Old pirate gold coins started turning up in the US, smuggled by a guy called "Mr. Big", a gangster who is also a head of a voodoo cult and a member of SMERSH. Bond is sent to investigate and stop his operations.

Yeah uhh... this one can be a bit uncomfortable to read since "Mr. Big" is a black guy and he operates in Harlem so there's a lot of inappropriate words and stereotypical depictions of black americans at the start of the book. But once you get through, there are some fun action scenes like Bond facing against one of Mr. Big's muscle the Robber, and the whole climax of the book was pretty cool.

Bond is sent to a clinic to rest from his excessive drinking and smoking. He encounters a man there that turns out to be involved in a scheme by the nefarious organization SPECTRE.

This one is less uncomfortable. This contains the introduction of SPECTRE and perhaps Bond's greatest enemy Blofeld (though he is not the main bad guy in this one) and it was interesting to read how technical and robotic their methods were and how they were able to slip through the public's notice as an evil organization. There's not much good action though until the climax which was pretty fun and the female lead, Domino, was actually a decent character as she plays an important and admirable role in the story.

On the way home after a mission in Mexico, Bond is requested by an acquaitance to help him figure out how a man named Auric Goldfinger keeps beating him in a game of canasta. After doing so, Bond finds out that his next mission coincidentally involves Goldfinger as well, who is suspected to be smuggling gold. Bond investigates and finds out that Goldfinger has a bigger plan than just smuggling...

i found an independent seller selling this at a very low price in a mall and i thought why not? it could be fun... nope, this is not a fun book... there are still some fun action parts, Bond and Goldfinger's first encounter where Bond solves how Goldfinger cheats was fun, Bond tracking Goldfinger across Europe was thrilling but besides that, there's really not much in this book. The book has this looong golf game spanning chapters between Bond and Goldfinger and as someone who doesn't know golf terms, i couldn't care less and it sent me into a mini-slump... also more uncomfortable stuff like James Bond hating on Koreans since Oddjob, Goldfinger's iconic muscle, is one and him essentially saying the homosexuality of women is caused by giving voting rights to women and treating them like men... really i couldn't recommend this nor the film, which is miles better than this but still has some uncomfortable stuff involving the lesbian character, Pussy Galore... unless you're really a James Bond fan.