Goldfinger (1959)
Villain: Goldfinger & Oddjob Girl: =ahem= Pussy Galore Villain's Plot: Smuggling gold (hidden in the bodywork of his Rolls Royce) to finance SMERSH activities. Also plans to steal the gold from Fort Knox. Main locations: Miami, Kent, France, Switzerland and finally the USA. The best bits include the card game right at the start. Later the golf game and Bond shadowing Goldfinger on a drive through Europe. Oh, and Bond almost gets cut in half by a saw. Did this book produce the most famous Bond movie? It had perfect casting and music. It had the Aston Martin. It had Bond about to be cut by a laser beam and Goldfinger's much-quoted line "No Mister Bond, I expect you to die!" A fairly faithful adaptation (although in the book Bond cures Pussy of her lesbian tendencies!!!). One great plot twist in the movie had Goldfinger not actually intending to steal the gold from Fort Knox... This wasn't my favourite Fleming novel. Nothing I could put my finger on. (No pun intended.) On re-reading it it's moved up my list.
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