Book info

• Title Goldfinger and Me
• Author Marnie Palmer
• Year 2018
• Genre Non-Fiction

The life, crimes and bloody end of John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer were straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster – and Marnie Palmer, his wife of forty years, had a front row seat. The poor Solihull lad, whose childhood home was so cold the goldfish froze, fought his way up to a lifestyle of private jets, yachts and Ferraris, thanks to a home-made gold smelter in his back garden and a multi-million-pound timeshare empire. By the turn of the millennium, Palmer was 105th on the Sunday Times Rich List, but Goldfinger had a long list of enemies. In Goldfinger and Me, his widow Marnie shares her unique insight into his rollercoaster life, from dealing scrap in Bristol, to the Brink’s-Mat raid that changed their lives – ending with his downfall of betrayals, jail stints and his still unsolved assassination.

Thoughts

Last year, I watched both series of The Gold and became instantly obsessed with the Brinks-Mat story. I wanted to read everything I possibly could on the subject and finally got my hands on this book by John Palmer’s wife. It was fascinating to revisit the subject again but I don’t think this book adds anything to what we already know. Most of the story is that she had no idea what was going on, and then flipping back and forth on whether Palmer was a good guy or not. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to deal with this situation, and the book goes someway to describing it, but I think there’s a lot more to be told that hasn’t been.

Rating: 2 / 5