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James Bond (Original Series) #9
Thunderball
"The girl looked him up and down. He had dark, rather cruel good looks and very clear, blue-grey eyes. He was wearing a very dark-blue lightweight single-breasted suit over a cream silk shirt and a black knitted silk tie. Despite the heat, he looked cool and clean. 'And who might you be?' she asked sharply. 'My name's Bond, James Bond ...'"
When a stranger arrives in the Bahamas, the locals barely turn their heads, seeing another ex-pat with money to burn at the casino tables. But James Bond has more than money on his he's got less than a week to find two stolen atom bombs hidden among the coral reefs. While acting the playboy, Bond meets Domino, sultry plaything of secretive treasure hunter Emilio Largo. In getting close to this gorgeous Italian girl, Bond hopes to learn more about Largo's hidden operation ...
When a stranger arrives in the Bahamas, the locals barely turn their heads, seeing another ex-pat with money to burn at the casino tables. But James Bond has more than money on his he's got less than a week to find two stolen atom bombs hidden among the coral reefs. While acting the playboy, Bond meets Domino, sultry plaything of secretive treasure hunter Emilio Largo. In getting close to this gorgeous Italian girl, Bond hopes to learn more about Largo's hidden operation ...
188 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
Ian Fleming
736 books3,331 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units: 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. He drew from his wartime service and his career as a journalist for much of the background, detail, and depth of his James Bond novels.
Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952, at age 44. It was a success, and three print runs were commissioned to meet the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels centre around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Fleming was married to Ann Fleming. She had divorced her husband, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, because of her affair with the author. Fleming and Ann had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker for most of his life and succumbed to heart disease in 1964 at the age of 56. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously; other writers have since produced Bond novels. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-seven times, portrayed by six actors in the official film series.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units: 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. He drew from his wartime service and his career as a journalist for much of the background, detail, and depth of his James Bond novels.
Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952, at age 44. It was a success, and three print runs were commissioned to meet the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels centre around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Fleming was married to Ann Fleming. She had divorced her husband, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, because of her affair with the author. Fleming and Ann had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker for most of his life and succumbed to heart disease in 1964 at the age of 56. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously; other writers have since produced Bond novels. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-seven times, portrayed by six actors in the official film series.
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July 2, 2022
(A-) 83% | Very Good
Notes: James Bond fights a non-political criminal multinational, while scenes and concepts from past adventures are reused.
Notes: James Bond fights a non-political criminal multinational, while scenes and concepts from past adventures are reused.
September 30, 2018
Now this is a great Bond story!
First published in 1961, this was the 9th Bond novel for Ian Fleming and is a rip roaring good time for fans.
This has it all:
Criminal villain mastermind. While Fleming has come up with several great villains before, we are finally introduced to THE criminal, Blofeld, the Number 1 of SPECTRE – and who was without a doubt the template for Austin Powers parody Dr. Evil. (especially Donald Pleasance’s portrayal of him in You Only Live Twice). We actually get a villain double billing as SPECTRE agent Largo is the central antagonist and we meet Blofeld as the arch-enemy behind the scenes.
Plot to destroy the world. Not just a spy v. spy, SPECTRE is rolling the dice on a big and dastardly plan and its up to our hero to save the day.
Action. Lots. Some of the earlier Bond novels were oddly cerebral and even romantic, Thunderball is all about the fight scenes and there are many good ones.
The Bond Girl. Broccoli’s casting in the films always entertains but they got the idea from Fleming and his creation of Domino is inspired.
Gambling. Almost a token scene, but would it be Bond without ultra-cool at the card table?
Bond with a health problem. Bond is a THREE pack a day smoker and a heavy drinker and M is worried about his ace. This begins with some attention to Bond as a physical operative.
All this and SHARKS!
Good fun.
*** I re-watched the 1965 Terence Young film starring Sean Connery as Bond and was again reminded how much I liked this one. The underwater scenes are cool and the villains were superbly cast and performed. In one of the scenes when Connery is swimming with the sharks, one of the animals got past the plexiglass border and according to the film's stunt coordinator, the actor only just got out of the water.
First published in 1961, this was the 9th Bond novel for Ian Fleming and is a rip roaring good time for fans.
This has it all:
Criminal villain mastermind. While Fleming has come up with several great villains before, we are finally introduced to THE criminal, Blofeld, the Number 1 of SPECTRE – and who was without a doubt the template for Austin Powers parody Dr. Evil. (especially Donald Pleasance’s portrayal of him in You Only Live Twice). We actually get a villain double billing as SPECTRE agent Largo is the central antagonist and we meet Blofeld as the arch-enemy behind the scenes.
Plot to destroy the world. Not just a spy v. spy, SPECTRE is rolling the dice on a big and dastardly plan and its up to our hero to save the day.
Action. Lots. Some of the earlier Bond novels were oddly cerebral and even romantic, Thunderball is all about the fight scenes and there are many good ones.
The Bond Girl. Broccoli’s casting in the films always entertains but they got the idea from Fleming and his creation of Domino is inspired.
Gambling. Almost a token scene, but would it be Bond without ultra-cool at the card table?
Bond with a health problem. Bond is a THREE pack a day smoker and a heavy drinker and M is worried about his ace. This begins with some attention to Bond as a physical operative.
All this and SHARKS!
Good fun.
*** I re-watched the 1965 Terence Young film starring Sean Connery as Bond and was again reminded how much I liked this one. The underwater scenes are cool and the villains were superbly cast and performed. In one of the scenes when Connery is swimming with the sharks, one of the animals got past the plexiglass border and according to the film's stunt coordinator, the actor only just got out of the water.
November 5, 2020
A voice said quietly, close up against his ear, "You will not meddle again, my friend." Then there was nothing but the great whine and groan of the machine and the bite of the straps that were tearing his body in half. Bond began to scream, weakly, while the sweat poured from him and dripped off the leather cushions to the floor.
Then suddenly there was blackness.
This is a bit different from the previous 8 Bond novels. A bit more serious. SPECTRE gets hold of an atomic bomb and threatens to detonate it in a major city if he doesn't receive £100,000,000.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
1.) Bond calling women "bitch" all the time. It doesn't matter whether he likes them or not. He just refers to women as "bitches" quite frequently. It's disturbing, and I can't really see any rhyme or reason behind it. Term of endearment? Verbal tic? I wish he'd stop doing it, it takes away a lot of my enjoyment of these novels.
2.) Misogyny - Women are horrible drivers. Women are like horses that need to be tamed and broken in order to be ridden.
[She was] a willful, high-tempered, sensual girl - a beautiful Arab mare who would only allow herself to be ridden by a horseman with steel thighs and velvet hands, and then only with curb and sawbit - and then only when he had broken her to bridle and saddle.
Leiter's offhand comments about "authentic blondes" - ugh.
WHAT WAS AMAZING:
1.) Ian Fleming's writing - especially about the sea. Fleming must have loved the ocean and it's definitely where Bond feels the most comfortable and at home as well. Fleming writes beautiful, breathtaking, gorgeous descriptions of swimming and underwater life. His love and knowledge of underwater animals shines through this entire book and it's delightful.
It is just as well that the body retains no memory of pain. Yes, it hurt, that abscess, that broken bone, but just how it hurt, and how much, is soon forgotten by the brain and the nerves. It is not so with pleasant sensations, a scent, a taste, the particular texture of a kiss. These things can be almost totally recalled.
2.) This book is funny. There is a whole subplot where Bond gets called onto the carpet by M for smoking 60 cigarettes a day (down from 70 a day in Casino Royale), drinking tons of alcohol, and not eating anything remotely healthy. M sentences Bond to 10 days at a health resort - lots of health treatments and dieting. It is hilarious. Usually Bond books aren't big on the humor, but I was laughing so hard at Bond's adjustments at being told he needs to get in better shape, meeting all the health nuts at the clinic - and even temporarily becoming a 'health nut' himself!!!! So funny and refreshing. :)
"Now don't you start on me, Penny." Bond walked angrily towards the door. He turned round. "Any more ticking-off from you and when I get out of this place I'll give you such a spanking you'll have to do your typing off a block of Dunlopillo."
Miss Moneypenny smiled sweetly at him. "I don't think you'll be able to do much spanking after living on nuts and lemon juice for two weeks, James."
Bond made a noise between a grunt and a snarl and stormed out of the room.
3.) We get to see Bond interacting with some favorite characters. M, of course, like he does in every novel. Moneypenny, who has been conspicuously absent from the last two novels; Bond's elderly Scottish housekeeper, May, who is a sweetheart and also funny - she gives Bond a stern talking-to here; and of course, Bond's old friend, Felix Leiter (of course now with a hook for a hand after he lost his hand in the shark attack in Live and Let Die), who shows up to needle Bond about America vs. Britain and help him out with this international crisis.
4.) Old James Bond Classics: Bond saving a young woman from getting run over with a car by executing "a passable Veronica;" Bond hitting on his nurses when he's in the clinic; Bond fighting people underwater (this is a favorite of Fleming's); Bond going on and on about how much he loves his car; Bond vs. dastardly villain; Bond saves the world; Bond brutally destroys villain at the card table.
5.) Bond listens to women. I know this sounds like a strange thing to mention, but I'm always charmed by the fact that Bond sits down and listens intently to what women are saying. (Except when they are warning him about danger - he always disregards that for some reason.) When Bond meets a woman and he asks her about her life, feelings, or thoughts on something - he's not just killing time until they go to bed with him. He is genuinely interested in what they have to say. And he patiently listens to whatever they have to tell him about their lives. This happens in book after book. It's one of Bond's few good qualities regarding his treatment of women. Here's another:
6.) "Whore," "tart" and "prostitute" were not words Bond used about women unless they were professional streetwalkers or the inmates of a brothel, and when [she had been described as an] "Italian tart" Bond had reserved judgment. Now he knew he had been right. This was an independent, a girl of authority and character. She might like the rich, gay life, but so far as Bond was concerned, that was the right kind of girl. She might sleep with men, obviously did, but it would be on her terms and not theirs.
One of Bond's most charming and best features in my mind. Here's another good one on this - Domino is saying that everyone in Nassau thinks she's Largo's "kept woman" and has a low opinion of her morals and character. Bond says:
"Nobody's told me that. Anyway, I make up my own mind about men and women. What's the good of other people's opinions? Animals don't consult each other about other animals. They look and sniff and feel. In love and hate, and everything in between, those are the only tests that matter. But people are unsure of their own instincts. They want reassurance. So they ask someone else whether they should like a particular person or not. And as the world loves bad news, they nearly always get a bad answer - or at least a qualified one.
