Thunderball (James Bond, #9)

Thunderball (James Bond (Original Series) #9)

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73  ·  rating details  ·  4,459 ratings  ·  177 reviews
"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 Ba...more
Paperback, 258 pages
Published May 27th 2003 by Penguin Books (first published March 27th 1961)
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Casino Royale by Ian FlemingFrom Russia with Love by Ian FlemingGoldfinger by Ian FlemingLive and Let Die by Ian FlemingThunderball by Ian Fleming
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5th out of 44 books — 29 voters
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
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Jason Reeser
I'm a bit mystified by the Fleming legend. First of all, I find his writing lacking. I can fill most of it in with my knowledge of the Bond movies, so I see it all very well, but his style is not so much minimalist as dull. There are very brief flashes of good action--stress on the brief--but these do not keep my interest. Also, the Fleming's Bond, as opposed to Broccoli's Bond, is more bumbling, unsure of himself, and most certainly a whiner. There is little about him that makes me very interes...more
Matthew
I read all the Ian Fleming James Bond novels in middle school and high school, and this year decided to revisit a few. THUNDERBALL is my favorite of the four I've re-read so far, and I should note that I didn't expect this to be the case at the outset: Not more than five pages in, M., the head of MI6, launches into an extremely weird rant on wheat germ and the inferiority of processed foods -- an odd start indeed for a spy thriller. I guess if 007 is supposed to save Miami from nuclear annihilat...more
Bjoern
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Fred Torphy
Thunderball is one of the better Bond stories, and if you're going to pick out one of Ian Flemming's spy novels from the Bond series to read, this one may be the most fun. It has all the classic elements that define the spy genre: a stolen nuke; exotic locations; the gadgets; and excellent villains. But even as someone who was raised on James Bond films (I have my father to thank for that), it's impossible to ignore the blatant chauvinism in Flemming's writing. All of the Bond books feel severel...more
Arjun Mishra
I was cringing the entire time that Bond was unbonding and becoming the least recognizable figure of Bond that there could be. It was like the vegan extremists and food austerity impositions squad had performed an inception in Ian Fleming's mind and made him create the weakest, most ineffective, dullest, lolligag of a Bond there could be with the added benefit that he would be annoying, preening, and incorrect all of the time. The first fifty pages were incredibly brutal in this regard, except f...more
Jerome
It started off with an interesting premise with Bond being sent away to become healthier. This fascinated me because a lot of authors will never address some of the realistic flaws of their hero. After the interesting and amusing incidents in the beginning though, the novel descends into dry and boring scenes and dialog. It is by no means bad, but I expect a bit more out of Fleming who's elegant writing style always impresses me. The book picks up near the end in a climax which is almost worth t...more
Sandy
First published in March 1961, Ian Fleming's ninth James Bond book out of an eventual 14, "Thunderball," is one of the best of the bunch. Of all the books in the Bond canon, it is the one with the most complicated legal history regarding its authorship, film rights and royalties. Much has been written elsewhere regarding the complex litigious battles surrounding the book, and I will confine myself here to saying that "Thunderball" was originally written as a screenplay--by Fleming, Kevin McClory...more
Zohar - ManOfLaBook.com
"Thunderball", the ninth Bond novel, is the first of the "Blofeld Trilogy" (continued with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and concluded with "You Only Live Twice" intercepted by "The Spy Who Loved me").

The novel begins with M, MI6's head, sending James Bond, our hero, to a two week vacation in a health clinic due to poor health caused by lots of drinking and smoking sixty cigarettes a day.

Of course, nothing for our hero goes smoothly and his vacation is smudged by an assassination attempt b...more
F.R.
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 1950’s gent 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 forwar...more
Mike (the Paladin)
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?), oh and he drinks a lot to. So M sends him away on a little vacation to recouperate...again. And of course as seems to happen each time James goes away to rest, someone trys to kill him.

What a life huh?

I enjoyed these adrenalin soaked reads, they do after all have their charms. This one is no less exciting, smothered in cold war paranoia we get stolen nucs here with the...more
Brian
* The ninth Bond book.

* Fifth appearance of Leiter, first appearance of Blofeld.

