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 (soundtrack) remastered edition to be the best score of the James Bond series, giving it five out of five stars. MacDonald wrote that the score was "big and ballsy, mainly jazz and orchestral fusion, with Shirley Bassey belting out the fantastic title song." He added that the remastered edition's sound quality was "impeccable". The soundtrack was the first James Bond soundtrack to reach No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200. Source: Following the success of her performance on the title track, Shirley Bassey sang the title song for two later Bond films, "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Moonraker". John Barry used the "Goldfinger"