''Flood Tide'' is an

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedi ...

Clive Cussler Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached ''The New York Times'' fiction best-seller list ...

. This is the 14th book featuring the author's primary protagonist,

Dirk Pitt Dirk Pitt is a fictional character created by American novelist Clive Cussler and featured in a series of novels published from 1976 to 2021. Pitt is a larger-than-life hero reminiscent of pulp magazine icon Doc Savage. Pitt is a citizen of the ...

Plot Summary

While recovering from his injuries suffered a month earlier as told in ''

Shock Wave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a med ...

'', Dirk stumbles upon mysterious activities around a peaceful lake in Washington state. The coin of the realm for the wealthy, insatiably greedy Chinese smuggler is human lives: much of his vast fortune has been made smuggling Chinese immigrants into countries around the globe, including the United States. Tracking the smuggler's activities leads Pitt from Washington State to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where his quarry is constructing a huge shipping port in the middle of nowhere. Why has he chosen this unlikely location? The trail then leads to the race to find the site of the mysterious sinking of the ship that Chiang Kai-shek filled with treasure when he fled

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1949, including the legendary boxes containing the bones of

Peking Man Peking Man (''Homo erectus pekinensis'') is a subspecies of ''Homo erectus, H. erectus'' which inhabited the Zhoukoudian Cave of northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. The first fossil, a tooth, was discovered in 1921, and the Zhoukoudi ...

that had vanished at the beginning of

World War 1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. As Pitt prepares for a final showdown, he is faced with the most formidable foe he has ever encountered.

Characters in ''Flood Tide''

– Director, Special Projects for the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) *

Admiral James Sandecker Dirk Pitt is a fictional character created by American novelist Clive Cussler and featured in a series of novels published from 1976 to 2021. Pitt is a larger-than-life hero reminiscent of pulp magazine icon Doc Savage. Pitt is a citizen of the ...

– Chief Director of NUMA *

Al Giordino AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

– Assistant Director, Special Projects for NUMA. *

Rudi Gunn Rudi, born Albert Rudolph (January 24, 1928 – February 21, 1973), also known as Swami Rudrananda, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Rudi was a spiritual teacher and an antiquities entrepreneur in New York City.Swami Rudrananda udi ''Spir ...

– Director of Logistics for NUMA. *Julia Marie Lee - Undercover agent with the International Affairs Division of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Born in San Francisco. Has dove-gray eyes, blue-black hair, and Asian features. She is tortured and abused by Shang's henchmen after being found out as a government agent, but Pitt saves her after being thrown into Orion Lake to die. *Qin Shang - The greedy, evil, Chinese shipping magnate who smuggles illegal Chinese immigrants into countries around the world; including the United States. *Bannon

Trivia

*In July 2005, Major Casey Scharven, a U.S. Air Force officer stationed in Iraq, got his picture taken while sitting on

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

's throne and holding a copy of Flood Tide

Release details

*1997, United States, Simon & Schuster , 1997,

Hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...

. *2002, United States, Pocket Books New ED Edition, , September 2, 2002,

Paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

. *2003, United States, Pocket Books, , January 1, 2003,

. *2010, United States, Pocket Star Books, , January 1, 2010

References

1997 American novels American thriller novels Dirk Pitt novels Simon & Schuster books Books with cover art by Paul Bacon {{1990s-thriller-novel-stub