Flood Tide

Flood Tide

By Clive Cussler

After a few weeks, I just finished reading Flood Tide by Clive Cussler, which is the next novel in the Dirk Pitt series (following the last novel Shock Wave). And while there's a lot that may be said about the entertainment value of it, I feel like there's an obscene amount to be learned about writing from it.

As someone who has dabbled in fiction since he was a kid, I can think of no better way to explain the execution of fiction than by comparing it to the launch of a space shuttle.. If you understand your characters, know what kind of story you want to write, and have it within ten city blocks of the "moment" where the root of your story ultimately begins, ignition happens with the opening sentence, and the setup is meant to launch the reader into the work in a way that they don't question the reality of the story you're telling them.

The reader must trust you enough that they're okay with being immersed in your story suspending their disbelief. If you do your job well enough, the reader gets into the story (space) with (in the worst-case scenario) a little nausea from those nasty bumps that are too minute for you to completely eliminate.

But if you botch it enough that a discrepancy with the plot or characters become unrealistic, your story may spiral out of control or, in some extreme cases, explode on the launch pad before it ascends into the air.

I mention this because Cussler demonstrates in Flood Tide (unfortunately) how easy it is to create a ripple effect of disbelief for the reader if they can't fully trust the writer and believe in the reality of the story from the beginning. While Cussler gets an A+ for an opening chapter where he intrigues the reader with the story of a shipwreck (interweaving his knowledge of unique and less common issues that can cause ships to sink), his story-shuttle begins to veer drastically off course when he introduces his opposing forces.

Dirk Pitt is on leave at Lake Orion following the way Shock Wave ended, and while there, Cussler's antagonist Qin Shang bugs Pitt's cabin for no other reason than being on the same lake. And in part, Pitt retaliates to investigate Qin Shang for discovering the bugs. The effect of such weak motivation for these characters to act echoes throughout the novel and makes the reader question if Cussler has lost it.

While Cussler proves that he hasn't while writing this book, he does appear to come across as rushed and wandering by seeming to weakly tie together the ship wreck to a criminal mastermind smuggling illegal aliens into inhumane slave labor and a completely separate plot to create a massive natural disaster. In a small number of scenes with his main characters, he even creates discrepancies with details varying from paragraph to paragraph.

The end result is slightly disappointing, in such regard, because Flood Tide comes across as three separate, hastily written novels rather than one well-written one.
However, while I can say there was enough of this novel that was disappointing, there was also a lot to it that was fascinating and enjoyable from a tough and resourceful female-lead to a terrific rush up the Mississippi River and a daring car chase in an exquisite Duesenberg. Cussler adds enough flare and intrigue in Flood Tide that, while the reader at times is irritated with him for his short-comings (such as the entire over-the-top ordeal with The Oregon and the way Cussler came across as hesitant to brutalize the danger for Pitt), the reader still wishes to keep going if only to see if there are any other minute, redeeming joys.

In the end, Cussler supports a surprisingly deep reflection about humanity and culture when it comes down to it. I won't sugar coat it and say that Flood Tide was wonderful in my opinion, but I think it's fair to say that it's okay and a decent novel to study if any writer is looking for an example of how setup can go wrong. This is no reflection of Cussler’s skills; I hold the most respect and admiration for him. But it is to say that, sometimes, even famous writers can still have a bad day.

I'd recommend Flood Tide to anyone wanting to study fiction and/or plot structure.