Floodgate

by Alistair MacLean

Reissue of the tense tale of a deadly terrorist plot set Holland, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

AMSTERDAM AIRPORT HAS DISAPPEARED!

BLACKMAIL - The mass of water in its place is the work of the FFF - an Irish terrorist group who want to force Britain's and.

SUBTERFUGE - The Dutch call in Detective Lieutenant van Effen - feared interrogator and undercover intimate of the criminal Krakers gang - to sabotage the FFF's plan.

DISASTER - If van Effen fails and the FFF get control of the vital dyke, either Holland will sink beneath the sea or Britain will be awash with blood.

Alistair MacLean, the son of a Scots minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941 he joined the Royal Navy. After the war he read English at Glasgow University and became a schoolmaster. The two and a half years he spent aboard a wartime cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his remarkably successful first novel, published in 1955. He is now recognized as one of the outstanding popular writers of the 20th century, the author of 29 worldwide bestsellers, many of which have been filmed.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, Action, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Alistair Stuart MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain), the son of a Scots Minister, was brought up in the Scottish Highlands. In 1941, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Royal Navy; two and a half years spent aboard a cruiser were to give him the background for HMS Ulysses, his first novel, the outstanding documentary novel on the war at sea. After the war he gained an English Honours degree at Glasgow University, and became a schoolmaster. In 1983, he was awarded a D. Litt. from the same university.

Maclean is the author of twenty-nine world bestsellers and recognised as an outstanding writer in his own genre. Many of his titles have been adapted for film - The Guns of the Navarone, The Satan Bug, Force Ten from Navarone, Where Eagles Dare and Bear Island are among the most famous.

Reviews

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least two or three of Mac Lean's books are little masterpieces, but that's not the case about Floodgate.
The book is too long and filled with unnecessary talk, the characters are not the most pleasant ones, the atmosphere is dull. And most of all, the action is linear and ends somehow derisory.

[B. Marshall · Rating 1 out of 5]

So here it is, my premier book review, my first theoretical step into the vast community of Good Reads, and my cardinal venture into the unknown sphere of literature commentary.

If only I could have started on a better note. This book was one that I acquired for free during my local 2nd hand shop's book give away, and along with a few other titles, I thought I had done well on my quest for free reading.

Now, for such a negative review, you would be led to assume that there is something fundamentally wrong with this book, but almost contradictory, I wouldn't say that is the case. My problem with this book was two-fold, those issues being the narrative style of deciphering the story, and the pace of the entire novel.

To go into detail with this thesis, I base this on the sheer volume of dialogue, throughout the book. I may be inexperienced in this category, but this has been the first book that I've read that is so aggressively populated with speech marks, and due to this, I found myself continuously loosing my place within conversations, and confusing which character was talking at anyone time.

At first I put this issue to the back of mind, and tried to really soak in the atmosphere and suspense that the author was trying to portray, that was of course, until I ran into my second objection, the general pace. Whether or not these two points are interlinked, I am undecided but I found due to the characters nattering on most of the time, there didn't seem to be too much progress within the storyline. There was action, and the plot was actually quite enjoyable, it's just the way that the plot was delivered to the reader, was lacking any real sentiment.

And that would be the major bone to pick with this novel, upon reading the blurb and indeed the beginning chapters, I felt certain I was in for a great book, but it was one that never really delivered on its strong promise, and was then done, dusted, completed and put to be, in a manner that described my entire experience, dull.

On recollection, this bad experience has neither tarnished nor encouraged my opinion of the author, and the fact that I still hold true, that the premise to the book sounded very intriguing, I can see myself picking up another MacArthur book in the future, but in the mean time, it shall take one star, and I am therefor, born a legitimate book critic, Ha.

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread

I've lost track of how many times I've read this book. Still excellent. My first trip overseas, I flew through Ampsterdam airport. With this book. I thought it was an excellent choice then and I still do. Van Effen is brilliant. The supporting cast is also brilliant.

[Imran Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a MacLean fan I have a large number of his novels in my kindle. When I want to 'lighten' my reading material I often turn to MacLean. I fear I am now through most of his better novels and am scraping by on much of his mediocre work.

Floodgate is one of his 'not great' novels. The idea behind the plot reads like an Al-Qaeeda terrorist alert (drowning Amsterdam by threatening to blow up one of the city's dams) but there was not enough tension for my liking. The story had glimmers of hope but the suspense one expects from a MacLean novel was absent.

Well written, good cast of characters and some teasing excitement but a disappointment for me. Perhaps I have come to expect too much from the author?

[Wilma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a few Alistair MacLean books in the past but I had a hard time with this one. The dialogue
seemed so forced and unnatural, no real twists in the plot and I find it hard to believe that he and the other undercover detective were such masters at disguises. For me this book was not in the class of his books like Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare.

[The Twins · Rating 1 out of 5]

what a battle to read this book. I like the storyline and concept but the way it is written drives me crazy. All dialogues are packed with information for the reader, but making the characters sound very unnatural - nobody would talk like that to his colleagues, friends etc - very annoying!!!

[Ricky Orr · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been a MacLean fan for years. This book doesn't come close to his better works.

