Customer Reviews

Taken At the Flood

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like intricate and complex plots, lots of red herrings, characters who are not who they say they are, murders disguised as suicides and accidents, this could be your favorite Christie.

At the center of this intruiging book is wealthy Gordon Cloade, eldest brother of a family he is devoted to and has promised to always look after. He has amassed a fortune in business and has always maintained that his money also belongs to his family. Although they are also successful, the other family members have come to depend on Gordon and the security he and his fortune offer.

And now for the fly in the ointment: Gordon meets Rosaleen, a young Irish widow, on an Atlantic crossing and their shipboard romance leads to a quick marriage. Before he can bring her home to his family, Gordon is killed during a bombing raid. Because he has not changed his will, his entire fortune passes to Rosaleen. She and her brother go to live in his family home and, needless to say, are the target of much resentment by the family.

The alternate title of this book is "There Is A Tide" and both titles come from the line in Julius Caesar which says " There is a tide in the affairs of men when, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Fortune is definitely the key to this novel and the lengths to which men and women will go to obtain one.

This is vintage Christie as she proves once more that murder is always exciting when it's kept all in the family.

While taking refuge in a London Club during an air raid Poirot tries to take his mind off the bombing going on outside by listening to the club bore tell yet another of his endless stories. Years later the subjects of the story and the bore re-enter Poirot's life as he tries to sort out past fictions from fact to solve more recent murders.

The Cloade family had always relied on Uncle Gordon and his money to make their lives more comfortable. In post war England life was most uncomfortable so they needed Uncle Gordon (and his money) more than ever. Unfortunately for them Uncle has married a much younger woman, then died before making provisions for any of them. Now they needed to ask his young wife and her bother (or IS he her brother?) for help...or did they?

Surprise twists happen every few pages making what is seemed certain suddenly uncertain - rather like the post war turmoil many of the characters were experiencing. In typical Christie fashion though, all the clues are there for the reader to ferret out before Poirot reveals all.

Please note that this book is also available as THERE IS A TIDE

Like many murder mysteries, this one revolves around money. You see, the Cloade family was promised by their bachelor uncle that they would inherit his wealth when he dies seeing as that he has no heirs himself. Imagine their disappointment when he suddenly marries a young woman and then goes and gets himself killed in a German air-raid. Now the young bride inherits all the money...the money that the Cloades sorely need.

'Taken at the Flood' was not one of Christie's best although it is enjoyable enough for a quick afternoon read. Red herrings are piled right and left to confuse the reader as per usual. And if you can spot the major clue which Christie practically signposted on page.....well, all I'm saying is that if you can spot it then you'll probably have a good hunch who did the dirty deed.

Or would you?

For the case IS puzzling as more bodies begin to pile up (three people die in the book). Poirot himself is confused and asks, "If A has a motive to kill C and B has a motive to kill D, would it make sense if A killed D and B killed C?"

Perfect book for that 2-3 hour plane, train or car ride.

This was a great book. The characters are really full of life and you really get inside their heads. The story opens in a London terrorized by the Blitz. Hercule Poirot hears a story told by the club bore, about a woman who's husband had died and now she was married to a millionaire. She herself is now a millionaire because he had died recently. Later, Poirot is encountered by Katherine Cloade, who is related to the millionaire. Then we are taken to the village of Warmsley Vale where we meet the members of the Cloade family, Adela Marchmont, Lynn Marchmont, Lionel Cloade, Katherine Cloade, Jeremy Cloade, Frances Cloade, and Rowley Cloade. They are all disgusted at one thing, that they haven't a penny to bless themselves with and Rosaleen Cloade and her brother David Hunter, whom they think are fortune hunters, have everything. But then, a man is murdered at a hotel, and the connection between him and the family seems to be getting greater and greater. The only downpoint of this novel is the fact that Agatha Christie seemed to have no enthusiasum in putting Hercule Poirot in the novel, as you will find happens often in most of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels. When Hercule Poirot does make his untimely appearance in Warmsley Vale, it is already a good deal through the book. All around, it's a great book.

What "improvements" have been made for the "Collins Crime" edition? There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead (THERE IS A TIDE) editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the Signet, Bantam, Berkley, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

Solid, lesser known Agatha Christie title has the author's usual hallmarks, namely clean writing and a complicated but clearly described solution to the crime (or, in this case, crimes). Added bonuses are a picturesque setting- a small isolated English village- and an unpredictable romantic subplot in addition to the unpredictable mystery.

Like virtually every Agatha Christie offering, "Taken at the Flood" is a fast, engaging reading experience, with not an iota of staleness despite its being around for decades.

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!

Taken at the Flood (a quotation from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Act 5, scene III) is a 1948 Agatha Christie murder mystery featuring her ace Belgian Detective the inimitable Hercule Poirot. The book is an intricately plotted novel told with the brilliant style of Dame Christie writing at the top of her game.
The Plot: Gordon Cloade is a wealthy millionaire who dies during the London Blitz. Rosaleen Cloade is his young widow. She was previously married to Captain Robert Underhay in South Africa before he was reported dead. Rosaleen was an actress who is beautiful but less than brilliant! She and her brother David Hunter arrive in the small English village where many members of the Cloade family reside. The family is upset thast it Rosaleen who will inherit the fortune left in Gordon's will. During the course of the novel there is a suicide, a murder by the administering of a lethal amount of morphine in place of a sleeping powder bromine. The book also includes a romantic triange in which Lynn Marchmont (niece of Gordon Coade) is loved by Rowley Coad and David Hunter. The mystery has many red herrings and surprise revelations. Not everyone is whom they seem to be. Lightweight but enjoyable reading for Agatha Christie buffs and mystery fans in general.

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.

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.