After Me Comes the Flood: From the author of The Essex Serpent

An interesting description on the cover of this book made me think I would be drawn into it by a fascinating story. However I discovered upon reading this novel that what little story was there was a not very interesting at all.

The characters, particularly the leading one "john" I found to be poorly drawn & their motivations for their actions unconvincing.

I think that the author was too concerned about describing the setting, weather etc., using an excess of purple prose to do so. I also thought that the so called "shock" ending could be guessed at quiet early in the book.

Some people would consider this book a good read, alas not I.

C.O

Perhaps I missed something vital along the way, but I somehow failed to grasp the point of After Me Comes The Flood. It was a Baffling tale with Characters so bland they merged until I could no longer tell who was doing what to whom.

A slog to read, I soon gave up trying to figure out where the book was heading or why. I did, however, find myself surprisingly irritated to discover the main man walking off into the sunset still without water for his long since abandoned and apparently forgotten car.

After Me Comes The Flood is either just hard work, or too desperate to be judged as an intellectual Piece to appeal to anyone seeking a relaxing read. At the start I was concerned that it was going over my head, but by the end I didn't care and was glad to finally put it down.

After Me Comes The Flood is not recommended unless you are on the same peculiar wavelength as the author - which I clearly was not.

J.T

I was initially intrigued by the premise of this novel; a man decides to leave his conventional life behind to go on a road trip, only for his car to break down, leading him to solicit help from a random house in the woods where he knows none of the occupants but they know him. It didn't take me long to realise that I was about to be sorely disappointed.

Reading this novel, I got the feeling that the writer was trying too hard to be philosophical rather than simply create a work of fiction to be enjoyed by the reader. As a result, the novel lacks a coherent plot and convincing characters. There were times when I felt I had lost any sense of what was going on, as the plot seems to jump from one incident to another without any explanation of how or why things were happening. Thus, in trying to create a “literary masterpiece” the author has created something that completely alienates its reader. Aside from some vivid description, this book has little else to recommend it. I would describe this book as being artistically atrocious.

N.M

From the Blurb this book sets the reader up for a gripping mysterious story which will have many characters to explore. Unfortunately this book did not live up to the hype as the plot was thin with many repetitive chapters that did not strengthen the reader's knowledge of the characters or story. the book does use simple vocabulary but spends more time on scenic and minuscule details then developing the characters and overall mystery that surrounds them.

I personally did not finish this book as I felt I was neither going to enjoy it or feel satisfied with the ending.

Alex.

In the beginning the book was quiet intriguing. I did fond however as the book went on it seemed to loose any plot. I struggled to continue and gave up. Didn't grip me or draw me in. I wouldn't recommend!!

Central Library Readers Group.