* Fleming's back in top form (after the disappointment of Goldfinger) in this, the novel that introduces Blofeld and SPECTRE (though Bond doesn't get to go after Blofeld here and doesn't even know he exists).

* High stakes--two stolen atomic warheads--and a solid plot that begins on an amusing tangent as Bond is forced by M to spend a couple of weeks in a sort of health spa to clean out his system.

* Exciting climax, a...more
Paul Lyons
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Seth Madej
Thunderball is an important novel to 007 nerds for a bunch of reasons: it's the first story (arguably) in which James Bond is sent to save the world from villainy; it debuts said villain: Bond's arch rival SPECTRE and its leader Blofeld; it's based on a treatment for what was intended to be the first 007 movie, that Ian Fleming cowrote with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham and which led to a legal battle that affected the franchise for 40 years; and, it turns out, Thunderball is better than an...more
Andrew
A formula that works,though the effect of watching too many Bond films clearly has bitten into my psyche like one of the barracudas that feature in the under-water sequences.There,...I can't but help putting things in a cinematic way! Readers of 007 novels will have the strange feeling of deja-vu...the faces of notorious film actors looming up out of the pages at you like so many ghostly & vicious spectres!! The plot just about survives the long voyage to the climax; 'Thunderball' is one of...more
Emperador Spock
A real gem among Fleming's Bond novels, despite the overly grandiose villain plot, the story doesn't go insane or put Bond in the centre of the world as its sole hero and saviour (up until the culmination, perhaps) and presents a good share of solid detective work by Bond and his partner, and lots of captivating action in the end. Even the Bond girl this time has trace amounts of depth in her, which after several previous debacles gives hope that in the rest of the series Fleming actually put so...more
Howard Olsen
One of the central books in the Bond ethos. Fleming references "Operation Thuderball" throughout his oeuvre, and it's the only Bond book that has twice been made into movies. (Serious movies, not the goofy original "Casino Royale"). It's also the last traditional Bond book. After this one, Fleming started screwing with Bond: marrying him off, widowing him, sending him to Japan where he becomes Japanese, getting him brainwashed by the KGB, and having him try to assassinate M.

The story is excitin...more
David McClelland
Thunderball is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a James Bond novel. It's a pretty solid thriller, and I'd argue that it's actually better plotted than the movie of the same name. It's a little more subtle in its characterizations, with Felix Leiter and Domino Vitali both being better developed than their film counterparts. The literary Bond also tends to be a very well fleshed-out character, and he has a certain edge to him that I don't think the movie adaptations were really able to c...more
Michael
Thunderball has proved the longest slog of the Bond books that I've read so far. The plot is relatively weak, and the prose is leaden and bloated. Nothing seems to happen for huge sections of the book, and the final climactic scene is incredibly hurried and clumsily written.

On the plus side, this is the first time we encounter Blofeld - probably the best known of the Bond villains. However, although the reader gets to see the man at work, Bond does not. Blofeld's only appearance is at a meeting...more
Geoff Sebesta
I can think of no higher praise for this book than to say that I made it almost to the end before I realized that I had seen the Bond movie "based" on this book. It was actually the exact Bond movie that made me swear off all Bond movies as pure seventies stupidity.

I'm only mentioning the movie to emphasize how it has nothing to do with the book whatsoever, and then move on.

Fleming writes some ripping good yarns. They're cynical, propagandistic bull-poop, but they aren't boring, and they're writ...more
thom
God I'm bored of this story. If you read the James Bond books, and see the James Bond films, you end up getting this story three times. This is one of the earlier versions, but it's the last I've come to. After Thunderball the film (which is Connery's third-weakest film), and Never Say Never Again (which is Connery's second-weakest) I read this bored with the tedious plot.

Still, I guess of the three, this is the more interesting version. At least you get a bit of Felix Leiter, and the diving sce...more
Steve Mitchell
James Bond comes back in his ninth book and for the first time finds he has been pitted against SPECTRE - The Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion - and its evil genius leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The hero first crosses swords with SPECTRE’s Count Lippe on an enforced visit to the Shrublands health farm to recharge his batteries.