WOMEN:
PATRICIA FEARING, a osteopath at the clinic Bond is sentenced to.
Patricia Fearing stood in front of him, clean, white, comforting, desirable. In one hand was a pair of heavy mink gloves, but with the fur covering the palm instead of the back. In the other was a glass. She held out the glass. As Bond drank and heard the reassuring, real-life tinkle of the ice, he thought: this is the most splendid girl. I will settle down with her. She will give me effleurage all day long and from time to time a good tough drink like this. It will be a life of great beauty. He smiled at her and held out the empty glass and said, "More."
Bond saves her from getting run over by a car. She adjusts his back, gives him effleurage and (forbidden) brandy, and... when he is released from his "health prison" he takes her to bed.
Nothing more than a roll in the hay for Bond.
But then Fleming brings in the big guns, with
DOMMINETTA PETACCHI (better known as DOMINO) is an Italian spitfire who is the mistress to the evil Emilio Largo. She is exactly the type of woman Bond likes: smart, active, brave, she drinks and smokes (and not "girly" drinking and smoking either), she is strong and capable. Bond loves that she took her life and her destiny in her own hands. He loves her independence and her authority.
This is the kind of woman Bond could fall in love with.
Domino walks with a slight limp - Bond doesn't even notice until their second meeting - because she was born with one leg shorter than the other. Bond is enchanted by this (he's come a long way from wanting to "fix" the women he likes, see also: Dr. No).
Domino is a pretty amazing "Bond girl." She also has my absolute favorite Bond scene of all time: when she is diving and gets some sea-egg spines in her foot and Bond gets them out for her. Then they have sex. :) My all-time favorite Bond scenes, one I can still remember vividly as reading when I first discovered the Bond novels. I must have been anywhere from 9-12 years old. :)
Bond knelt down and picked up her right foot. It felt small and soft, like a captured bird, in his hand.
That above sentence is tattooed on my soul, probably. The fact that I can quote it and remember it verbatim even after not having read these books in years testifies to that. This scene is always the one that comes to mind when I think of James Bond. The chapter is appropriately titled: HOW TO EAT A GIRL, and it is fabulous.
Come to think of it, there are a lot of good chapter titles in here. I like: WHEN THE KISSING STOPPED, which is the sad chapter, but it is a great one. The chapter titled DOMINO is pretty good, too. It's all good. It's a good book.
...
In short, a Bond book on a grand scale. The evil SPECTRE has atomic weapons! The world is in danger! Bond and his old American pal Felix Leiter team up once again to save everyone! The Bond girl is fierce and brave and beautiful! Fighting underwater with spears and octopi! A fun novel.
UPDATE: THUNDERBALL Sean Connery 1965 Film
This is a decent pre-Craig Bond film, not stupid like Moonraker or Live and Let Die. But the book is 10x better.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Why do I even bother watching these Bond movies. Seriously. I get nothing out of them.
Then suddenly there was blackness.
This is a bit different from the previous 8 Bond novels. A bit more serious. SPECTRE gets hold of an atomic bomb and threatens to detonate it in a major city if he doesn't receive £100,000,000.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
1.) Bond calling women "bitch" all the time. It doesn't matter whether he likes them or not. He just refers to women as "bitches" quite frequently. It's disturbing, and I can't really see any rhyme or reason behind it. Term of endearment? Verbal tic? I wish he'd stop doing it, it takes away a lot of my enjoyment of these novels.
2.) Misogyny - Women are horrible drivers. Women are like horses that need to be tamed and broken in order to be ridden.
[She was] a willful, high-tempered, sensual girl - a beautiful Arab mare who would only allow herself to be ridden by a horseman with steel thighs and velvet hands, and then only with curb and sawbit - and then only when he had broken her to bridle and saddle.
Leiter's offhand comments about "authentic blondes" - ugh.
WHAT WAS AMAZING:
1.) Ian Fleming's writing - especially about the sea. Fleming must have loved the ocean and it's definitely where Bond feels the most comfortable and at home as well. Fleming writes beautiful, breathtaking, gorgeous descriptions of swimming and underwater life. His love and knowledge of underwater animals shines through this entire book and it's delightful.
It is just as well that the body retains no memory of pain. Yes, it hurt, that abscess, that broken bone, but just how it hurt, and how much, is soon forgotten by the brain and the nerves. It is not so with pleasant sensations, a scent, a taste, the particular texture of a kiss. These things can be almost totally recalled.
2.) This book is funny. There is a whole subplot where Bond gets called onto the carpet by M for smoking 60 cigarettes a day (down from 70 a day in Casino Royale), drinking tons of alcohol, and not eating anything remotely healthy. M sentences Bond to 10 days at a health resort - lots of health treatments and dieting. It is hilarious. Usually Bond books aren't big on the humor, but I was laughing so hard at Bond's adjustments at being told he needs to get in better shape, meeting all the health nuts at the clinic - and even temporarily becoming a 'health nut' himself!!!! So funny and refreshing. :)
"Now don't you start on me, Penny." Bond walked angrily towards the door. He turned round. "Any more ticking-off from you and when I get out of this place I'll give you such a spanking you'll have to do your typing off a block of Dunlopillo."
Miss Moneypenny smiled sweetly at him. "I don't think you'll be able to do much spanking after living on nuts and lemon juice for two weeks, James."
Bond made a noise between a grunt and a snarl and stormed out of the room.
3.) We get to see Bond interacting with some favorite characters. M, of course, like he does in every novel. Moneypenny, who has been conspicuously absent from the last two novels; Bond's elderly Scottish housekeeper, May, who is a sweetheart and also funny - she gives Bond a stern talking-to here; and of course, Bond's old friend, Felix Leiter (of course now with a hook for a hand after he lost his hand in the shark attack in Live and Let Die), who shows up to needle Bond about America vs. Britain and help him out with this international crisis.
4.) Old James Bond Classics: Bond saving a young woman from getting run over with a car by executing "a passable Veronica;" Bond hitting on his nurses when he's in the clinic; Bond fighting people underwater (this is a favorite of Fleming's); Bond going on and on about how much he loves his car; Bond vs. dastardly villain; Bond saves the world; Bond brutally destroys villain at the card table.
5.) Bond listens to women. I know this sounds like a strange thing to mention, but I'm always charmed by the fact that Bond sits down and listens intently to what women are saying. (Except when they are warning him about danger - he always disregards that for some reason.) When Bond meets a woman and he asks her about her life, feelings, or thoughts on something - he's not just killing time until they go to bed with him. He is genuinely interested in what they have to say. And he patiently listens to whatever they have to tell him about their lives. This happens in book after book. It's one of Bond's few good qualities regarding his treatment of women. Here's another:
6.) "Whore," "tart" and "prostitute" were not words Bond used about women unless they were professional streetwalkers or the inmates of a brothel, and when [she had been described as an] "Italian tart" Bond had reserved judgment. Now he knew he had been right. This was an independent, a girl of authority and character. She might like the rich, gay life, but so far as Bond was concerned, that was the right kind of girl. She might sleep with men, obviously did, but it would be on her terms and not theirs.
One of Bond's most charming and best features in my mind. Here's another good one on this - Domino is saying that everyone in Nassau thinks she's Largo's "kept woman" and has a low opinion of her morals and character. Bond says:
"Nobody's told me that. Anyway, I make up my own mind about men and women. What's the good of other people's opinions? Animals don't consult each other about other animals. They look and sniff and feel. In love and hate, and everything in between, those are the only tests that matter. But people are unsure of their own instincts. They want reassurance. So they ask someone else whether they should like a particular person or not. And as the world loves bad news, they nearly always get a bad answer - or at least a qualified one.
WOMEN:
PATRICIA FEARING, a osteopath at the clinic Bond is sentenced to.
Patricia Fearing stood in front of him, clean, white, comforting, desirable. In one hand was a pair of heavy mink gloves, but with the fur covering the palm instead of the back. In the other was a glass. She held out the glass. As Bond drank and heard the reassuring, real-life tinkle of the ice, he thought: this is the most splendid girl. I will settle down with her. She will give me effleurage all day long and from time to time a good tough drink like this. It will be a life of great beauty. He smiled at her and held out the empty glass and said, "More."
Bond saves her from getting run over by a car. She adjusts his back, gives him effleurage and (forbidden) brandy, and... when he is released from his "health prison" he takes her to bed.
Nothing more than a roll in the hay for Bond.
But then Fleming brings in the big guns, with
DOMMINETTA PETACCHI (better known as DOMINO) is an Italian spitfire who is the mistress to the evil Emilio Largo. She is exactly the type of woman Bond likes: smart, active, brave, she drinks and smokes (and not "girly" drinking and smoking either), she is strong and capable. Bond loves that she took her life and her destiny in her own hands. He loves her independence and her authority.
This is the kind of woman Bond could fall in love with.
Domino walks with a slight limp - Bond doesn't even notice until their second meeting - because she was born with one leg shorter than the other. Bond is enchanted by this (he's come a long way from wanting to "fix" the women he likes, see also: Dr. No).
Domino is a pretty amazing "Bond girl." She also has my absolute favorite Bond scene of all time: when she is diving and gets some sea-egg spines in her foot and Bond gets them out for her. Then they have sex. :) My all-time favorite Bond scenes, one I can still remember vividly as reading when I first discovered the Bond novels. I must have been anywhere from 9-12 years old. :)
Bond knelt down and picked up her right foot. It felt small and soft, like a captured bird, in his hand.
That above sentence is tattooed on my soul, probably. The fact that I can quote it and remember it verbatim even after not having read these books in years testifies to that. This scene is always the one that comes to mind when I think of James Bond. The chapter is appropriately titled: HOW TO EAT A GIRL, and it is fabulous.
Come to think of it, there are a lot of good chapter titles in here. I like: WHEN THE KISSING STOPPED, which is the sad chapter, but it is a great one. The chapter titled DOMINO is pretty good, too. It's all good. It's a good book.
...
In short, a Bond book on a grand scale. The evil SPECTRE has atomic weapons! The world is in danger! Bond and his old American pal Felix Leiter team up once again to save everyone! The Bond girl is fierce and brave and beautiful! Fighting underwater with spears and octopi! A fun novel.
UPDATE: THUNDERBALL Sean Connery 1965 Film
This is a decent pre-Craig Bond film, not stupid like Moonraker or Live and Let Die. But the book is 10x better.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Why do I even bother watching these Bond movies. Seriously. I get nothing out of them.
