A review by jcpdiesel21
Thunderball by Ian Fleming

3.0

Typically entertaining for this series. The story starts out on a meta note by Bond being given a poor physical assessment due to his excessive drinking and smoking, adding some welcome realism and giving the character a sense of mortality. This book marks the first appearance of nefarious supervillain Blofeld, who has a lengthy and intriguing backstory; I look forward to revisiting this character later in the series. In the meantime, Largo proves to be a very formidable opponent and Domino is a surprisingly tough Bond girl who comes through in the clutch. It was great to see Felix Leiter in his largest role so far, on hand to give the story an injection of humor and spice, and the climactic undersea battle is rather exciting to follow.