Goldfinger (novel) "was presented as a complex character". Continuation author Raymond Benson agrees, and sees "Goldfinger" as a transitional novel, with Bond becoming more human than in previous books and more concerned with what Benson calls "the mortal trappings of life", which manifest itself with the opening chapter of the book as Bond sits in Miami airport and thinks through his fight with and killing of a Mexican thug. Benson also sees that Bond has developed something of a sense of humour in "Goldfinger", verbally abusing Oddjob, to Bond's own amusement. Auric Goldfinger was described by Raymond Benson as "Fleming's most successful
Goldfinger (film) Illustrated London News", thought "Goldfinger" "even tenser, louder, wittier, more ingenious and more impossible than "From Russia with Love"... [a] brilliant farrago", adding that Connery "is ineffable". Philip Oakes of "The Sunday Telegraph" said that the film was "dazzling in its technical ingenuity", while "Time" said that "this picture is a thriller exuberantly travestied." Bosley Crowther, writing in "The New York Times" was less enthusiastic about the film, saying that it was "tediously apparent" that Bond was becoming increasingly reliant on gadgets with less emphasis on "the lush temptations of voluptuous females", although he did admit that "Connery plays the