December 24, 2013
The best part about any of the original James Bond novels is the fact that there is no “Q” (other than being mentioned peripherally, “Q Branch” and all that). That’s to say, the novels aren’t as gimmicky as the films. This is important, since it elevates the story above the zany pop culture status of the films. There is at least some gravitas here, which is as it should be in a spy thriller.
And yet, the novels are every bit as entertaining as the films.
Thunderball was recommended to me by my wife. In fact, it was part of our annual “must read” agreement. I believe it is her favourite, just edging out Live and Let Die, which I also read on her recommendation previously.
Thunderball does contain all the ingredients we have come to expect: exotic location – check, undersea adventuring – check, beautiful Italian girl with catchy name – check, memorable bad guy – check, atomic bombs – check… I could go on, but I think you get the idea. This novel also has the distinction of being the one to introduce Blofeld and Spectre, so its importance in the Bond canon is cemented.
If you’re a Bond fan, you certainly have read this by now. If not – for shame!
And yet, the novels are every bit as entertaining as the films.
Thunderball was recommended to me by my wife. In fact, it was part of our annual “must read” agreement. I believe it is her favourite, just edging out Live and Let Die, which I also read on her recommendation previously.
Thunderball does contain all the ingredients we have come to expect: exotic location – check, undersea adventuring – check, beautiful Italian girl with catchy name – check, memorable bad guy – check, atomic bombs – check… I could go on, but I think you get the idea. This novel also has the distinction of being the one to introduce Blofeld and Spectre, so its importance in the Bond canon is cemented.
If you’re a Bond fan, you certainly have read this by now. If not – for shame!
September 13, 2023
It is often said that a character’s strength can only be judged by the menace of his enemies. Ernst Stavro Blofeld is introduced here in the ninth James Bond novel along with the organization of SPECTRE. Can you believe that it has taken 9 full books to get us to Bond's most iconic villain, and his henchman?
Here, Emilio Largo has managed to steal two atomic missiles and sequestered them beneath the sea. It is James Bond’s responsibility along with CIA agent Felix Leiter to find the missiles and prevent them from being launched, threatening to cast the worlds super powers in yet another world war. The characters are all strong. The mission is sufficiently urgent to cause suspense. This is really one of the stronger more suspenseful and urgent novels.
Here, Emilio Largo has managed to steal two atomic missiles and sequestered them beneath the sea. It is James Bond’s responsibility along with CIA agent Felix Leiter to find the missiles and prevent them from being launched, threatening to cast the worlds super powers in yet another world war. The characters are all strong. The mission is sufficiently urgent to cause suspense. This is really one of the stronger more suspenseful and urgent novels.
February 22, 2017
Revised review following re-read.
"This is a silly plan. This is the sort of melodramatic nonsense people write about in thrillers."
....and that criticism straight out of the mouth of the "bond girl" in this installment is probably one of my favourite lines in the series so far. Whoever said they were all shallow?!
In fact, Domino is another kick-ass leading lady, who first stumps Bond with her driving skills - yeah, between Domino, Ms. Galore, and Tilly Masterton, Bond may have a thing for women drivers -, calls him out on bullshit, engages with him on her own terms, and finally saves his hide.
Of course, Bond is still Bond, and the sexist, chauvinist comments are there (in abundance) throughout the book, but one wouldn't set out to read a Bond novel without a bucket of salt at hand, and this one is nowhere near as horrible as other Bond novels. However, the story is still a bit tepid - bad guys steal nuclear war heads and threaten the world. I'm sure this was thrilling stuff in 1961 when the book was written, but it has worn off a bit since. And if it weren't for the "nerdy" tid bits like M's opinions about processed food, the technical details about the Polaris missiles, and the descriptions in the book of everything that surrounds the plot - i.e. the development of characters, the depiction of fight scenes, the dialogues, the sea life are just great - the book would be utterly forgettable.
I mean, I must have watched Thunderball about a gazillion times since I was a kid and I still couldn't say what the film was about. It took reading the book twice - most recently as part of the Bond Buddy Read with Troy - to take in that Fleming describes SPECTRE as a well-functioning corporation, to recognise that he set up Blofeld as this puppeteer that pulls the strings behind the scenes rather than engaging with Bond one on one (even tho this will come later in the series).
What was interesting on this latest read was how ridiculous the whole premise of the threat of nuclear missiles being stolen is in the context of the ongoing Cold War at the time the book is set. The unquestioned premise of Bond being on the side of right, stepping in to return the missiles to one of the sides rather than to allow a profit-oriented organisation to hold the world at ransom, shows why Bond novels are first and foremost adventure stories. Fleming does not question whether Bond's missions have a moral justification. Or whether there are any doubts about the point of propagating that the nuclear arms race kept the world at peace.
Unfortunately, we don't get to know in the Bond novels whether Fleming believed this. We only get the boys' own adventure story.
"This is a silly plan. This is the sort of melodramatic nonsense people write about in thrillers."
....and that criticism straight out of the mouth of the "bond girl" in this installment is probably one of my favourite lines in the series so far. Whoever said they were all shallow?!
In fact, Domino is another kick-ass leading lady, who first stumps Bond with her driving skills - yeah, between Domino, Ms. Galore, and Tilly Masterton, Bond may have a thing for women drivers -, calls him out on bullshit, engages with him on her own terms, and finally saves his hide.
Of course, Bond is still Bond, and the sexist, chauvinist comments are there (in abundance) throughout the book, but one wouldn't set out to read a Bond novel without a bucket of salt at hand, and this one is nowhere near as horrible as other Bond novels. However, the story is still a bit tepid - bad guys steal nuclear war heads and threaten the world. I'm sure this was thrilling stuff in 1961 when the book was written, but it has worn off a bit since. And if it weren't for the "nerdy" tid bits like M's opinions about processed food, the technical details about the Polaris missiles, and the descriptions in the book of everything that surrounds the plot - i.e. the development of characters, the depiction of fight scenes, the dialogues, the sea life are just great - the book would be utterly forgettable.
I mean, I must have watched Thunderball about a gazillion times since I was a kid and I still couldn't say what the film was about. It took reading the book twice - most recently as part of the Bond Buddy Read with Troy - to take in that Fleming describes SPECTRE as a well-functioning corporation, to recognise that he set up Blofeld as this puppeteer that pulls the strings behind the scenes rather than engaging with Bond one on one (even tho this will come later in the series).
What was interesting on this latest read was how ridiculous the whole premise of the threat of nuclear missiles being stolen is in the context of the ongoing Cold War at the time the book is set. The unquestioned premise of Bond being on the side of right, stepping in to return the missiles to one of the sides rather than to allow a profit-oriented organisation to hold the world at ransom, shows why Bond novels are first and foremost adventure stories. Fleming does not question whether Bond's missions have a moral justification. Or whether there are any doubts about the point of propagating that the nuclear arms race kept the world at peace.
Unfortunately, we don't get to know in the Bond novels whether Fleming believed this. We only get the boys' own adventure story.
June 28, 2014
Rating: 4* of five
I am viewing the Bond films on Amazon Prime. 20 are available on Prime for free viewing until 1 Sept. This entry in the book series is a little odd, because the story and the book were the subjects of prolonged litigation among the writer of the story, the author of the book, and the producers of the film. As a result, this film was made again in 1983 by the title Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery's swansong as Bond.
That was a better film.
This one also has a crap theme song sung by Tom Jones. I remembered it not at all from the first time I saw the movie in a theater, probably 1966 or 1967. I was much more impressed then by the underwater fight sequences. Now they just make me claustrophobic.
So nuclear bombs stolen by Blofeld, pretty girl tries to kill Bond, Blofeld's second in command screws up and hires the only white men in the Bahamas as henchrats and all of them screw up. Bond repeals the laws of physics as he opens metal hatches underwater with trivial ease and slams through aboveground hatches without causing any sound. Bond uses someone who deserves to die as a human shield against a 9mm round, and the bullet stops inside them. Yakity blah blah, standard Bond stuff.
What elevates this silly romper-room antic mess into four-star territory is the sheer verve and the evident glee with which all involved go after the action. Connery's genuine terror of the sharks involved in the plot makes his performance sharp. Apparently his marriage was in trouble, so he went after the women with a starved hunger that's impossible to mistake. And the world's stupidest supervillains make some HILARIOUS mistakes...fixed water cannons that could easily be sidestepped? C'mon...but gosh was this fun.
Doesn't hurt one little bit that Connery wore racy bathing suits for quite a lot of the film. Yum.
So anyway, it's not the best Bond film and it's not the best film-film, but it has zest and zing and I'm glad I rewatched it here these *gasp* forty-five or more years later. That song...what a shame. A good tune would've put it over the edge into 5-star territory!
I am viewing the Bond films on Amazon Prime. 20 are available on Prime for free viewing until 1 Sept. This entry in the book series is a little odd, because the story and the book were the subjects of prolonged litigation among the writer of the story, the author of the book, and the producers of the film. As a result, this film was made again in 1983 by the title Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery's swansong as Bond.
That was a better film.
This one also has a crap theme song sung by Tom Jones. I remembered it not at all from the first time I saw the movie in a theater, probably 1966 or 1967. I was much more impressed then by the underwater fight sequences. Now they just make me claustrophobic.
So nuclear bombs stolen by Blofeld, pretty girl tries to kill Bond, Blofeld's second in command screws up and hires the only white men in the Bahamas as henchrats and all of them screw up. Bond repeals the laws of physics as he opens metal hatches underwater with trivial ease and slams through aboveground hatches without causing any sound. Bond uses someone who deserves to die as a human shield against a 9mm round, and the bullet stops inside them. Yakity blah blah, standard Bond stuff.
What elevates this silly romper-room antic mess into four-star territory is the sheer verve and the evident glee with which all involved go after the action. Connery's genuine terror of the sharks involved in the plot makes his performance sharp. Apparently his marriage was in trouble, so he went after the women with a starved hunger that's impossible to mistake. And the world's stupidest supervillains make some HILARIOUS mistakes...fixed water cannons that could easily be sidestepped? C'mon...but gosh was this fun.
Doesn't hurt one little bit that Connery wore racy bathing suits for quite a lot of the film. Yum.
So anyway, it's not the best Bond film and it's not the best film-film, but it has zest and zing and I'm glad I rewatched it here these *gasp* forty-five or more years later. That song...what a shame. A good tune would've put it over the edge into 5-star territory!
July 8, 2021
In the late 1950s Ian Fleming & group of other people came up with a screenplay for a James Bond film that was never made. A few years later Ian Fleming published Thunderball, using some of their ideas without crediting them, & a court case followed. The Battle for Bond by Robert Sellers details these events & is well worth reading.