[VijayaRaghavan S N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book that I am reading of Mr MacLean after 'The puppet in a chain'. There were a lot of consistencies in those two books. The one that jumps on you is the thought that the main character is a heartless wrench who got no feelings or emotions even for the people with whom he is working with or for his relatives too. The other quality that stayed true in both the book is something that I love. He doesn't spend any time at all in foreplay by building up the plot or for character development. He right away jumps into the bed and starts doing things what he is good at and in midst of that he does the foreplay. I like it because for me I want the story to be a high octane thriller and these foreplays are just the opposite.

But this story wasn't close to the level set by the former book of his that I read. It left me with more questions than answers. Being a terrorist organization you expect bare minimum qualities in them. For instance doing a thorough background check on your new recruits or having a rat in the police bureau. But these thoughts don't cross their mind. You would end up believing that you can do a better job in being a terrorist (keeping fingers crossed that no officials are reading my review. In case you are, just for the record, I am not a terrorist).

[Ian Pattinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

An un-thrilling thriller.

The premise is interesting enough- terrorists are holding the Dutch to ransom, threatening to breach dykes and canals and flood the country. A top Amsterdam detective and two undercover cops are the best hope of stopping them in time.

But all the action happens off-page, and the reader is left with a tension free trudge, as coincidence is piled on coincidence, and the threat is rendered ever more laughable. Even worse, plot development was mostly delivered by way of long, stilted, info-dumps of dialogue as one character after another explained the reasons for their actions or showed off just how cleverthey were for figuring something out.

I kept reading to the end, in the hope that the story would shift up a gear and provide a worthwhile climax.

It didn't.

[Greer Andjanetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery with a different twist - 'terrorists' blackmailing Britain by threatening to blow up critical dykes and flood Holland. Written in vintage MacLean style, crisp prose, good English and none of the profanity so prevalent in so many American novels. A real pleasure reading an author who knows his English. An enjoyable read!

[Lescorp · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual maclean at his best

Maclean's skill at using various situation and region to create climax and his impeccable way with English language makes you reread him again and again

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of Maclean's best. The plot was predictable and so the story plodded. You really need a good twist to make a thriller.

[Rik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something about this book didn't quite deliver. The dialogue was a little unnatural, the terrorists too keen to avoid hurting people, the police a little too clever and too lucky, and the female characters definately written in a less enlightened age. Not really a thriller or page turner, it built towards the finale without developing any tension. Still, I didn't dislike the book - but there are better books of this genre from this era out there.

[Mike Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most boring "suspense adventure" novel ever for me. It was like the book was written about someone telling a story with people telling their story instead of actually experiencing it. The entire book made less sense than that sentence. I kept thinking, "Soon, something will happen." And just like the underwhelming "flood" at the end, nothing ever did.

[Seamus Mahoney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off well, but after a while you stop believing that the protagonist or his friends are in any danger whatsoever. The bad guys are just misunderstood idealists, and easily lead around by the nose after about the halfway point of the book.

It seems like MacLean wanted to put in a last-minute twist (protagonist mentions something about two of the bad guys' brothers when he's not supposed to know they're related, and the main bad guy with "a mind like a computer" completely fails to notice), but in the end the plot just sputters out with a boring and bloodless good guy victory.

[paul squires · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of Alistair Macleans best stories but still worth a look, terrorists are holding the dutch government to ransom by threating to blow up dams and other waterways if they do not accept there demands. So the police start investigating.

[Scott Holstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

To a large degree, I enjoyed this book although it did have some flaws. First though, the plot. Terrorists attack the Dutch by threatening to destroy their system of dykes and flood the country unless their demands are met. After awhile, a nuclear threat is introduced into the equation. A senior Dutch policeman goes undercover and penetrates this group, who is coincidentally linked to a couple of other groups he's been working on, and with the help of a couple of friends, helps to save the day. But there's a lot of tension, a lot of drama. The gist of it is this terrorist group wants the Dutch to intervene with the British to get the British to withdraw from Northern Ireland (I think). The terrorists, whom you might expect to be reasonably intelligent and prepared, are portrayed as dolts and this Dutch cop as a superman, which isn't very realistic and which I thought was a weakness in the book. The real weakness, though, and this has been noted by many reviewers, is the dialogue. There's too damn much of it and it's unrealistic! For great lengths of time, there's nothing but dialogue and you just want something, anything to happen. And then you realize that no one speaks like that, from the good guys to the bad guys. It's silly! MacLean was definitely not a man of the street, I'll tell you that. The sheer weight of the dialogue really brings this book down a star, if not two, because it's so heavy handed, so clunky, so bad, so unnecessary. Just give us some damn action, Allistair! I enjoyed it, sure, but it's far from his best. Cautiously recommended.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again MacLean proves to be the master of his genre. The author of books such as The Guns of Navarone and Ice Station Zebra surprises us with a Dutch protagonist in the 1980s, but even though this particular novel falls more in the line of detective fiction than spy thriller, it doesn't in the least fail to deliver.

