Rating: 
Summary: Bond battles SPECTRE in the thrilling "Thunderball."
Review: "Thunderball" introduces us to SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavros Blofeld. Blofeld would become Bond's archenemy for a while, and he is certainly one of the five greatest villains James Bond has faced in his 35-year literary career. When SPECTRE steals two nuclear warheads, Her Majesty's Secret Service assigns every agent to tracking them down. Based on a personal hunch, M sends his best man (Bond, of course) to Nassau. Bond, fresh from a disastrous stay at the Shrublands health clinic, flies to Nassau to sort things out. Along with his American buddy Felix Leiter, making a most welcome return, Bond traces the danger to its source: Emilio Largo, second only to Blofeld himself in the organization SPECTRE. Bond girl Domino plays an integral role in the dissolution of SPECTRE's scheme. "Thunderball" is one of Fleming's finest novels, and it kicks off the Blofeld Trilogy, which continues in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "You Only Live Twice." Top-notch work.
Rating:
Summary: Bond battles SPECTRE in the thrilling "Thunderball."
Review: "Thunderball" introduces us to SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavros Blofeld. Blofeld would become Bond's archenemy for a while, and he is certainly one of the five greatest villains James Bond has faced in his 35-year literary career. When SPECTRE steals two nuclear warheads, Her Majesty's Secret Service assigns every agent to tracking them down. Based on a personal hunch, M sends his best man (Bond, of course) to Nassau. Bond, fresh from a disastrous stay at the Shrublands health clinic, flies to Nassau to sort things out. Along with his American buddy Felix Leiter, making a most welcome return, Bond traces the danger to its source: Emilio Largo, second only to Blofeld himself in the organization SPECTRE. Bond girl Domino plays an integral role in the dissolution of SPECTRE's scheme. "Thunderball" is one of Fleming's finest novels, and it kicks off the Blofeld Trilogy, which continues in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "You Only Live Twice." Top-notch work.
Rating:
Summary: Action filled...what else would you expect from James Bond?
Review: A thrilling story with James Bond finally meeting the sinister orginization, SPECTRE. From the meeting in the Shrublands Health Facility to the final underwater battle against Largo, there is action, suspence, and thrills that no one can do better than James Bond. One of the best novels in the series. Content is thought out to the last detail, leaving little to question. Bond, as always, is smooth, suave, the debonair 007 we know and love. Even the villians live up to their name. Cunning, ruthless, everything that makes a villian. The locations in the book are some of the best on earth, and Fleming describes them to a "T". If you never read a Bond novel before, this would be a great place to start
Rating:
Summary: There's no Bond like an old Bond!
Review: After reading some of the recent works of Raymond Benson, I thought it might be fun to go back and read one of the classic 007 novels. I had never read THUNDERBALL before, but I thoroughly enjoyed both movie versions; especially "Never Say Never Again".Thunderball is one of Fleming's best! The scuba diving battle beneath the Caribbean between Bond and Largo is epic, but the most enduring feature of the novel is it marks the first appearance of the criminal organization SPECTRE, and it's diabolical leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld! Did Ian Fleming have any idea how much impact this character would have on the rest literary world when he created him? Blofeld started out as just an arch rival for James Bond, but his character became the role model for all evil genius villains with megalomanical dreams of world domination! Thunderball is a must-read for all 007 fans.
Rating:
Summary: Who can't not love Bond!
Review: Danger, action, excitement, uh... I can't think of any more expletives but this book is da bomb! The funniest opening for any Bond novel, this one reads great, looks great, and stands up well to water! Who knows what excitement Bond will get into, starting with his institution into a fitness home, and at last, an underwater battle with a fat guy! Yaay!
Rating:
Summary: Most ambitious 007 plot ever
Review: Excellent action-packed adventure, full with suspense and yet with a broader human side than most. Excellent villain and atmosphere, making Nassau a place everyone dreams of. The heroine has a key role in some places. Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA friend and a semirecurrent character, plays a bigger part. And, more than that, SPECTRE comes into the picture for the very first time (SMERSH being dissolved in 1958, by the time of the previous book events). This novel has what critics call "the Fleming effect" (the eternal input of minimal technical details in drescription of characters, machinary, places, food, drinks, etc.) to full force. As we all know by now, Fleming was forced to mention in reprints the script storyline written by himself along with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham (as well as two other uncredited friends) in which this book's central plot is based. The film version made in 1965 is reasonably close to the novel, with the remake filmed in 1983 ("Never Say Never Again") mantaining only some general elements. Another classic by Fleming.
Rating: 
Summary: Introducing SPECTRE...