Ian Fleming's 1961 Bond adventure starts with 007 being sent to a health farm called Shrublands. The brief glimpse we get of the young driver who takes Bond there shows Fleming's unerring ability to bring a character to life in just a few pages.
Thunderball is Bond on an epic scale. Nuclear bombs are stolen & only one man can save the world, so 007 turns his back on the health food & returns to the alcohol & cigarettes. Criminal organisation SPECTRE make their first appearance, as does their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld who is a far more interesting villain in the novels than in any film incarnation.
Like the films Thunderball & Never Say Never Again the book drags in a few places, but all of the underwater sequences are brillianly handled. Amidst the worldwide threat from SPECTRE Ian Fleming still manages to ground the novel with humanity. One of my favourite moments features Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter complaining to a barman about a poorly made martini. Fleming also tells a wonderful tale based on the drawing on a packet of Players cigarettes.
Thunderball may not be the best Bond novel, but it's still a big chunk of entertainment. Listening to John Barry's excellent soundtrack to the film as I read only heightened my enjoyment.
Ian Fleming's 1961 Bond adventure starts with 007 being sent to a health farm called Shrublands. The brief glimpse we get of the young driver who takes Bond there shows Fleming's unerring ability to bring a character to life in just a few pages.
Thunderball is Bond on an epic scale. Nuclear bombs are stolen & only one man can save the world, so 007 turns his back on the health food & returns to the alcohol & cigarettes. Criminal organisation SPECTRE make their first appearance, as does their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld who is a far more interesting villain in the novels than in any film incarnation.
Like the films Thunderball & Never Say Never Again the book drags in a few places, but all of the underwater sequences are brillianly handled. Amidst the worldwide threat from SPECTRE Ian Fleming still manages to ground the novel with humanity. One of my favourite moments features Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter complaining to a barman about a poorly made martini. Fleming also tells a wonderful tale based on the drawing on a packet of Players cigarettes.
Thunderball may not be the best Bond novel, but it's still a big chunk of entertainment. Listening to John Barry's excellent soundtrack to the film as I read only heightened my enjoyment.
February 5, 2024
My verdict is that undersea SCUBA battles are much more compelling on the written page than the filmed equivalent from the '60s.
I really felt the cognitive dissonance with this one, on the one hand trying to appreciate it as a innovative and fresh "secret agent" story of the early 60s when it was published and on the other as the laughable collection of familiar tropes and gauche reactionary takes that made it feel like an extended episode of Archer today.
On the good side we get to meet the malevolent Blofeld by name the first time and also SPECTRE since Kruschev's seeming detente with the West inspired Fleming to retire SMERSH (and its silly acronym) as a main antagonist and an arm of the Soviet State. We also get to spend more time with stalwart allies like Felix Leiter, conscripted back into the CIA to deal with the Thunderball crisis, and James' elderly Scottish housekeeper in London, May.
Malapropos of me, I know, but I can't help but picture May this way.
Best of all, perhaps, we see this book's "Bond Girl", Domino,
Worst of all was a return to some of Fleming's least charming reactionary tendencies, typically couched as the private thoughts of Cmdr. Bond himself, deriding the weakness of the postwar generation of Britons raised on the reality of Atomic Bombs and Rocket Ships and also making sweeping and offensive generalizations, at great length, as to why women are terrible drivers and are to be avoided on the road.
To be fair he kind of had it coming...
As to some of the truly loathsome vocabulary used to describe easily missed outcroppings of rock and coral in the Caribbean I will give the benefit of the doubt and believe that was the lexicon of sailors in those parts and times but good lord does it conjure a grim image, particularly given the socio-historic context.
Time for the return of our rundown of the books' principle "problematic" elements:
Casino Royale - Misogyny
Live and Let Die - Racial pandering
Moonraker - Paranoia re: 'Enemies within', particularly post-War Germans and the Soviets
Diamonds are Forever - Homophobia
From Russia With Love - Sexual Harrassment
Doctor No - More Racial Pandering! but this time of the "Yellow Peril" variety.
Goldfinger - Take your pick! but I'll go with Sexual Politics
Thunderball - Got to be misogyny again.
*Truth be told the book version of Largo is only 40, described as quite handsome and there's no mention of any eye patch. The film version casting this guy whose English dialogue had to be overdubbed was...a choice.
March 15, 2021
Excellent read!
I consider the movie based (?) on the book 'Thunderball' one of the best of the James Bond movies, and I think it's because the plot of the novel is so great! There was litigation over this one, so I am uncertain which was first - screenplay, book, movie - never mind. The movie copies the action in the novel with a few scene differences, but the characters and plot of the movie and book match in spirit if not in details.
EDIT: March 27, 2019 . I was distracted, but back to my review of ‘Thunderball’.
James Bond is called out by M because of his excessive drinking and smoking. Bond didn’t fail his latest physical, but he is definitely on a slide in regards to his fitness. So M suggests a two-week stay at a place called Shrublands for a nature cure, i.e., vegetable diet and exercise - no alcohol or smoking.
Bond very reluctantly signs up. Surprise! The resort regimen works. He returns to London feeling much better. However, there was an interesting murderous incident at the health resort - another patient, Count Lippe, attempted to kill Bond in a spine-stretching machine by turning up the machine’s pressure on the spine. Bond was rescued by an attendant. It was very strange. He had seen a weird tattoo on the wrist of the patient, and he had called it in to the Service’s Records department. Records told him it was a Red Lightning Tong sign. Count Lippe had overheard the phone call, and then made the attempt to kill Bond. Why? Bond lets it go after getting revenge on Lippe by locking him in a steam box and turning up the temperature of the steam.
Unbeknownst to Bond, he has thrown a small wrench into the works of a very important plan by terrible bad guys. Lippe was supposed to be a pilot for a very important hijacking, and now he will need to be replaced due to his burns. The replacement pilot, doomed Giuseppe Petacchi, will be an important link to a woman Bond meets later. Coincidences abound! Of course, gentle reader, the woman, Dominetta Vitali, née Petacchi, will fall in love with Bond. Don’t we all?
Back in London, Bond is assigned to the Bahamas to search for any sign of a hijacked British aircraft carrying two atomic weapons. The organization which captured the bomber also killed the five-man crew and an observer. The criminals call themselves The Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion (S.P.E.C.T.R.E.), who boldly announce themselves in a letter with their demand for a ransom of £100,000,000 in gold, to be delivered in seven days from the receipt of the letter. If the ransom is not paid, an undesignated major city somewhere in the world will be destroyed.
Bond is not convinced he will find anything in the Bahamas, but M has a hunch....
Ernst Stravro Blofeld, chairman of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., and the man he put in charge of the hijack operation who is hiding the bombs in the Bahamas (a shock, right?), Emilio Largo, are soon to learn their perfect plot can be knocked askew by one good-looking Englishman with a lot of moxie and one pissed-off prostitute who had a ne’er-do-well pilot brother! Domino and Bond are going to do their worst against Largo. Will the duo find the bombs? Maybe. Because Felix Leiter has come out of retirement, re-recruited by the CIA, and he joins Team Bond in the search with all of the weight of CIA’s technology behind him - a submarine and a team of scuba divers! Holy Spear Thrust! Water sports are about to make a big splash!
Each book in the Bond series is better than the previous one! Plus, they are just fun to read.
The book, The Battle for Bond: The Genesis of Cinema's Greatest Hero, is about the legal free-for-all. Who knew!
I consider the movie based (?) on the book 'Thunderball' one of the best of the James Bond movies, and I think it's because the plot of the novel is so great! There was litigation over this one, so I am uncertain which was first - screenplay, book, movie - never mind. The movie copies the action in the novel with a few scene differences, but the characters and plot of the movie and book match in spirit if not in details.
EDIT: March 27, 2019 . I was distracted, but back to my review of ‘Thunderball’.
James Bond is called out by M because of his excessive drinking and smoking. Bond didn’t fail his latest physical, but he is definitely on a slide in regards to his fitness. So M suggests a two-week stay at a place called Shrublands for a nature cure, i.e., vegetable diet and exercise - no alcohol or smoking.
Bond very reluctantly signs up. Surprise! The resort regimen works. He returns to London feeling much better. However, there was an interesting murderous incident at the health resort - another patient, Count Lippe, attempted to kill Bond in a spine-stretching machine by turning up the machine’s pressure on the spine. Bond was rescued by an attendant. It was very strange. He had seen a weird tattoo on the wrist of the patient, and he had called it in to the Service’s Records department. Records told him it was a Red Lightning Tong sign. Count Lippe had overheard the phone call, and then made the attempt to kill Bond. Why? Bond lets it go after getting revenge on Lippe by locking him in a steam box and turning up the temperature of the steam.
Unbeknownst to Bond, he has thrown a small wrench into the works of a very important plan by terrible bad guys. Lippe was supposed to be a pilot for a very important hijacking, and now he will need to be replaced due to his burns. The replacement pilot, doomed Giuseppe Petacchi, will be an important link to a woman Bond meets later. Coincidences abound! Of course, gentle reader, the woman, Dominetta Vitali, née Petacchi, will fall in love with Bond. Don’t we all?
Back in London, Bond is assigned to the Bahamas to search for any sign of a hijacked British aircraft carrying two atomic weapons. The organization which captured the bomber also killed the five-man crew and an observer. The criminals call themselves The Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion (S.P.E.C.T.R.E.), who boldly announce themselves in a letter with their demand for a ransom of £100,000,000 in gold, to be delivered in seven days from the receipt of the letter. If the ransom is not paid, an undesignated major city somewhere in the world will be destroyed.
Bond is not convinced he will find anything in the Bahamas, but M has a hunch....
Ernst Stravro Blofeld, chairman of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., and the man he put in charge of the hijack operation who is hiding the bombs in the Bahamas (a shock, right?), Emilio Largo, are soon to learn their perfect plot can be knocked askew by one good-looking Englishman with a lot of moxie and one pissed-off prostitute who had a ne’er-do-well pilot brother! Domino and Bond are going to do their worst against Largo. Will the duo find the bombs? Maybe. Because Felix Leiter has come out of retirement, re-recruited by the CIA, and he joins Team Bond in the search with all of the weight of CIA’s technology behind him - a submarine and a team of scuba divers! Holy Spear Thrust! Water sports are about to make a big splash!
Each book in the Bond series is better than the previous one! Plus, they are just fun to read.
The book, The Battle for Bond: The Genesis of Cinema's Greatest Hero, is about the legal free-for-all. Who knew!
