'Schipol airport had just disappeared, its place taken by a wave-rippling lake that streched almost as far as the eyes could see.'

Amsterdam Schipol airport is under floodwater. Aircraft are trapped and silent. This is the opening scene in Floodgate, Alistair MacLean's gripping new adventure story of bombing and blackmail set in Holland, a country vulnerable to flooding.

A sinister terrorist group the FFF, has caused the chaos. The aim of the organistion is not to murder. It is to demonstrate the destruction it can cause by blowing up strategically placed dykes and so reduce the Netherlands to a state of fear and helplessness. And ripe for blackmail.

It is Lieutenant Peter van Effen's mission to sabotage their plans. Van Effen is a detective working undercover amongst the notorious Krakers - criminal gangs who specialise in drugs, in prostitution, in arms deals. He also heads the Amsterdam bomb disposal squad.

Using his specialist knowledge in explosives and with the help of two friends, flamboyant George and younge Vasco from Utrecht, van Effen attempts to infiltrate the FFF. The price for failure - the flooding and annihilaion of Holland.

In Floodgate, master storyteller Alistair MacLean draws the reader through a labryinth of truths and false trails in a tense and compelling novel, a masterpiece of contemporary suspense.