A chance encounter with wealthy bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger becomes an intelligence assignment when Bond is asked to discover how Goldfinger moves large quantities of gold across borders. Surveillance in Britain and Europe reveals a disciplined smuggling system and links the millionaire to SMERSH. Bond follows the investigation to the United States, where Goldfinger assembles criminal allies for a much larger operation.
Operation Grand Slam aims at the gold reserves of Fort Knox, turning financial crime into a threat to Western economic power. Bond must survive Goldfinger, Oddjob and the syndicate long enough to disrupt the plan. The scheme is fictional, but the novel draws on post-war currency controls, strategic gold reserves and the Cold War fear that criminal enterprise could serve hostile intelligence interests.