December 22, 2018
Thunderball is the ninth book in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, and the eight novel, after a seriously good collection of short stories. This book now bears the authorship of Fleming on most editions, but it was really the collaboration of several people, and a legal agreement at one time insisted that Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham be given co-author status. It is really the novelization of an unfilmed screenplay which moreover borrows scenes from and ideas from previous novels.
So we have reason to be suspicious this will stink, but I found it pretty readable, with a familiar cartoonish/pulpy plot:
Ernst Blofeld, leader of the terrorist organization SPECTRE (Dr. Evil in Austin Powers), has hijacked an American plane loaded with atomic weapons. Unless his demands are met, he will destroy one of the world's major cities. Given only one week to locate the missing bombs, Bond goes to the Bahamas, encounters Blofeld's right-hand man, Emilio Largo--who, in typical Fleming fashion, has "pectoral muscles the size of dinner plates"--and his mistress--and as you know, soon to become Bond's mistress--Domino.
Things of interest:
*Domino saves Bond, which is unusual.
*The book (in 1961) opens with Bond forced because of his drinking (roughly a half of a fifth a day) and smoking (roughly 60 cigarettes a day) forced to go to a health spa, all of which is eventually abandoned. We have to believe that Bond can do all this indefinitely, always look like a Greek god, and get the girl.
“It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.”
*We learn, in the spa, that the body remembers pleasure but it does not remember pain.
*There were two film adaptations featuring Sean Connery, Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never (1983), produced by original screenplay co-author Kevin McClory.
Even as a kind of pastiche of former Bond plots and characters, it is pretty well-written, focused mostly on action, without the occasional existentialist Bond reflection that makes its way into the earlier books. I listened to the audiobook while I worked out to develop "pectoral muscles the size of dinner plates."
So we have reason to be suspicious this will stink, but I found it pretty readable, with a familiar cartoonish/pulpy plot:
Ernst Blofeld, leader of the terrorist organization SPECTRE (Dr. Evil in Austin Powers), has hijacked an American plane loaded with atomic weapons. Unless his demands are met, he will destroy one of the world's major cities. Given only one week to locate the missing bombs, Bond goes to the Bahamas, encounters Blofeld's right-hand man, Emilio Largo--who, in typical Fleming fashion, has "pectoral muscles the size of dinner plates"--and his mistress--and as you know, soon to become Bond's mistress--Domino.
Things of interest:
*Domino saves Bond, which is unusual.
*The book (in 1961) opens with Bond forced because of his drinking (roughly a half of a fifth a day) and smoking (roughly 60 cigarettes a day) forced to go to a health spa, all of which is eventually abandoned. We have to believe that Bond can do all this indefinitely, always look like a Greek god, and get the girl.
“It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.”
*We learn, in the spa, that the body remembers pleasure but it does not remember pain.
*There were two film adaptations featuring Sean Connery, Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never (1983), produced by original screenplay co-author Kevin McClory.
Even as a kind of pastiche of former Bond plots and characters, it is pretty well-written, focused mostly on action, without the occasional existentialist Bond reflection that makes its way into the earlier books. I listened to the audiobook while I worked out to develop "pectoral muscles the size of dinner plates."
November 5, 2023
The name’s Bond, James Bond. I admit I prefer the big screen version of these stories. I grew up watching the Sean Connery movies with my dad, which by then were on tv as reruns but a huge part of his teenaged years. My husband and I prefer the latest films featuring Daniel Craig but are willing to watch those starring Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore. Prior to streaming services, we would borrow most of the Bond films from the library on a regular basis. Our kids remember watching Bond films when they were little but do not remember most of the details. For the past few weekends, we have been having Bond family movie nigh; however, only the Daniel Craig movies. Yet, I remember noticing Craig’s nemesis Spectre in some of the books, and needed to revisit them. After checking my sources, I decided reading the trilogy that details Spectre would have to be in order.
Ian Fleming created Bond as his own alter ego. When the first movie hit the silver screen, JFK was a huge fan. Most of the early books have scenes in the steamy Bahamas where Fleming wintered, creating a tropical locale for Bond to fight the Cold War and always get his girl. In Thunderball, Fleming introduces Ernst Blofeld and his Spectre organization, Cold War mercenaries, working independently to earn millions in their attempt to take over the modern world. In creating Spectre, Fleming set the stage for the current iteration of Bond and also the Mission Impossible franchise where enemies no longer have a country and work for themselves, rendering them nearly impossible to trace. In the age of complex computer algorithms, Spectre can be a world player. In the early 1960s when an IBM computer was years away and would then take up an entire room, the organization was run under the auspices of the careful, secretive planning of one sinister individual: Blofeld. Fleming’s creation was generations ahead of its time, and I kept reminding myself not to read the story from a 21st century lens. It needn’t matter because regardless of era or actor, James Bond would foil an international plot designed to take over the western world.
In Thunderball, M convinces Bond to go to a health spa to curb his drinking and smoking habit once and for all. That lasts all of three chapters because while at the health spa Bond discovers a mysterious individual with a tattoo on his forearm who, of course, tries to kill him. This man is not a resident at the spa but a spy for Spectre. Bond is on to him, which leads to international involvement to foil the organization’s plot to use nuclear arms to blow up the United States. Naturally, the CIA gets involved as well, meaning the participation of Bond’s old friend Felix Leiter. Where Bond does a pretty good job working solo, I have enjoyed Leiter’s involvement both in books and on screen, a least likely partner for Bond yet is hardly a second fiddle or he would not be a top spy for the CIA. Bond and Leiter converge in Nassau and the actions to retrieve the stolen nuclear bombs behinds, setting up the second half of a fast, paced novel.
Fleming wrote one Bond novel a year at the height of their popularity until his death. Because fans clamored for more and more stories, especially as they made their way to the big screen, the books themselves are on the short side. Fleming could have provided enough information to make these books at least one hundred pages longer, and they would have still been just as intriguing and held my interest. At 260 pages including a nearly fifty page buildup, there is not much room for the action to develop. This includes the steamy romantic scenes, the descriptions of Spectre, and Bond and Leiter delving into the organization’s doings as well as a dramatic ending scene that only played out over the course of two chapters or twenty pages. It was apparent that even in 1961, Fleming knew that it would take more than one book to develop the complexity of the Spectre organization, setting the stage for a trilogy, even after Bond saved the world from nuclear fallout. So popular as a villainous agency, Spectre would then become the key piece of the Craig movies, that I have enjoyed immensely. Even if Fleming had imagined Connery as his man while penning this story, I couldn’t help but evoke Craig foiling Spectre yet again.
James Bond will be back. After Thunderball there are the two other books featuring Spectre. The trip to the health spa did little to change his character as Bond still needs drinking, smoking, and steamy relationships to get the job done. Despite these flaws, he remains the most reliable spy at MI6, and the 1960s version of M appears to tolerate these character flaws more so than the current iteration on big screen. Either way, Bond will return both in printed form and in family movie night. These books remain a favorite, fast paced read for a lazy day where all there is rondo is read and follow up by watching one’s favorite characters in the movies.
3.5 stars
Ian Fleming created Bond as his own alter ego. When the first movie hit the silver screen, JFK was a huge fan. Most of the early books have scenes in the steamy Bahamas where Fleming wintered, creating a tropical locale for Bond to fight the Cold War and always get his girl. In Thunderball, Fleming introduces Ernst Blofeld and his Spectre organization, Cold War mercenaries, working independently to earn millions in their attempt to take over the modern world. In creating Spectre, Fleming set the stage for the current iteration of Bond and also the Mission Impossible franchise where enemies no longer have a country and work for themselves, rendering them nearly impossible to trace. In the age of complex computer algorithms, Spectre can be a world player. In the early 1960s when an IBM computer was years away and would then take up an entire room, the organization was run under the auspices of the careful, secretive planning of one sinister individual: Blofeld. Fleming’s creation was generations ahead of its time, and I kept reminding myself not to read the story from a 21st century lens. It needn’t matter because regardless of era or actor, James Bond would foil an international plot designed to take over the western world.
In Thunderball, M convinces Bond to go to a health spa to curb his drinking and smoking habit once and for all. That lasts all of three chapters because while at the health spa Bond discovers a mysterious individual with a tattoo on his forearm who, of course, tries to kill him. This man is not a resident at the spa but a spy for Spectre. Bond is on to him, which leads to international involvement to foil the organization’s plot to use nuclear arms to blow up the United States. Naturally, the CIA gets involved as well, meaning the participation of Bond’s old friend Felix Leiter. Where Bond does a pretty good job working solo, I have enjoyed Leiter’s involvement both in books and on screen, a least likely partner for Bond yet is hardly a second fiddle or he would not be a top spy for the CIA. Bond and Leiter converge in Nassau and the actions to retrieve the stolen nuclear bombs behinds, setting up the second half of a fast, paced novel.
Fleming wrote one Bond novel a year at the height of their popularity until his death. Because fans clamored for more and more stories, especially as they made their way to the big screen, the books themselves are on the short side. Fleming could have provided enough information to make these books at least one hundred pages longer, and they would have still been just as intriguing and held my interest. At 260 pages including a nearly fifty page buildup, there is not much room for the action to develop. This includes the steamy romantic scenes, the descriptions of Spectre, and Bond and Leiter delving into the organization’s doings as well as a dramatic ending scene that only played out over the course of two chapters or twenty pages. It was apparent that even in 1961, Fleming knew that it would take more than one book to develop the complexity of the Spectre organization, setting the stage for a trilogy, even after Bond saved the world from nuclear fallout. So popular as a villainous agency, Spectre would then become the key piece of the Craig movies, that I have enjoyed immensely. Even if Fleming had imagined Connery as his man while penning this story, I couldn’t help but evoke Craig foiling Spectre yet again.
James Bond will be back. After Thunderball there are the two other books featuring Spectre. The trip to the health spa did little to change his character as Bond still needs drinking, smoking, and steamy relationships to get the job done. Despite these flaws, he remains the most reliable spy at MI6, and the 1960s version of M appears to tolerate these character flaws more so than the current iteration on big screen. Either way, Bond will return both in printed form and in family movie night. These books remain a favorite, fast paced read for a lazy day where all there is rondo is read and follow up by watching one’s favorite characters in the movies.
3.5 stars
September 20, 2016
James is in poor shape it seems, 60 cigarettes a day (think of that today...where'd he even find a place to smoke that often?) do not keep the doctor away, oh and he drinks a lot to. So M sends him away on a little vacation to recuperate...again. And of course as seems to happen each time James goes away to rest, someone tries to kill him.
What a life huh?
