Thunderball (1961)

This was my first James Bond novel and while it was entertaining, it wasn't captivating - and the story just sort of ended. James, reflecting the time period in which this was written, is kind of obnoxious about women, and isn't nearly the debonair character that I have known in movies. Still, not a bad read. ( )

James Bond, 007, spy in Her Majesty's Secret Service, is sent into the Bahamas to vet M.'s hunch that the island area is the site where a military aircraft and it's cargo of two nuclear missiles has disappeared to. Thunderball introduces listenership to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), the successor organization to SMERSH in the Bond canon; to Blofeld, the mastermind behind the criminal organization and, to Bond Girl, Dominette "Domino" Vitali.

Ian Fleming wrote contemporary novels which reflected the values and fears of Post-War men and women. After two atomic weapons had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Atomic Age was ushered in with all it's possibilities and terrors. The promise of atomic energy was that it would be the driving force behind the manifest industrialism of the Western world; but security concerns and the threat of Communism were equally prevalent. While many view Bond's adventures as fantastic, Thunderball is less so in creating a scenario that even today is not impossible: a NATO plane is high jacked and a terrorist organization seeks to blackmail the Western world with the threat of detonating the bombs unless its demands are met.

Thunderball is the ninth title in the James Bond series and if you've read the preceding eight titles, there are certain things you may find familiar and welcome: the casino card games, the setting in the Caribbean Community, the underwater tableaux and, of course a Bond Girl. What's great about Bond novels though, is that despite these recognizable features, you still don't know what to expect! Instead of being formulaic in his plotting, Fleming uses the familiar as metaphorical touchstones in unfamiliar territory.

Inasmuch as Fleming write of his times, listeners may rise an eyebrow at certain expressions that have fallen out of favor or meant something completely different in 1961 than they do now. To wit, there are frequent references to "nigger heads" which is a term that was used to describe certain kinds of coral and; there is a chapter called "How to Eat a Woman" which is not the sexually explicit reference in the context provided!

Simon Vance is the British narrator for Thunderball and voices the multi-national raft of characters with astuteness, making discernment of the characters easy. If some accents are more challenging for Vance, such as American or the Island Patois, after eight Bond novels he has definitely settled into a comfort zone that accommodates and ameliorates those challenges. It's also worth noting that Fleming didn't throw a figurative curve ball in characters in Thunderball either: no white Anglo colonial daughter raised by a Jamaican nanny (cf. Doctor No)!

Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, Thunderball; 04/19/2012 ( )

my edition Pan X201, 1964

Short review: not that well written, silly. This will most likely be my last Bond novel. ( )

I ordered four of the original James Bond thrillers to have a matched set replacing old worn out paperbacks. The books are much more exciting and believable than the gadget filled overglossy charactered movies. The story lines are more subtle. Those that prefer the movies cannot be true readers. ( )