Peter Van Effen, a senior officer in the Amsterdam police force, is called on to investigate a group of terrorists who are threatening all of the Netherlands with devastating floodwaters. He disguises himself as an explosives expert and worms his way into their operation, but can he discover what their real target is without revealing his identity to the very men who have been after his life for years?

The book, like all of MacLean's, is deeply suspenseful, a page-turner you can read in an afternoon. It is well-written for a book of the genre, although there are elements of the plot that could have been extemporised on if the book were longer. Van Effen is a good character, a sort of tragic hero with no emotions, but whom we would like to see deeper, to see the story affect him personally.

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd one, this. The opening chapter begins in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Holland, Schipol airport flooded, and MacLean evokes the watery graveyard of destroyed aircraft with an eerie intensity. Then he takes his foot of the gas pedal for the next hundred pages, content to write interminable scenes of dialogue wherein everything of significance happens “off screen” and is reported on via telephone calls or TV news reports. Contrivance follows coincidence as he tries to convince the reader that the stakes are high. The characters are interchangeable, the dialogue abysmal. Then, against the odds, the pace picks up as an undercover team infiltrate the terrorist organisation. The last 60 or so pages come close to generating tension in the classic MacLean style. Then - bizarrely, indifferently, the novel. Just. Ends. It’s not the abject snooze-fest that ‘Santorini’ is, but it ain’t far off. It’s certainly a long way from the author’s glory days.

[Ishan Nag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving three , relatively , especially when i compare it with his other works . I always love the detailing Maclean puts in his novels .Fantabolous .MAclean's know how about the dykes , the bombs ,the floods - and all that in a simple language but never over-simplfying it
The novel is about a band of terrorists (FFF) who blasts Dykes and do some other villianics , thereby putting the dutch at ransome . The novel is aboout how the protagonist does the obvious , foils the plans . Maclean did justice to the villians by making them intelligent but didn't gave their character enough depth . Nevertheless the main characters were explored enough character wise.


Dutch and the Dykes -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ROF9...

[Morgan McGuire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I say this as a fan of Alistair MacLean, having read almost all of his books: this book is not very good.

The hare-brained and confusing plot, the confusion of characters with similar names, the misogyny cranked beyond ignoring, the fact that the same three characters can change disguises and fool everyone multiple times, the hackneyed bad guys, the fact that character names are simply recycled from his previous books...this feels like it was assembled by a robot from random pieces of a best-seller list.

I think I've rated almost every other MacLean book a 4/5. This one I could barely make myself finish, and that was in the silly hope that something might actually redeem it by the end.

[Sam Mosholder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest book that I read is called Floodgate, by Alistair MacLean, and it is a very intriguing story. In this book, the main character Peter Van Effen goes undercover as an explosives expert into a nefarious terrorist group called the FFF. He is also the head lieutenant of the British police force. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Besides the weird way the dialogue was written, I thought the story line of this book was terrific. It was an eventful and well planned out novel. My only wish is that the author would make the character's speech more authentic and life like.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Floodgate by Alistair MacLean by a thriller I enjoyed immensely. The dialogue was wonderfully varied and refreshing, the characters were not intensely developed but were still better then most thrillers, the plot was interesting and the tense uncertainty kept me glued to the pages. I found this novel to be better written then the biography of Captain Cook I had previously read by MacLean, and look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

[Cathy Houston · Rating 4 out of 5]

great thriller; Holland is held hostage to a terrorist group who bombs or threatens to bomb critical dykes; but the most amazing thing about this book was how much the characters drank; there is virtually a drink on every page. the cops drink on duty and off duty before meals with meals and after meals; when its wet when it dry and when the weather is cold outside or hot inside; they just kept drinking yet never seem to be affected by it

[Abe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good book. The author uses the risks associated with the dykes and weaves an interesting story about a terrorist plot. Undercover police are able to infiltrate the gang of terrorists who are bent on extortion for political reasons by blowing up dykes. Psychological blackmail is prevalent throughout the story. It is a very good read.

[Fraser · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a passable beach read, but not a lot more.

Even though it was published in 1984 it is amazing the impact of the lack of technology such as mobile phones and any sort of reasonable computer on the plot.

The main characters speech and way of interacting was rather strange and distracting. I have read other Alistair MacLean books that I have enjoyed more.

[Alistaire King · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good premise, threatening the Netherlands by destroying the dykes, and a good start with the flooding of Schipol airport. Overall an enjoyable read. The only reservations I have are that there is more dialogue than action and the underwhelming resolution where the bad guys are disarmed and captured in less than 5 pages.

[Sieglinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The patronizing attitude of the chief characters, especially towards the female officer and civilians, was rather irritating, and the very much upper-class British dialogue, which came across much more like stereotypical 1940s senior English military officers than how one might imagine 1980s Dutch policemen to be, made it all seem rather ponderous and pompous.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in junior high, back in 1990, so I can't remember anything about it except that it had to do with the Netherlands, and I really enjoyed it at the time. Based on this hazy memory, I'll give it 4 stars.

[Marvin Suther · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was anticipating an intestering book, given the history of the dike breaks and flloding in Dutch history. The book was good, but could have used more of the historical context woven into the storyline.