I enjoyed these adrenaline soaked reads, they do after all have their charms. This one is no less exciting, smothered in cold war paranoia we get stolen nukes here with the US and UK trying to get them away from SPECTRE (and of course the evil Ernst Stavro Blofeld). Felix Leiter is back with the CIA apparently in spite of his lost leg and arm (from an earlier adventure) and we get an under-sea fight (with some fighters choosing to fight naked so they can identify each other, never heard of colored scuba gear I suppose).
The end has a slight twist here, not so big for the books but it wouldn't happen like this in the move versions.
Book 1 of the Blofeld trilogy.
What a life huh?
I enjoyed these adrenaline soaked reads, they do after all have their charms. This one is no less exciting, smothered in cold war paranoia we get stolen nukes here with the US and UK trying to get them away from SPECTRE (and of course the evil Ernst Stavro Blofeld). Felix Leiter is back with the CIA apparently in spite of his lost leg and arm (from an earlier adventure) and we get an under-sea fight (with some fighters choosing to fight naked so they can identify each other, never heard of colored scuba gear I suppose).
The end has a slight twist here, not so big for the books but it wouldn't happen like this in the move versions.
Book 1 of the Blofeld trilogy.
August 29, 2017
Thundball - the Bond book so good it was made into two movies, both of which starred Sean Connery. Obviously the 1965 film of the same title and 1983's Never Say Never Again. How that happened is a fascinating story involving copyright.
Standard disclaimer: this book contains sexism, racism, colonialism and adult language.
Onto the story; Bond has been Bonding it up so M decides to send him to a health farm called Scrublands; whilst there he encounters a strange man named Count Lippi who is a tong member. This seemingly useless knowledge nearly gets Bond killed. When he returns to London and improved health he is called into the office only to learn that a sinister organization has stolen two (2) atomic bombs and are demanding a ransom.
After another failed attempt upon his life Bond is off to the Bahamas to search for the bombs. He is joined in this task by American CIA agent Felix Leiter. This book has convincing action, fascinating diving sequences (so much better than golf), a damsel in distress and a nuclear submarine. What it doesn't have is Bond's magic pocket sized rebreather (thanks Hollywood) or the horrific eye transplant; so that's all good too. This Bond is more human and less superhero.
Standard disclaimer: this book contains sexism, racism, colonialism and adult language.
Onto the story; Bond has been Bonding it up so M decides to send him to a health farm called Scrublands; whilst there he encounters a strange man named Count Lippi who is a tong member. This seemingly useless knowledge nearly gets Bond killed. When he returns to London and improved health he is called into the office only to learn that a sinister organization has stolen two (2) atomic bombs and are demanding a ransom.
After another failed attempt upon his life Bond is off to the Bahamas to search for the bombs. He is joined in this task by American CIA agent Felix Leiter. This book has convincing action, fascinating diving sequences (so much better than golf), a damsel in distress and a nuclear submarine. What it doesn't have is Bond's magic pocket sized rebreather (thanks Hollywood) or the horrific eye transplant; so that's all good too. This Bond is more human and less superhero.
January 2, 2023
Among the good ones from the series. Some facts about (food, cars, cigars)from more than fifty years ago are still available. The story lacks the usual exaggerations but the final is rather poor, as you have a powerful nuclear submarine and you fight with some knives and brooms. Domino is too strong, but perhaps that's the way with bond girls...
Interesting that script problems betweenn Fleming and his former associates made possible two Bond movies from the same novel, Thunderball in 1965 and Never Say Never Again in 1983. Both of them starred Sean Connery as Bond.
Interesting that script problems betweenn Fleming and his former associates made possible two Bond movies from the same novel, Thunderball in 1965 and Never Say Never Again in 1983. Both of them starred Sean Connery as Bond.
May 26, 2013
Thunderball trailer.
Book #9, movie #4, we're moving right along. High hopes for this one because, according to my sources, the movie was the most successful of the Bond franchise at that point. People aren't stupid, right?
O.mi.garsh. It was really boring, guys. Really boring. The preview shows all the exciting parts from the movie, including my favorite in which Bond smacks someone with a phone and then wraps it around his neck. Yeah, you tell 'im, Bond! Kick his ass!
Um.
The book is surprisingly just as boring. If I'm going to read a Bond book, I expect Bond to be in it, but there's this whole sequence that doesn't involve him and it's technical (not in a good way) and quite the snooze-fest.
But then this leads me to question myself: Why do I care if Bond is in a sequence or not? He's a dick. I've learned from this book that women are horrible drivers. It's not just a fleeting comment - there's an entire paragraph - no, two paragraphs about the horrible driving of women:
Seriously. I couldn't make that up if I tried. And then! In the next paragraph, sigh:
Some actual stuff happens in this book, but who can even tell after shit like that? Domino is probably an interesting Bond girl otherwise, but Fleming has such disdain for all his women characters that it's hard to enjoy any of the time she has on the page (or on the screen). Bond is the sort of character who will toss a woman into bed first and then tell the woman bad news afterwards (). Call me a crazy feminist, but I prefer not to be used for carnal pleasure if there's a serious matter that needs addressed. I know, I know, I'm practically a Communist for suggesting there's anything wrong with it.
It's just really, really bad. I had a hard time being entertained by either the book or the movie. I even like underwater scenes! But there's something about these early Bond movies that make the fight scenes particularly snooze-y.
Best part of the movie and book is in the beginning at the health clinic. I'm happy to say that in the book anyway (I can't remember the movie well enough to comment on this part), M is well ahead of his times, telling Bond about the dangers of medications and processed foods:
Before there was Mark Bittman, there was M.
Next up: You Only Live Twice.
Book #9, movie #4, we're moving right along. High hopes for this one because, according to my sources, the movie was the most successful of the Bond franchise at that point. People aren't stupid, right?
O.mi.garsh. It was really boring, guys. Really boring. The preview shows all the exciting parts from the movie, including my favorite in which Bond smacks someone with a phone and then wraps it around his neck. Yeah, you tell 'im, Bond! Kick his ass!
Um.
The book is surprisingly just as boring. If I'm going to read a Bond book, I expect Bond to be in it, but there's this whole sequence that doesn't involve him and it's technical (not in a good way) and quite the snooze-fest.
But then this leads me to question myself: Why do I care if Bond is in a sequence or not? He's a dick. I've learned from this book that women are horrible drivers. It's not just a fleeting comment - there's an entire paragraph - no, two paragraphs about the horrible driving of women:
Women are often meticulous and safe drivers, but they are very seldom first-class. In general Bond regarded them as a mild hazard and he always gave them plenty of road and was ready for the unpredictable. Four women in a car he regarded as the highest danger potential, and two women as nearly as lethal. Women together cannot keep silent in a car, and when women talk they have to look into each other's faces. An exchange of words is not enough. They have to see the other person's expression, perhaps in order to read behind the other's words or to analyze the reaction to their own. So two women in the front seat of a car constantly distract each other's attention from the road ahead and four women are more than doubly dangerous, for the driver has to hear, and see, not only what her companion is saying but also, for women are like that, what the two behind are talking about.
But this girl drove like a man. She was entirely focused on the road ahead and on what was going on in her driving mirror, an accessory rarely used by women except for making up their faces. And, equally rare in a woman, she took a man's pleasure in the feel of her machine, in the timing of her gear changes, and the use of her brakes.
Seriously. I couldn't make that up if I tried. And then! In the next paragraph, sigh:
She had a gay, to-hell-with-you face that, Bond thought, would become animal in passion. In bed she would fight and bite and then suddenly melt into hot surrender. He could almost see the proud, sensual mouth bare away from the even white teeth in a snarl of desire and then, afterward, soften into a half-pout of loving slavery.
Some actual stuff happens in this book, but who can even tell after shit like that? Domino is probably an interesting Bond girl otherwise, but Fleming has such disdain for all his women characters that it's hard to enjoy any of the time she has on the page (or on the screen). Bond is the sort of character who will toss a woman into bed first and then tell the woman bad news afterwards (). Call me a crazy feminist, but I prefer not to be used for carnal pleasure if there's a serious matter that needs addressed. I know, I know, I'm practically a Communist for suggesting there's anything wrong with it.
It's just really, really bad. I had a hard time being entertained by either the book or the movie. I even like underwater scenes! But there's something about these early Bond movies that make the fight scenes particularly snooze-y.
Best part of the movie and book is in the beginning at the health clinic. I'm happy to say that in the book anyway (I can't remember the movie well enough to comment on this part), M is well ahead of his times, telling Bond about the dangers of medications and processed foods:
"All drugs are harmful to the system. They are contrary to nature. The same applies to most of the food we eat - white bread with all the roughage removed, refined sugar with all the goodness machined out of it, pasteurized milk which has had most of the vitamins boiled away, everything overcooked and denaturized. Why... do you know what our bread contains apart from a bit of overground flour?... It contains large quantities of chalk, also benzol peroxide powder, chlorine gas, sal ammoniac, and alum."
Before there was Mark Bittman, there was M.
Next up: You Only Live Twice.
May 30, 2022
Thunderball is the ninth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, and the eighth full length James Bond novel. The first novelization of an unfilmed James Bond screenplay, it was born from a collaboration by five people: Ian Fleming, Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ivar Bryce and Ernest Cuneo, although the controversial shared credit of Fleming, McClory and Whittingham was the result of a courtroom decision. Hence the movies Thunderball & Never say never Again both with Sean Connery which basicly cover both the story as written down in THUNDERBALL.
TB begins with M sending Bond to a health spa mostly because of the physical state he considers Bond to be in. While being there Bond has a run in with some character who will put him later on the trail of an orgaisation that has managed to steal two nuclear weapons from the NATO and will hold them hostage to pay a large ransom or one of the bombs will be detonated.
The Americans and the British launch Operation Thunderball to foil SPECTRE and recover the two atomic bombs. On a hunch, M assigns Bond to the Bahamas to investigate. There, Bond meets Felix Leiter, seconded to the CIA from his usual role at Pinkertons because of the Thunderball crisis. While in Nassau, Bond meets Dominetta "Domino" Vitali, Largo's mistress and the sister of the dead pilot Giuseppe Petacchi of the plane that transported the bombs.
TB is in essence the 1st book in the Blofeld stories which ends with You only live twice in Japan. It is an exciting adventure and once more Flemings knowledge and observations of local coleur is brilliantly written as does Bond & Leiters friendship and conversations. As a story it is well plotted and more excitingly written as the movie could do it credit, especially the underwaterfight at the end.
Well advised to read OHMSS & YOLT after this book and finsih it with the book published after Flemings death The man with the golden gun.