Review: For fans of the literary James Bond, Thunderball is one of the most pivotal works of the series. It was in Thunderball that Bond creator Ian Fleming first introduced the world to perhaps the ultimate Bond villian -- Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Though Bond and Blofeld never actually meet in Thunderball, it is in this book that Bond first battles the schemes of SPECTRE, Blofeld's criminal organization. The plot of the book (which, as with most of Fleming's best work, is disturbing plausible) deals with SPECTRE's theft of two nuclear missiles and their attempt to blackmail the world with atomic destruction. On little more than a hunch, M (Bond's superior, as gruffly humorous as ever) sends Bond down to the Bahamas to search for the missiles. (It is made clear that other intelligence agents are combing other locations as well. One thing that sets the book apart from the film is the portrayal of James Bond as not the absolute best secret agent in the world but instead as just a hardworking professional who, often times, resents the intrusion of work on his private life.) While in the Bahamas, Bond meets the book's main villian, Emilio Largo (well characterized as an almost likeable rogue), Largo's mistress Domino (who has a nicely vulnerable speech in which she analyzes a picture on a pack of cigarettes), and old allies like Felix Leiter. Along with the usual nonstop action and the vivid descriptions that Fleming was known for, Thunderball contains some of Fleming's most memorable characterizations. While little new is revealed of Bond, Largo and Domino grab hold of the reader's imagination and linger after the end of the book. Famously, this book was inspired by Fleming and producer Kevin McClory's attempts to launch a pre-Connery James Bond film series. The plot was invented for the movies and occasionally, the book suffers for it. The final battle between Largo and the military, for instance, reads a bit flat and doesn't carry the same charge as the earlier, less epic scenes. Surprising as it may be to some of Fleming's detractors, the writer main strength was always his ability to create compelling one-on-one scenes between Bond and the various eccentrics populating his world. And it is here that Thunderball really shines. It's too often ignored that Fleming was a witty writer whose Bond books often carried a comedy-of-manners feel. This is certainly true in the first part of the book in which Bond finds himself sent to a health salon to recover from a life of hard living. Bond's attempts to quit smoking and drinking are hilariously lampooned by Fleming, who makes little secret that he's mocking the critics who complained that his books were immoral. (Indeed, when we are first introduced to Blofeld, we are quickly informed that this man doesn't smoke, drink, rarely eats, and is apparently a virgin. In short, he lacks all of Bond's vices and, Fleming seems to suggest, turns to the business of international villiany mostly because he doesn't have much else to do.) By the time this book came out, Fleming had certainly grown as a writer from the first Bond books. Gone are the occasional awkward passages that occasionally pop up in Casino Royale. Every character speaks in his own individual voice as opposed to everyone speaking like an upper class English gentleman. In short, Thunderball is an excellent adventure that should thrill Bond fans and non-Bond fans alike.
Rating:
Summary: Introducing SPECTRE...
Review: For fans of the literary James Bond, Thunderball is one of the most pivotal works of the series. It was in Thunderball that Bond creator Ian Fleming first introduced the world to perhaps the ultimate Bond villian -- Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Though Bond and Blofeld never actually meet in Thunderball, it is in this book that Bond first battles the schemes of SPECTRE, Blofeld's criminal organization. The plot of the book (which, as with most of Fleming's best work, is disturbing plausible) deals with SPECTRE's theft of two nuclear missiles and their attempt to blackmail the world with atomic destruction. On little more than a hunch, M (Bond's superior, as gruffly humorous as ever) sends Bond down to the Bahamas to search for the missiles. (It is made clear that other intelligence agents are combing other locations as well. One thing that sets the book apart from the film is the portrayal of James Bond as not the absolute best secret agent in the world but instead as just a hardworking professional who, often times, resents the intrusion of work on his private life.) While in the Bahamas, Bond meets the book's main villian, Emilio Largo (well characterized as an almost likeable rogue), Largo's mistress Domino (who has a nicely vulnerable speech in which she analyzes a picture on a pack of cigarettes), and old allies like Felix Leiter. Along with the usual nonstop action and the vivid descriptions that Fleming was known for, Thunderball contains some of Fleming's most memorable characterizations. While little new is revealed of Bond, Largo and Domino grab hold of the reader's imagination and linger after the end of the book. Famously, this book was inspired by Fleming and producer Kevin McClory's attempts to launch a pre-Connery James Bond film series. The plot was invented for the movies and occasionally, the book suffers for it. The final battle between Largo and the military, for instance, reads a bit flat and doesn't carry the same charge as the earlier, less epic scenes. Surprising as it may be to some of Fleming's detractors, the writer main strength was always his ability to create compelling one-on-one scenes between Bond and the various eccentrics populating his world. And it is here that Thunderball really shines. It's too often ignored that Fleming was a witty writer whose Bond books often carried a comedy-of-manners feel. This is certainly true in the first part of the book in which Bond finds himself sent to a health salon to recover from a life of hard living. Bond's attempts to quit smoking and drinking are hilariously lampooned by Fleming, who makes little secret that he's mocking the critics who complained that his books were immoral. (Indeed, when we are first introduced to Blofeld, we are quickly informed that this man doesn't smoke, drink, rarely eats, and is apparently a virgin. In short, he lacks all of Bond's vices and, Fleming seems to suggest, turns to the business of international villiany mostly because he doesn't have much else to do.) By the time this book came out, Fleming had certainly grown as a writer from the first Bond books. Gone are the occasional awkward passages that occasionally pop up in Casino Royale. Every character speaks in his own individual voice as opposed to everyone speaking like an upper class English gentleman. In short, Thunderball is an excellent adventure that should thrill Bond fans and non-Bond fans alike.
Rating:
Summary: Now that was a blast
Review: If you've seen the movie you know the plot of Thunderball already so I won't get into that. Reading Thunderball is a great pleasure for Bond fans because the movie was so faithful to the book. There were a few things left out becuase they were considered too much for the big screen.
Ian Fleming must have had a marvelous sense of humor becuase the chapters where Bond finds himself stuck at Shrublands, drinking tea and vegatable broth and longing for spaghetti and chianti are extremely funny. Later when things get serious the reader gets wonderful scenes with M. who really was a fascinating character. The old man was even more ruthless than Bond.
The biggest thing Thunderball did was to introduce the world to Blofeld and nevermind the Austin Powers jokes, the original Blofeld was a very dangerous, very scary dude. The description of Largo and the scenes with Bond's old pal, Felix Leiter are also great.
I'm very happy that the old (real) Fleming books are being re-released in such good quality paper and with such snappy retro covers. My dad's old copies were literally crumbling whenever I touched them.
Rating:
Summary: As good as the screen version.
Review: In this novel Bond fights SPECTRE the most arch, ruthless, and deadly foe he'll ever face. Also, he is teamed up probably with the best bond girl ever.
|
