Summary-James Bond wakes up with a hangover. He is mad with himself because he rarely ever gets drunk. He has done so because he is very bored. He hasn't had a good assignment in a while. M calls him in, and Bond is very pissed-off when he finds out it's because of his last physical. He is then ordered to go to Shrublands, a health resort, for two weeks. While there, he has a run in with a man who ends up being an agent of SPECTRE, The Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion. Bond ends up putting the man in the hospital, unknowingly setting back Plan Omega. This is a plot to steal two nuclear weapons and hold the world ransom for $100,000,000. Bond leaves Shrublands feeling like a new man, but the buzz doesn't last long as he is called in to M's office and told about SPECTRE's plot. Now all the governments in the world are after the bombs, in a huge operation called Operation Thunderball. Bond is sent to the Bahamas on M's hunch that the bombs are down there somewhere. Bond is paired with Felix Leiter of the C.I.A., and they end up on the trail of Emilio Largo, No. 1 in SPECTRE. (Blofeld is No. 2, even though he is in control of SPECTRE.) With the help of Domino, who agrees to help after Bond tells her Largo had her brother killed after he stole the plane with the bombs, and the help of the crew of an American nuclear submarine, the Manta, Bond and Leiter stop Largo's men from planting the first bomb near a missile facility in the Grand Bahamas. Both bombs are recovered. My Grade- A- This is the first novel with SPECTRE in it. SPECTRE becomes the major villain organization for the rest of Fleming's novels, thus taking over the role of SMERSH from the earlier novels. Leiter also has his biggest part since Live and Let Die. Best Moment-The underwater fight scene between the crew of the Manta and Largo's men is as thrilling and action-packed as the underwater fight scenes of the movie. Also Notable- When it comes time for the action to start, Leiter slaps a swimming fin over his hook of a right hand and heads into the underwater fray, despite being an arm and a leg shorter than everyone else. Now that man has some cojones.