TB begins with M sending Bond to a health spa mostly because of the physical state he considers Bond to be in. While being there Bond has a run in with some character who will put him later on the trail of an orgaisation that has managed to steal two nuclear weapons from the NATO and will hold them hostage to pay a large ransom or one of the bombs will be detonated.
The Americans and the British launch Operation Thunderball to foil SPECTRE and recover the two atomic bombs. On a hunch, M assigns Bond to the Bahamas to investigate. There, Bond meets Felix Leiter, seconded to the CIA from his usual role at Pinkertons because of the Thunderball crisis. While in Nassau, Bond meets Dominetta "Domino" Vitali, Largo's mistress and the sister of the dead pilot Giuseppe Petacchi of the plane that transported the bombs.
TB is in essence the 1st book in the Blofeld stories which ends with You only live twice in Japan. It is an exciting adventure and once more Flemings knowledge and observations of local coleur is brilliantly written as does Bond & Leiters friendship and conversations. As a story it is well plotted and more excitingly written as the movie could do it credit, especially the underwaterfight at the end.
Well advised to read OHMSS & YOLT after this book and finsih it with the book published after Flemings death The man with the golden gun.
February 22, 2024
This felt the most Austin Powers-esque of the lot so far. I could almost hear Mike Myers shouting, "Who does #2 work for!"
May 9, 2023
Ian Fleming might have intended his hero James Bond to be a blunt instrument of the Empire but "Thunderball" might be the first novel after "Moonraker" in which Bond comes across as a vulnerable, tender man capable of much more romantic chivalry than one would expect him to be. The novel begins with him waking up with a terrible hangover and then follows as M orders him to pack his bags for a dose of detoxification at Shrublands Clinic. Weak tea, nut cutlets and dandelion wine are, however, only mere trifles for the tough-willed Bond who realizes, after a harrowing experience in a traction table, that there is still danger lurking even in these clean and anti-septic corridors.
But what begins as an intriguing countryside thriller, in the vein of the earlier novel, soon recovers its original identity as a classic Ian Fleming thriller with some truly extraordinary stakes this time around. Two atomic missiles have been whisked away, a sinister organization by the name of SPECTRE has demanded a ransom from United Kingdom and the United States and there are only a few days left before the deadline expires, bringing wide-scale destruction to the West. Acting on M's hunch that the bombs might be hidden somewhere in the Bahamas, Bond is accordingly assigned his new mission.
It is only at this juncture that the actual plot of the novel kicks in though even before that, Fleming treats us to a few scenes of foiled assassinations and even a fairly unsettling introduction to SPECTRE and the arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, concocting the diabolical conspiracy from his safe lair in Paris. Back in the Bahamas, meanwhile, Bond and his CIA ally Felix Leiter find themselves in the middle of a straightforward but absorbing procedural investigation, meeting the rich and pompous treasure-hunter Emilio Largo and his younger paramour, the sun-kissed and sensual Italian beauty Dominetta Vitali. Bond then discovers, after a particularly nasty underwater patrol, that things are not what they seem.
Fleming shrewdly breezes through these segments of the novel, keeping just enough room for the last fifty pages as more evidence is unearthed and there is now a desperate hunt for the missiles as the clocks wind to the deadline underfoot. Even the classic card game is played out quickly and briskly and Fleming finally uncorks a superbly staged action scene in the last twenty-five pages as a formidable submarine steams to the pursuit and Bond dives underwater for a truly nerve-wracking battle to save the day.
Fleming keeps the pace rattling fast for most of the time, soft-pedalling only when Bond and Vitali talk or come together in romantic intimacy in an elegantly written chapter with a cheeky but good natured title - "How To Eat A Girl". Vitali seems a bimbette but only on the surface; as evidenced by the twist in the ending, she proves to be tough spirited and one of the finest women that Fleming wrote. The underwater battle in the end is a compulsively thrilling experience that needs to be read to be enjoyed in its pure exhilaration. All the underwater action scenes are orchestrated beautifully and Fleming's skill for action and peril is almost as comparable to that of early spy writers such as Sapper and Buchan.
The James Bond novels, especially by Fleming, are often, rather unfairly criticized for their occasionally antiquated views and attitudes. But I wonder if people should be even noticing these signs of a specific cultural mindset in the midst of all the fine suspense, camaraderie and even sensual romance that the writer was able to serve with style and sophisticated wit. One cannot fault "Thunderball" for being a book written in the late 1950s, just as one cannot fault it for lack of conventional, but never cheap, entertainment for the readers. It also ends with a sweetly romantic denouement that you never quite expected. Ignore the sour martini of all the hatred and enjoy this novel to be shaken and stirred in equal measure.
But what begins as an intriguing countryside thriller, in the vein of the earlier novel, soon recovers its original identity as a classic Ian Fleming thriller with some truly extraordinary stakes this time around. Two atomic missiles have been whisked away, a sinister organization by the name of SPECTRE has demanded a ransom from United Kingdom and the United States and there are only a few days left before the deadline expires, bringing wide-scale destruction to the West. Acting on M's hunch that the bombs might be hidden somewhere in the Bahamas, Bond is accordingly assigned his new mission.
It is only at this juncture that the actual plot of the novel kicks in though even before that, Fleming treats us to a few scenes of foiled assassinations and even a fairly unsettling introduction to SPECTRE and the arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, concocting the diabolical conspiracy from his safe lair in Paris. Back in the Bahamas, meanwhile, Bond and his CIA ally Felix Leiter find themselves in the middle of a straightforward but absorbing procedural investigation, meeting the rich and pompous treasure-hunter Emilio Largo and his younger paramour, the sun-kissed and sensual Italian beauty Dominetta Vitali. Bond then discovers, after a particularly nasty underwater patrol, that things are not what they seem.
Fleming shrewdly breezes through these segments of the novel, keeping just enough room for the last fifty pages as more evidence is unearthed and there is now a desperate hunt for the missiles as the clocks wind to the deadline underfoot. Even the classic card game is played out quickly and briskly and Fleming finally uncorks a superbly staged action scene in the last twenty-five pages as a formidable submarine steams to the pursuit and Bond dives underwater for a truly nerve-wracking battle to save the day.
Fleming keeps the pace rattling fast for most of the time, soft-pedalling only when Bond and Vitali talk or come together in romantic intimacy in an elegantly written chapter with a cheeky but good natured title - "How To Eat A Girl". Vitali seems a bimbette but only on the surface; as evidenced by the twist in the ending, she proves to be tough spirited and one of the finest women that Fleming wrote. The underwater battle in the end is a compulsively thrilling experience that needs to be read to be enjoyed in its pure exhilaration. All the underwater action scenes are orchestrated beautifully and Fleming's skill for action and peril is almost as comparable to that of early spy writers such as Sapper and Buchan.
The James Bond novels, especially by Fleming, are often, rather unfairly criticized for their occasionally antiquated views and attitudes. But I wonder if people should be even noticing these signs of a specific cultural mindset in the midst of all the fine suspense, camaraderie and even sensual romance that the writer was able to serve with style and sophisticated wit. One cannot fault "Thunderball" for being a book written in the late 1950s, just as one cannot fault it for lack of conventional, but never cheap, entertainment for the readers. It also ends with a sweetly romantic denouement that you never quite expected. Ignore the sour martini of all the hatred and enjoy this novel to be shaken and stirred in equal measure.
January 5, 2015
THUNDERBALL (The Adventures of James Bond) - IAN FLEMING - Published by the FIRST EDITION LIBRARY HARDCOVER (FEL) 1990 - REPLICA OF 1961 ISSUE. Printed in Great Britain. FEL with Slipcase Measures 9.13" X 6.57 x 1.11". FEL Books are - EXACT, as in, same size, same type, same binding and same dust jacket as the original. Exact replicas of the First Editions right down to the first critic's comments printed on jacket flap. Printed on acid-neutral paper, cloth covers and sewn bindings.
June 22, 2020
An excellent installment in the James Bond series. The villains and their plot had me gripped from the start. I always love Fleming’s accounts of Bond under water. The way it is written makes me feel like I’m there, swimming through the reefs. I completely loose myself. I also loved the relationship between Bond and Domino. Some of the ‘Bond girls’ seem a bit flimsy, like a sideline to the real action. But Domino has a fierce independence that I loved.
June 11, 2025
This was probably the least entertaining of the Bond Novels so far.
Operation Thunderball is a lot of bluff and buster to take off finally.
Miss Moneypenny was lackluster at best.
Overall, it ended better than it had started, but the journey to get there was slow going.
2.5-3 Stars
Operation Thunderball is a lot of bluff and buster to take off finally.
Miss Moneypenny was lackluster at best.
Overall, it ended better than it had started, but the journey to get there was slow going.
2.5-3 Stars
January 10, 2019
Not being a huge Bond fan I wasn’t sure I’d like this book but I enjoyed it more than I expected I would.
February 14, 2017
James Bond seems to be a series that follows a pretty darn easy format, there's a plot that endangers either the whole world, or at least a part of it. That plot is being put into motion by a villain that fills the part of an evil mastermind, and then there's always a girl. Under normal circumstances that simple layout can often make a book series drab or less exciting because the readers feels as though they are reading the same book that they've read several times before. But Ian Fleming is skilled enough at his craft that he breaks the mold and is able to make every book feel new, fresh, and exciting; rather than the same recycled formula from so many editions before.
I think that what separates Mr. Fleming from other espionage novelists is simply his experience, for those of you who do not know Mr. Fleming himself had some experiences in the military during post WWII London. I think that it's this reason that makes him seem so seamless as he describes the in depth operations of what Bond is doing on his missions, and I also think it's this reason why no other predecessor to Mr. Fleming has come near being able to write as good of a Bond novel.
For those of you who do not know, the plot of Thunderball revolves around a terrorist group called Spectre. This group has just come into the possession of two nuclear warheads and is threatening to use them on two major cities if they are not paid a very large sum of money in gold bullion. M then sends Bond to a location where he feels the leader of this plot may be set up and the plot takes off there, there's a plot, there's a villain, and there's a girl; all the makings of a great Bond adventure.
I certainly love Bond and love the way that Mr. Fleming writes the character but in my reading so far none of the novels have come close to Casino Royale. Royale just had something to it that none of the others have seemed to capture in my eyes, but I do hope that I find one of the originals that does come close or even surpasses the book for while it is my favorite, I wouldn't mind company in the category.
