Thunderball is the ninth novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. It was created with the intention of being turned into a film, and officially credited as being ‘based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming’, a shared credit which has been the subject of much controversy. The novel was first published on March 27, 1961 and stands, technically, as the first novelisation of a James Bond screenplay, even though, at the time it was written and published, no such film had yet been produced. It was subsequently adapted as a daily comic strip, beginning in 1961.

To date, Thunderball has twice been adapted for the cinema. The first adaptation, also titled Thunderball, was released in 1965 as the fourth official Bond film in the EON Productions series, with Sean Connery as James Bond. McClory later produced an unofficial remake, 1983’s Never Say Never Again, which again starred Connery as Bond. Thunderball was originally scheduled to have been the first James Bond film, in 1962, but this was later changed to Dr No due to a lawsuit brought about by McClory.

Plot summary: Thunderball begins with a meeting between M and Bond, during which 007 is informed that his latest physical assessment delivered terrible results, due to his drinking and smoking sixty cigarettes a day. M sends Bond on a two week vacation to the Shrublands health farm in the country so that he can work off some of these bad habits and improve his health. While there Bond comes into contact with a man named Count Lippe who has a secret association with the Red Lightning Tong, a criminal organisation headquartered in Macao. When Bond learns of this, Lippe attempts to kill Bond by turning up the power on Bond’s traction machine, hoping that by eliminating Bond he will not be able to make a connection to a new and secret terrorist organisation of which he is a member. Bond, however, is saved by Patricia Fearing, a nurse at the heath club. He later retaliates against Lippe by trapping him in a steam bath which results in second degree burns and a one week stay at the hospital.

Upon his return to London, Bond is a new man, following a new diet and smoking considerably less. This “new” Bond is ready for action when the British Secret Service receives a communiqué from a new terrorist organisation, SPECTRE, the Villiers Vindicator (a fictional V bomber) and are now in possession of the two nuclear warheads that were aboard. Unless a ransom of £100,000,000 is paid, SPECTRE will destroy a major city.

SPECTRE is headed by the criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld who has no tolerance for failure. Count Lippe was sent the Shrublands by SPECTRE to oversee Giuseppe Petacchi at the Boscombe Down Airfield where the bombing squadron was undergoing training. While Lippe’s mission was semi-successful he was considered “unreliable” by Blofeld after getting into his childish clash with James Bond. As a consequence of Lippe being put into the hospital, Blofeld orders his elimination. Petacchi, who is a NATO observer from the Italian Air Force was paid to hijack the military aircraft mid-flight by killing all onboard and redirecting the aircraft to the Bahamas. Once there, Blofeld’s right hand, Emilio Largo and the crew of the cruiser Disco Volante, kill Petacchi rather than pay him and steal the two nuclear warheads. This plan is dubbed “Plan Omega” by Blofeld and is overseen by Largo, who at this point has the SPECTRE designation “Number 1” for security reasons.

To the Americans and the British, the task of foiling SPECTRE and recovering the two warheads is dubbed “Operation Thunderball.” James Bond is sent to the Bahamas to investigate a hunch M has. Once there, he meets up with his friend Felix Leiter, who is once again working for the CIA as a result of the current crisis (in his previous appearance, Leiter had been working as a private detective after losing an arm and a leg while assisting Bond in Live and Let Die). Bond also meets Dominetta “Domino” Vitali, Largo’s mistress and the sister of Giuseppe Petacchi while in Nassau. She is staying on Largo’s yacht, the Disco Volante, and believes Largo is in the area on a treasure hunt. For reasons she does not understand Largo makes her stay on land while he and his partners go prospecting for the hidden treasure. After learning that Largo had Petacchi killed, Bond informs Domino who he recruits as an ally to spy on Largo for him. Domino returns to the Disco Volante with a Geiger counter to verify the ship as the location of the two stolen nuclear bombs, however, she is uncovered and taken prisoner. Largo tortures her by burning her with a cigar for heat and then using ice cubes for cold.

Bond and Leiter alert the “Thunderball war room” of their suspicion of Largo and team up with the crew of the Manta, an American nuclear submarine as the deadline for the ransom nears. The Manta pursues the Disco Volante hoping to capture and seize the warheads while they are being transported to the first target. An undersea battle ensues between the two crews while Largo squares off in a battle against Bond. Before Largo is able to eliminate Bond, however, he is shot in the neck by Domino with a spear fired from an underwater gun. The two nuclear warheads are recovered and Bond spends the remainder of the story in a hospital with Domino.

See also:

• Bond novels: Ian Fleming