Title: Thunderball
Author: Ian Fleming
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 264
Rating 3.5/5
I thought I’d read all of the Bond novels, but apparently not! I’d somehow missed this one, but the good news is that while I have seen most of the films, I don’t really remember them. That meant that I could read this as though I was experiencing the story for the first time, which was fun.
It’s interesting because it shows its age, especially because of the fact that it reflects the fears of the cold war and the threat of a nuclear Armageddon. And yet even though it seems a little dated, it still holds up pretty well. A lot of the ideas in here could still happen today, even if they came about through a different diplomatic landscape, and the action is pretty good too.
Some of the Bond books have bored me, especially when they’ve contained lengthy paragraphs about a single game of bridge or golf or something. There wasn’t really anything like that to worry about here, although there was a casino scene. Mostly though, the action was pretty quick and it never felt as though the story was slowing down.
The only thing I would say is that the ending almost felt as though it came out of nowhere, and so because of that it was a little bit of a let-down. That happens a lot with the Bond novels though, and so don’t worry too much. If you’ve read and enjoyed the Bond books before, you’ll enjoy it.
