Fred’s Reviews > Thunderball > Status Update

M’s the hero of this one! Bond thinks the ‘old man’ is following the wrong hunch when M sends him to Nassau, but it’s there that he runs into Largo.

I’m so glad Fleming didn’t include that bandaged-face crap from the film.

And Blofeld kills No 12 (the disobedient SPECTRE agent) because he slept with one of the women they were dealing with and needed to return home safely. Interesting deviation from what the films later did.

And I love that there’s only a very short SPECTRE episode before we get back to Bond! In the film, their theft of the plane goes on way too long.

Blofeld is given very vague physical description. We just know he carries a natural, innate authority and inner confidence that makes others treat him like their Supreme Commander (or ‘God’). We learn that he started his career as a freelance war spy, but waited to find out who the winning side was. No values - just motivated by money.
This also explores then-concerns about atomic bombs, like today with AI!

Proof that the misogyny for which James Bond is famous partly arose from the FILMS, not the books. The scene in the Thunderball adaptation where Bond forces Patricia Fearing to sleep with him in return for not blabbing about the machine malfunction? Not in the book at all! Apart from one ill-advised kiss which she slaps away, he treats her like a gent.