Fleming uses the tease method of maintaining suspense. Early on, he reveals that Bond has "upset, if only in a minute fashion, the exactly timed machinery of a plot that was about to shake the governments of the Western world." By the end of chapter 5, the details of SPECTRE'S plot against the Western world have been revealed, except for the targets of the bombs.

Fleming repeatedly hints at thrills to come, even using Leiter's appearance in the Bahamas to point out that Leiter has been part of some of Bond's "most thrilling cases." The plot is intricate, the narrative is fast-paced, and the theme of nuclear blackmail can stir up enough emotions that the poor contest between Bond and Largo may not be noticed.