Floodgate by Alister MacLean

This book, I genuinely, do not remember reading. Maybe because this was not filmed and so have not seen it like the other popular movies of Alister MacLean books. The plot line is very much a modern one despite the fact that it was written in 1983. It would not go amiss in current thirller genre and very much in line with authors such as Colin Forbes and Clive Cussler.
There is a new terroists group about and it surfaces in Amsterdam. The evil villians in those times were the IRA and this group appears at first to be supportign them. In terms of violence there are small scale bombs to breach dykes and flood the lowlands they were built to protect. It all starts with Schipol Airport being covered by water and shut down for a couple of days till the dyke is repaired and water removed. The psychological angle of creating terror with limited violence is very well displayed in this story. It is eventually leading to blackmail of governments - using one to negotiate with another and relying on the humane values of all concerned.
The hero of the story is a senior police office and is easily recognisable as such from the steel trap intellect, razor sharp wit and apparently cold blooded approach. Alister MacLean does make the hero very likable and heroesque. Just my idea of a hero and someone who is extremely reliable. He, of course, has a couple of people helping him and are equally worthy and capable. There are a couple of young ladies int he story to who are kidnapped and in need of rescuing.

The plot line according to wikipedia is as follows -
An Irish terrorist organization, known as the "FFF" has detonated a bomb, which bursts dykes in the Netherlands, causing massive flooding of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Unless their demands are met (i.e. immediate withdrawal of all British military forces from Northern Ireland), they threaten to detonate more bombs, flooding Holland beneath a wall of water from the North Sea.
Detective Lieutenant Peter van Effen, a man with a sardonic sense of humor and many hidden talents, and his fuzzy-minded boss, Chief of Police De Graaf, are called in. Lieutenant Van Effen is also an undercover operative with connections to a Dutch criminal gang, and sets about to sabotage the FFF terrorists, one way or another.

The book keeps a good pace and typical Alister MacLean feel to it. The infiltration into the terrorist group is successful with good disguises. The police are happy to take the law into their own hands as work on the principle that the end justifies the means but of course it remains within the concept of no one shall be killed when doing anything questionable. While there is little humour, some of the dialogue indicates dry hurmor with understaments. At first one wonders that having infiltrated the group why are they not shut down immediately. Then it unfolds that the climax is going to be at the biggest dam holding back the waters. Strangely the end when it comes is exteremly quick and bloodless. This reminds me of the style of Lee Child's work where the descriptions and the detailed thinking is well documented and the preparation for the final showdown is extensive. Again I reiterate the story maybe a couple of decades old and the terrorist group out of date it easily transcend time and can be comparable to some of the thrillers written now.