There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at its flood leads on to fortune. Yes the tide sweeps in but it also ebbs and may carry you out to sea.
Taken at the Flood
by Agatha Christie
Genre: Murder Mystery
About: The Cloade family have lived a charmed life. They've all been able to pursue their dreams and special interests, never worrying about money because George Cloade is a millionaire and he takes care of his family. Or rather, was a millionaire. When he unexpectedly dies in a bomb attack, all his wealth transfers to his very new, very young wife. And she comes with a brother who decides the Cloades have lived a cushy life for long enough.
All the Cloades can think is, if only the bomb had killed her too...
Thoughts
Well this was a really enjoyable Christie, right up until the 99% mark. Literally in the last five minutes of the audiobook we get a closing scene that was pure madness. Toxic, unhinged, sends shivers down my spine madness. Of course I'm talking about the classic romance Christie liked to throw in at the end of her mysteries, though this one is not so much romantic as it is traumatic. And worse of all - Poirot helps the couple, ignoring the crimes he himself has figured out as well as witnessed.
But I did like the mysteries in this one. There's quite a few questionable deaths, lots of unknown persons and the motives are all over the place. I very much enjoyed Poirot piecing it all together and I think the cast of characters were also an interesting mix. So I was expecting to rate this fairly high but those last few minutes really killed me. There are a lot of reasons why some Christie books need the modern edit e.g. taking out the racist words and descriptions of people, but usually I feel like her books have that needed balance of showing what the times were like then, and still proving to be an entertaining read today. It's her talent for understanding human nature at its core and using it to fool the reader that make her the true Queen of Crime. But Queen of Romance she is not.
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