SPECTRE has hijacked a Royal Air Force Vindicator bomber from a training exercise that was equipped with two atomic weapons, an...more
Margaret
Thunderball, the first of the Blofeld trilogy within the Bond series, derives its name from the operation that Bond and the CIA (meaning Felix Leiter) collaborate to recover two stolen atomic weapons. Wait there's more! The reader has to traverse a greatly humorous section where Bond goes to a health spa, essentially old fashioned version of detox clinic, because of M's recommendation. Of course there is some intrigue and before long Bond is back on the case (and eating red meat again).

Thunderb...more
Ivy
James Bond books are always good for reading aloud in the car during a road trip. Lots of car chases that you can imitate in real-time, and lots of sex scenes to keep the driver listening. Pop a Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones tape in the stereo to set the mood.
Jeff
This is my personal favorite Bond novel. It introduces SPECTRE and Ernst Starvo Blofeld and is just as exciting (if not more so) then the 1965 movie of the same name.

The action and drama just click in this book and I could just never put it down. The plot of atomic warheads being stolen and held for ransom was great but unfortunately created legal drama that would last up until Fleming's death and beyond. The details are too complex to get into but basically this novel was originally supposed t...more
Bob
I just finished "Thunderball" and "The Spy Who Loved Me" over the past two weeks on my way toward re-reading the entire Fleming canon. I have to say what's most attractive about this journey for me is not so much selecting a favorite Fleming, but observing in one fell swoop (so to speak) how Fleming improves as a writer and becomes more comfortable with his main character. Next title on my list is, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the Bond novel I've been anticpating most.
So after Fleming, wh...more
Richard
Bond staggered over to the bed and knelt down beside it. The small head on the pillow turned toward him. A hand came out and grasped his hair, pulling his head closer to her. Her voice said huskily, "You are to stay here. Do you understand? You are not to go away."

When Bond didn't answer, she feebly shook his head to and fro. "Do you hear me, James? Do you understand?" She felt Bond's body slumped down on the rug beside her bed. She shifted her position and looked down at him. He was already asl...more
Sun
It's been about a week since I finished reading this and all I can remember is the fantastic beginning. I don't believe there was a plot, but it was such a fun start with the heavy-drinking James Bond paying a visit to a health spa (of all places) as recommended by M. There, He endures fasting and endless 'treatments' with cups of sugary tea and a droll sense of humour. Then he's sent overseas to investigate the possibility that stolen atomic bombs have been hidden in the islands. There's an evo...more
David
Probably a 1.5 star rating would be more accurate. Fleming can write an entertaining action sequence, which keeps this book from being a total disaster, but overall this is an instance where the movies are superior to the source material. A certain Neanderthal attitude towards women is to be expected in an adventure novel written over 50 years ago, but Fleming's characterization of the women in Thunderball really was disgraceful. The story also tended to meander a bit, with digressions into M's...more
Kalilah
I enjoy the way Flemings writes and it's kinda fun to experience the literary James Bond for a change. The story starts out well but becomes a little muddled and lost by the end. Bond is his chauvinist, mischievous self, but somehow comes across as a bit sleazier than he does in the films. I love the way he analyses people he encounters as it gives interesting insight into how special agents determine their approach when trying to persuade and influence assets, but I was also a little weirded ou...more
Dom
I challenge you to read a James Bond novel such as this and NOT picture Sean Connery amidst the action. Obviously dated (Fleming wrote it 50 years ago), many might find the cultural and/or gender themes awkward. But if you can look past that you'll find the recipe that propelled several 007 novels to the top of best-seller lists.

As expected, the tale differs substantially from the big-screen version, and allows us inside the mind of a character we normally view only as an action hero. It's inter...more
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Five Stars!!! 7 14 Jun 21, 2012 09:41am  
Thunderball (Bond 9)
Thunderball (Paperback)
Thunderball (James Bond, #9)
Thunderball (Paperback)
Thunderball (Paperback)

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Ian^Fleming
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Second World War Navy Commander. Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling his adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories. Additionally, Fleming wrote the...more
More about Ian Fleming...
Casino Royale (James Bond, #1) From Russia With Love (James Bond, #5) Goldfinger (James Bond, #7) Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2) Doctor No (James Bond, #6)

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“It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.” 13 people liked it
“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 potential danger, and two women 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 to read behind the others’ words or 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 not only has to hear and see, what her companion is saying but also, for women are like that, what the two behind are talking about.” 8 people liked it
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