Book Review - Goldfinger by Ian Fleming

Goldfinger

The audio review:



The seventh novel in Ian Fleming's now-famous James Bond series, Goldfinger packs a few punches in the way of action and characterization for Bond. Having never read any other Fleming novel, coupled with never viewing a Bond film other than the new Casino Royale reboot, left me open to experiencing Bond without any preconceived notions.

Fleming, already working off of six Bond novels, still manages to introduce a lot of characterization for Bond. Written in third-person from Bond's point-of-view, the reader sees a personal side to the man, who, after learning about the death of Jill (a fling he had early on in the novel), becomes a bit depressed and forlorn about the situation. Fleming paints Bond as cool and collected during his work, but on the inside, Bond is just as easily swayed as the common layman. I suppose that is what makes Bond such a treat to follow; his flaws are evident because of Fleming's choice of perspective, and they make him seem less like an unstoppable force and more like a specially-trained operative who is under a constant threat of danger.

Goldfinger has an involved plot, one that at times can become a bit confusing when trying to keep track of Goldfinger's employment. The gist of the novel focuses on Bond tracking down Goldfinger after his agency learns of Goldfinger's fascination with gold and his constant smuggling of the substance. As Bond gets closer to Goldfinger, he learns of an evil plot to steal all of the gold from Fort Knox with the help of a group of elite criminals, one commonly known by the name of Pussy Galore. All of this is only the second half of the novel, the first being devoted to finding Goldfinger out and understanding his diabolical scheme.

The novel does have its flaws, though, a number of which stem from Fleming's fascination with providing too much detail. Ample amounts of pages are devoted to gold explanations, a golf competition, a car ride tracking Goldfinger across countries, and other seemingly uninteresting sequences. Fleming relies on these as a means to explain the plot, but it feels as though it could have been done in a more summative format.

But Goldfinger retains interest throughout, and by the end, it's hard not to have fallen for Bond's suave yet personable and observational demeanor. Goldfinger is menacing, his henchman are almost insurmountable, and the twisting plot carries the reader on and on.