Bond Meets his Matches

So, the day has finally come.  For nearly two years, I've been working my way through the 007 Reloaded audiobooks, recordings of Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels read by a variety of great actors.  I've finally finished my last one.  I say 'my' last one because I've not actually listened to them in order, but, in a strange way, I'm glad that 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' by Ian Fleming and read by David Tennant was my last.

'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'
by Ian Fleming
(Penguin Modern Classics, 2004)

Thunderstruck

I recently finished listening to AudioGo's 007 Reloaded version of 'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming, read by Jason Isaacs. Talk about thunderstruck!

'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming
Read by Jason Isaacs
(AudioGO, 2012)

Arch-conspirator and head of SPECTRE Ernst Stavro Blofeld has engineered the capture of two atomic weapons and has his sights set on extortion.  The UK and US governments must pay up £100 million, otherwise two unidentified locations will be destroyed and chaos will ensue.  With just one week to find the bombs and prevent worldwide disaster, M sends his top secret agent, James Bond, into battle once more...

I absolutely loved this audiobook.  It amazes me, but Fleming seems to do something different with every Bond story, as though he's constantly trying different styles and structures.  Here, for example, he juggles a lot of seemingly unconnected plotlines that are, of course, very much entwined, skillfully drip feeding their relevance to the reader at just the right moment.  So pay attention, 007!

This book is also interesting from a Bond mythos perspective.  It has a lot of background information about 007's arch-nemesis Blofeld and we get some glimpses into the more everyday life led by the jobbing secret agent.

'Thunderball' by Ian Fleming
(Penguin Modern Classics, 2004)

There is, of course, also all the standard items you'd expect in any Bond book worthy of the name; exotic location (Bahamas), feisty female lead (Domino), a villain to defeat (Emilio Largo), rich living (the super-yacht the Disco Volante).  There's also the usual sex and violence and, perhaps surprisingly, humour.  There were parts of the first few chapters that actually made me laugh aloud, not something I would've predicted!

Jason Isaacs did a fantastic job of reading 'Thunderball' and I think his contribution to how much I enjoyed this audiobook shouldn't be ignored.  I shall definitely be looking out for other work read by him in the future.

As you might be able to tell, I thoroughly enjoyed 'Thunderball' and can't wait to read/hear it again.  That will have to wait, though, as I still have a few (ahem!) more books to read first.  However, I've no doubt that this James Bond will return.

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