I think that my biggest issue with the novel was simply the pacing, now I do understand that Bond cant just shoot up every single area that he thinks may be evil but there was a distinct lack of action in this particular novel. I did love the investigation and the ways in which Bond and Leiter attempted to figure out if they had the right man, but nothing really happens until the last twenty or thirty pages in the book and that was what left wanting more when I was finished. The novel wasn't boring at any point, the entire thing was enjoyable and fun to read as always but this final battle had been hyped for over a hundred pages and when it finally happens it fails to fill just over ten pages; I was just disappointed.
The original Bond novels are wonderful and I love to read them but this is one that I didn't so much enjoy as some of the others I have read. It was a good time seeing more of an investigative side of Bond but I was ultimately let down when I finally approached the climax of the story. If your a fan of 007 then check it out, but for casual readers of the series this one is skippable.
I think that what separates Mr. Fleming from other espionage novelists is simply his experience, for those of you who do not know Mr. Fleming himself had some experiences in the military during post WWII London. I think that it's this reason that makes him seem so seamless as he describes the in depth operations of what Bond is doing on his missions, and I also think it's this reason why no other predecessor to Mr. Fleming has come near being able to write as good of a Bond novel.
For those of you who do not know, the plot of Thunderball revolves around a terrorist group called Spectre. This group has just come into the possession of two nuclear warheads and is threatening to use them on two major cities if they are not paid a very large sum of money in gold bullion. M then sends Bond to a location where he feels the leader of this plot may be set up and the plot takes off there, there's a plot, there's a villain, and there's a girl; all the makings of a great Bond adventure.
I certainly love Bond and love the way that Mr. Fleming writes the character but in my reading so far none of the novels have come close to Casino Royale. Royale just had something to it that none of the others have seemed to capture in my eyes, but I do hope that I find one of the originals that does come close or even surpasses the book for while it is my favorite, I wouldn't mind company in the category.
I think that my biggest issue with the novel was simply the pacing, now I do understand that Bond cant just shoot up every single area that he thinks may be evil but there was a distinct lack of action in this particular novel. I did love the investigation and the ways in which Bond and Leiter attempted to figure out if they had the right man, but nothing really happens until the last twenty or thirty pages in the book and that was what left wanting more when I was finished. The novel wasn't boring at any point, the entire thing was enjoyable and fun to read as always but this final battle had been hyped for over a hundred pages and when it finally happens it fails to fill just over ten pages; I was just disappointed.
The original Bond novels are wonderful and I love to read them but this is one that I didn't so much enjoy as some of the others I have read. It was a good time seeing more of an investigative side of Bond but I was ultimately let down when I finally approached the climax of the story. If your a fan of 007 then check it out, but for casual readers of the series this one is skippable.
August 25, 2020
"Επιχείρησ�� Κεραυνός", εκδόσεις Λυχνάρι.
Τελευταία φορά που διάβασα ιστορία του Τζέιμς Μποντ δια χειρός του δημιουργού του, του Ίαν Φλέμινγκ, ήταν τον Ιούλιο του 2014, δηλαδή πριν από έξι και πλέον χρόνια! Και, εντάξει, στο μεταξύ μπορεί πέρυσι να διάβασα το εξαιρετικό "Ο θάνατο του 007" του Άντονι Χόροβιτς και τα τελευταία χρόνια να έχω δει καμιά δεκαριά ταινίες με τους Σον Κόνερι, Ρότζερ Μουρ, Τίμοθι Ντάλτον, Πιρς Μπρόσναν κλπ, όμως δεν είναι το ίδιο, έτσι δεν είναι; Τέλος πάντων, πέρασα πολύ ωραία διαβάζοντας τούτο το βιβλίο, κάτι που εννοείται πως το περίμενα. Ήταν μια ακόμα διασκεδαστική και άκρως ψυχαγωγική περιπέτεια με όλα αυτά τα καλούδια που συνήθως περιέχουν οι ιστορίες με ήρωα τον Τζέιμς Μποντ: Δυνατές και κάποιες τρελές σκηνές δράσης, εξωτικά σκηνικά, γραφικοί κακοί στα όρια της καρικατούρας, κάποιες όμορφες παρουσίες του άλλου φύλου, και φυσικά φοβερή ατμόσφαιρα. Μπορεί να είναι ένα κλικ πιο κάτω από το "Από Ρωσία με αγάπη" ή από το "Ο Χρυσοδάκτυλος", όμως γενικά είναι στο ίδιο καλό επίπεδο με τα προηγούμενα βιβλία. Αν μη τι άλλο οι λάτρεις των περιπετειών του Τζέιμς Μποντ και γενικά οι λάτρεις των κατασκοπευτικών θρίλερ θα περάσουν τέλεια. Και το καλό είναι ότι μπορώ να δω επιτέλους την ομότιτλη ταινία του 1965, με τον αγαπημένο μου Σον Κόνερι.
Τελευταία φορά που διάβασα ιστορία του Τζέιμς Μποντ δια χειρός του δημιουργού του, του Ίαν Φλέμινγκ, ήταν τον Ιούλιο του 2014, δηλαδή πριν από έξι και πλέον χρόνια! Και, εντάξει, στο μεταξύ μπορεί πέρυσι να διάβασα το εξαιρετικό "Ο θάνατο του 007" του Άντονι Χόροβιτς και τα τελευταία χρόνια να έχω δει καμιά δεκαριά ταινίες με τους Σον Κόνερι, Ρότζερ Μουρ, Τίμοθι Ντάλτον, Πιρς Μπρόσναν κλπ, όμως δεν είναι το ίδιο, έτσι δεν είναι; Τέλος πάντων, πέρασα πολύ ωραία διαβάζοντας τούτο το βιβλίο, κάτι που εννοείται πως το περίμενα. Ήταν μια ακόμα διασκεδαστική και άκρως ψυχαγωγική περιπέτεια με όλα αυτά τα καλούδια που συνήθως περιέχουν οι ιστορίες με ήρωα τον Τζέιμς Μποντ: Δυνατές και κάποιες τρελές σκηνές δράσης, εξωτικά σκηνικά, γραφικοί κακοί στα όρια της καρικατούρας, κάποιες όμορφες παρουσίες του άλλου φύλου, και φυσικά φοβερή ατμόσφαιρα. Μπορεί να είναι ένα κλικ πιο κάτω από το "Από Ρωσία με αγάπη" ή από το "Ο Χρυσοδάκτυλος", όμως γενικά είναι στο ίδιο καλό επίπεδο με τα προηγούμενα βιβλία. Αν μη τι άλλο οι λάτρεις των περιπετειών του Τζέιμς Μποντ και γενικά οι λάτρεις των κατασκοπευτικών θρίλερ θα περάσουν τέλεια. Και το καλό είναι ότι μπορώ να δω επιτέλους την ομότιτλη ταινία του 1965, με τον αγαπημένο μου Σον Κόνερι.
September 25, 2020
This was another really good James Bond, showing more of his human side in this one then I think I've ever seen. I also really like Domino, she's competing for my favorite Bond Girl! This is along of the lines of Moonraker, in how rocket and nuclear technology could easily go wrong. An intriguing story and plenty of action!
January 10, 2022
Damn, that was tough. I'm a big Bond fan, but this book just didn't do it for me. It was slow, with mild and unimpressive action. Yes, it does have Blofeld, but that's about it. Some parts were so boring I found myself skimming.
June 21, 2019
As Bond novels go this is a pretty good one in terms of plotting. Yes, the racism, sexism, and fear mongering all go with the territory, sadly, and I officially disapprove--yet I'm still reading these damned novels, one by one. I suppose I need to ask myself why. I guess it's the films, which entranced me for their cleverness and Bond's grace when I was a kid. Despite all of the testosterone-fueled gook herein, Bond is still a thousand times less brutish than any American hero I can think of. (Leaving aside that other brand of American macho, the hysterical whiny, terrified cur that snaps at your heals when your back is turned--you know, the Trump, Bill O'Reilly, Charles Manson type.)
Funny here for literary aficionados is the post-coital scene (Why does Bond always get laid between chapters?) in which the diction suddenly becomes self-consciously Hemingwayesque. Seriously, you can't miss it and it can't be accidental. Not sure what Fleming was up to there--unless he'd just recently read Across the River and into the Trees and felt the need to blurt out a quick homage.
I'm off to read some sane and intelligent female authors for a while after this--so, you see, some good can come of evil.
Funny here for literary aficionados is the post-coital scene (Why does Bond always get laid between chapters?) in which the diction suddenly becomes self-consciously Hemingwayesque. Seriously, you can't miss it and it can't be accidental. Not sure what Fleming was up to there--unless he'd just recently read Across the River and into the Trees and felt the need to blurt out a quick homage.
I'm off to read some sane and intelligent female authors for a while after this--so, you see, some good can come of evil.
September 8, 2015
The Bond originally conceived by the movies was very much a creature of the 1960s (despite his comments about having to listen to The Beatles without earmuffs), the Bond of the books however is a man of the 1950s through and through. In 1961’s ‘Thunderball’, the Second World War veteran Commander James Bond is briefly forced face to face with the younger generation and sneers at their cheap self-assertiveness, duck-tail haircuts and desire to be Tommy Steele. It seems that something I can look forward to in these later Bond books is the character becoming middle aged and reactionary.
Despite a plot which would still work in a contemporary setting (terrorist group steals nuclear weapons) this is a very mechanical novel. Everything works in the right place, but there isn’t a lot of passion to it. That extends to the dialogue as well, which is either crammed full with exposition or has lots of tedious descriptions about the workings of cars, boats, weaponry and the making of a good martini.
Famously ‘Thunderball’ was based on a screen treatment (which caused Fleming, and the makers of the Bond films, lots of legal problems later on) and this book does feel like a novelisation of a film which hadn’t yet been made.
Despite a plot which would still work in a contemporary setting (terrorist group steals nuclear weapons) this is a very mechanical novel. Everything works in the right place, but there isn’t a lot of passion to it. That extends to the dialogue as well, which is either crammed full with exposition or has lots of tedious descriptions about the workings of cars, boats, weaponry and the making of a good martini.
Famously ‘Thunderball’ was based on a screen treatment (which caused Fleming, and the makers of the Bond films, lots of legal problems later on) and this book does feel like a novelisation of a film which hadn’t yet been made.
November 3, 2014
I rewatched the Sean Connery film after finishing this and OMG, the book is soooo much better!! As I have mentioned in my reviews of some of the previous Bond books, the character in Fleming's original books is much more 3-dimensional and to my mind at least, more interesting.
The plot of the movie has only parts of the plot from the book & makes much less sense.
The plot of the movie has only parts of the plot from the book & makes much less sense.
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