social and financial reconstruction during the war; such as young people returning from the war and finding life too dull in comparison, the rising post-war taxes that sapped away most family's nest eggs, and the resentment of those who were left behind to tend to the land whilst others took up the fighting. It creates an interesting little window on the past and those that lived through these particular years.

All in all, this is one of my favourite Christie mysteries: a swift pace, an intriguing setup, and yet another of her twist endings that caught me complete off-guard.

Fooled me again! - Excellent book! Once again, Agatha Christie gives us every essential component of a good mystery: Engaging characters, twisted plot, surprise ending, and even allusions to the greater conflicts in the world at that time. There's a pretty poignant subplot about the difficulties of adjusting to post-World War II England, where nothing will ever be the same again - or, conversely, where things will be too much the same as before. True to form, Christie also explores age-old human struggles in a thoroughly mature manner, where one can see the humanistic side of every wrongdoer and the ignoble side of every hero.

I like to buy this author's books for the sheer enjoyment of having her fool me, every single time, as I start to think that I finally know who the villain is. I've only guessed right once or twice out of the dozens of Christie mysteries I've read. Suffice it to say that she delivers with plenty of oomph in this novel.

The characters are excellently drawn, as usual. Poirot is his usual amusing, charming self; I always smile when he comes into the story. Everyone else has their bad qualities subtly pointed out so that any one of them could be the villain, but they also seem very human and well-rounded at the same time - like people you might find anywhere you go, as Miss Marple would exclaim with delight.

My only quibble with this book is that the plot does drag a bit in the beginning, as you keep waiting for the hammer to fall. But once it falls, everything gets very interesting. Definitely a good read - buy if you like a good suspense novel.

Fun enough, but not her best - As some of the other reviews have noted, the Christie writing about Rosaleen and the post-war money and "purpose" struggles of Britons are interesting and ring true. Very Teysian in a way...maybe Shutesian.

The mystery is diverting, but felt a teensy bit artificial. We get a new body dumped in every few chapters to keep things going. And a lot of twists on the motivations. It's a similar formula to Death on the Nile, but seemed more effecitve in that book.

Still, a good fun read. Beats 99% of the junk at Barnes and Noble or the new books being churned out.

Christie's Taken at the Flood Kindle download - An OK story by Agatha Christie, not one of her best in my opinion. Nice read for a lazy summer day. As usual, Agatha Christie has an array of interesting characters and subtle plot twists. I do enjoy Hercule Poirot mysteries and this was one that I had not seen or read before!

"I've Never Really Cared Very Much for Being Safe..." - During the WWII, Hercule Poirot sits out an air raid in a London Club, trying to distract his nerves from the bombing by listening to the waffling story of a club member, who recounts the marriage of his friend Robert Underhay and the young Rosaleen Hunter. A strange sort of fellow, his old friend considers out loud the possibility of Underhay faking his own death in order to free Rosaleen from her less-than-happy marriage. It is not until several years after this little anecdote that the story will reemerge in Poirot's life in surprising circumstances.

Gordon Cloade has always promised his assorted brothers, in-laws, nephews and nieces that they would be well looked after during their lifetimes, both before and after his death. However, after an impulsive marriage to a much younger woman, Cloade is killed in an air raid before getting the chance to alter his will in order to continue his financial support of the rest of the family. Without a new will, his entire fortune is automatically inherited by his new wife, Rosaleen (and by proxy, her brother David). Needless to say, the rest of the family is not impressed.

The title of the novel is taken from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar": "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune..." and it is certainly this inexorable pull toward fortune that makes up the primary motivation of the suspects in the novel. The Cloades dearly need the money, but although Rosaleen is something of a pushover, her brother David is certainly not about to give up his newfound fortune (and in the meantime is finding the uncomfortable situation of the family rather amusing).

In the middle of all this is young Lynn Marchmont, a demobilized Wren who is engaged to Rawley Cloade, but has her head turned by David. Bored with the return to her humdrum life and caught in the usual "all girls want bad boys" mindset, Lynn watches the mystery unfold with interest as Hercule Poirot arrives on the scene and begins to investigate the murder of the man known only as `Enoch Arden', who seems to have contacted certain family members with pertinent information regarding Cloade's legacy and Rosaleen's marital status...

What unfolds is one of Christie's most sophisticated and complex plots, one that includes blackmail, mistaken identity, family secrets, conspiracies, lies and murder most foul. Although this is certainly a strong story, it does have somewhat weaker characterization, the suspects are thinly drawn stereotypes and even Poirot himself feels somewhat subdued this time around. As for Lynn Marchmont...well, by the end of the story I was wondering if perhaps she has some sort of mental disorder considering her taste in men. You'll know what I mean when you read the final pages (and no, I haven't given anything away).

Christie seldom made commentaries on the war, and yet here takes the chance to explore some of the problems of social and financial reconstruction during the war; such as young people returning from the war and finding life too dull in comparison, the rising post-war taxes that sapped away most family's nest eggs, and the resentment of those who were left behind to tend to the land whilst others took up the fighting. It creates an interesting little window on the past and those that lived through these particular years.

All in all, this is one of my favourite Christie mysteries: a swift pace, an intriguing setup, and yet another of her twist endings that caught me complete off-guard.

A great mystery - Newly demobilized from the WRNS (Women's Royal Naval Service) after World War 2, Lynn Marchmont is appalled to find what time has done to her family. After having married a young woman named Rosaleen, her rich uncle is killed by a German bomb, leaving the family cut off from the funds that they had grown accustomed to using. Now, the family hates Rosaleen and her brother, David Hunter, and David very much hates them. And when a man shows up claiming that Rosaleen long-lost first husband is actually alive and well, it seems to be the answer to the family's prayers. But, when people start dying, the whole situation turns terribly tangled. There is only one man who can untangle this mystery, and that is the great Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot!

This is another excellent mystery, of just the caliber that you no doubt expect from Agatha Christie. The mystery is nice and twisted, making it totally unclear as to whom the real culprit is, and what is truly going on. I really enjoyed the mystery, and the characters - David Hunter, Lynn Marchmont, and the whole Cloade clan. This is a great mystery, one that I highly recommend!