 The critic writing for The Times thought that Bond was "backed up by sound writing" by Fleming. Although the plot was grandiose, the critic noted that: "it sounds – and is – fantastic; the skill of Mr. Fleming is to be measured by the fact that it is made not to seem so." For The Times Literary Supplement, Michael Robson considered that "a new Bond has emerged from these pages: an agent more relaxed, less promiscuous, less stagily muscular than of yore." Bond was not the only thing that was more relaxed, according to Robson, as "the story, too, is more relaxed." Robson saw this as a positive development, but it did mean that although "there are incidental displays of the virtuosity to which Mr. Fleming has accustomed us, ... the narrative does not slip into top gear until Goldfinger unfolds his plan". The Evening Standard looked at why Bond was a success and listed "the things that make Bond attractive: the sex, the sadism, the vulgarity of money for its own sake, the cult of power, the lack of standards". The Sunday Times called Goldfinger "Guilt-edged Bond", whilst the Manchester Evening News thought that "Only Fleming could have got away with it ... outrageously improbable, wickedly funny, wildly exciting".
