Thunderball is the ninth novel in Ian Fleming‘s James Bond series. The story begins with Bond being sent to a health clinic to improve his habits, where he uncovers a plot by the global criminal organization SPECTRE. The group, led by the sinister Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has hijacked two NATO atomic bombs and is holding the world for ransom. The novel is a tense race against time as Bond works to locate the bombs and prevent a catastrophic attack, famously blending espionage with extensive underwater action sequences.
Thunderball has a unique and contentious origin. It was initially conceived as the first James Bond film screenplay in a collaboration between Fleming, screenwriter Jack Whittingham, and producer Kevin McClory. When the film project stalled, Fleming adapted the screenplay into a novel, published in 1961. This led to a major plagiarism lawsuit from McClory and Whittingham. The case was settled out of court, granting McClory certain future film rights to the story. This legal outcome is why Thunderball was the basis for the 1965 film and later the 1983 remake Never Say Never Again. The novel is therefore notable not only for introducing SPECTRE and Blofeld in full but also for its critical role in bringing James Bond to the cinema.
